After punctuating a two-game sweep of Big South foe Gardner-Webb with a career-high 25 points in Game 2, Longwood freshman guard Justin Hill was named the College Sports Madness Big South Player of the Week Monday.
The College Sports Madness citation is a career first for Hill, who has also hauled in Big South Freshman of the Week honors twice in his debut campaign as a Lancer.
A 6-0, 185-pound point guard, Hill averaged 20.0 points, 3.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game against the Runnin’ Bulldogs to help Longwood sweep the two-game series 57-54 and 78-71. Those two victories extended the Lancers’ home-court winning streak to five games and continued an end-of-season surge in which Longwood has won five of its past six games.
Hill was instrumental to both of those victories, scoring in double figures and hitting multiple three-pointers each time out, including a career-high 25-point outburst in the game-two victory. He opened the week with 15 points in 26 minutes off the bench, knocking down a career-high 4-of-5 three-pointers. He added two assists and a steal as the Lancers pulled out a 57-54 win that was featured the same night on ESPN SportsCenter.
The next night, the Houston, Texas, native bettered that performance by dropping a career-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting as the Lancers cruised to the 78-71 win. He added his first career block, hit two three-pointers and was a perfect 5-of-5 from the line.
Hill is the first Lancer to earn College Sports Madness Conference Player of the Week honors since Khris Lane on Jan. 2, 2017.
On the season, Hill ranks among the league’s top three freshmen in scoring, rebounding and assists and ranks sixth in the league overall in assist-to-turnover ratio and defensive rebounds. His 11.8 points per game is the second-highest clip by a Lancer freshman in the Big South era, trailing only Michael Kessens’ 13.7 in 2012-13.
Hill and the Lancers return to the court this evening against in-state Big South rival Hampton at 6 p.m. in Willett Hall.
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