Jase Richardson Named Big Ten Freshman of the Week

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State men's basketball freshman guard Jase Richardson was named the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week on Monday afternoon.

The Spartans, No. 8 in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls, swept a pair of ranked games last week, beating then-No. 13 Purdue, 75-66, at the Breslin Center, and capping the week off with a 75-62 win at then-No. 12 Michigan on Friday night.

Michigan State has won three-straight games to improve to 22-5 overall and 13-3 in the Big Ten.

Richardson averaged 16.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 1.5 assists while shooting 55.6 percent from the floor (10-of-18), 57.1 percent from 3-point land (4-of-7) and 90.0 percent from the free throw line (9-of-10).

At Michigan on Friday night, Richardson scored a game-high 21 points, while adding six rebounds and three steals to lead the Spartans to the win. In the win over Purdue last Tuesday, he scored a team-high 12 points, with three assists and two steals.

Overall this season, Richardson is second on the team in scoring (10.8 ppg) and minutes played (23.5 mpg), while adding 2.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He leads the team in field goal percentage, connecting on 53.0 percent of his shots (96-of-181), including 40.0 percent of his 3-point attempts (26-of-65). Richardson has scored in double figures 14 times.

Since moving into the starting lineup five games ago, Richardson is averaging 17.2 points and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 54.75 percent from the floor (29-of-53).

This is the first career All-Big Ten honor for Richardson.

Michigan State hits the road again for the second-straight game, and the third in the last four, playing at No. 16/15 Maryland on Wednesday, Feb. 26 (BTN, 6:30 p.m.), with Jason Horowitz, Robbie Hummel and Andy Katz calling all of the action.

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