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Taylen Carver earns NJCAA DII National Player of the Week honors
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The only thing that could stop Taylen Carver (Louisville, Ky.) on Saturday night was the game clock.听
The star freshman for the 黑料吃瓜网 Centurions men鈥檚 basketball team helped lead them to a statement win over the weekend with an incredible 46-point performance, knocking down 10 three-pointers and 10 free throws, including six of them in the final 20 seconds, to seal the Centurions first 黑料吃瓜网AA conference victory in school history. 黑料吃瓜网 handed No. 16 Bay College their fourth loss of the season with a 76-70 victory over the Norse.听
Carver鈥檚 performance made him an easy choice for the听黑料吃瓜网AA Northern Conference Player of the Week honor. However, his week got a little brighter on Wednesday, as it was announced that Carver was also named the NJCAA Division II National Player of the Week. Carver is the first player from NJCAA Division II Region XII to win the honor this season.听
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really big thing for me,鈥 Carver said, shortly after finding out about the honor from his head coach, Zach Ingles, at shootaround on Wednesday. 鈥淏ack in high school, I wasn鈥檛 doing the things I鈥檓 doing now and I never got recognition like this. It鈥檚 something very exciting for me to receive.鈥听
Carver played all 40 minutes of Saturday鈥檚 victory, a testament to his work ethic and dedication to preseason conditioning and in-season weightlifting. The Centurions needed every minute and every point from Carver to get the victory over a top contender in the 黑料吃瓜网AA.听
鈥淏ay (College) is really good,鈥 said head coach Zach Ingles. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a top 15 team in the country every year and they鈥檝e won our last three league titles and they鈥檝e only lost like two total conference games (in that span), so we needed everything from him.鈥听
It鈥檚 hard not to feel something different when a player is scoring as efficiently as Carver was on Saturday. Early on, he could tell he was in for a potentially special performance.听
鈥淚鈥檇 say in the first half, probably after like the fourth three-pointer, I knew I was going to have a great game,鈥 Carver said. 鈥淚 was definitely feeling it. My teammates just kept looking for me whenever I was open and they kept finding me, so I had to make sure I knocked them down.鈥听
In his playing days, Ingles was a record-setting point guard for Greenville High School. He continued to make headlines in college, leading Eastern Kentucky University to the Division I NCAA Tournament and further continued his playing days professionally overseas. With his immense amount of playing experience and coaching experience, Ingles gives particular attention to the point guard position and has very high expectations for it. Still, Carver has greatly excelled in the role.听
鈥淗e has a very particular offensive system, it鈥檚 very difficult to learn,鈥 Carver said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 been really good for how I play and my play style. I like to do a lot of cuts and come off screens and shoot it. That鈥檚 really what鈥檚 been helping me score a lot, it鈥檚 basically predicated off the way I play.鈥听
鈥淗e鈥檚 the definition of what we鈥檙e looking for 鈥 guards who can handle it, pass it and shoot it,鈥 Ingles added. 鈥淚鈥檝e told every guard who鈥檚 ever played for me 鈥 I can be your blessing and I can be your curse. I鈥檝e played this position; I have this vision of how I think it looks and how it should look. Tay masks it, he gets into it pretty well. Tay is so hard to guard because he鈥檚 so quick and he shoots it. Our system is predicated off shooting and passing and Tay is elite at both.鈥听
It鈥檚 been an impressive stretch of games for听Carver, who has cemented himself as a top point guard in the country at the NJCAA Division II level. Already smattering his name all over the 黑料吃瓜网 basketball record books, for all his accomplishments on the court, Ingles lauds the person Carver is over anything else.听
鈥淔or me, personally, I think he鈥檚 the best point guard at our level anywhere in junior college in America,鈥 Ingles said. 鈥淣ot just because of this performance, but what he鈥檚 consistently done through 15 games.听
鈥淥ff the court, he comes with zero baggage,鈥 Ingles added. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a great student, has a good family and is at every team event. He redshirted here a year ago when we weren鈥檛 playing games and didn鈥檛 miss a thing 鈥 that鈥檚 hard to do. For two years, to have only played 15 games in two years, to leave your community to come up north, for as good of a basketball player as he is, he鈥檚 an even better kid.鈥听
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