More honors for Nate Wolters
by KDLT Sports
December 27, 2012 4:39 PM
In addition to earning Summit League and CollegeSportsMadness.com Player of the Week honors after leading South Dakota State to its first-ever win over a ranked opponent, Jackrabbit senior Nate Wolters can add a couple more honors.
The St. Cloud, Minn., native can also add Lute Olson Award Player of the Week honors after leading the Jackrabbits to a 70-65 win over No. 16, and previously undefeated, New Mexico on Saturday at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M., with 28 points and seven assists.
The three honors all come on the heals of Wolters being named a candidate for the 2013 Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award on Dec. 20, while in the midst of a two-day, 18 hour, 1,200 mile bus ride from Nashville, Tenn., to Albuquerque to play the Lobos.
The annual honor, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes the top point guards in men’s college basketball. Over 80 candidates garnered a nomination for the 2013 Bob Cousy Award.
Adding to the list, the South Dakota Sportswriters Association tabbed Wolters as its College Men’s Athlete of 2012 and the Jackrabbit Men’s Basketball Team as the College Men’s Team of 2012 in its year-end awards released on Thursday.
Wolters earned the award after posting 21.2 points, 5.9 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game as a junior in 2011-12 in leading the Jackrabbits to their first-ever NCAA Tournament at the Division I level and tying the school record for wins with 27. He also set the SDSU junior scoring record and earned Associated Press All-American honors.
The Jackrabbit men finished the season with a 27-8 record and advanced to the Big Dance with three wins at The Summit League Championships in Sioux Falls. The record-breaking season came to an end with a 68-60 loss to No. 9 Baylor in the NCAA Tournament.
SDSU posted a perfect 14-0 mark at home during the season, a streak that now stands at 23 straight games at Frost Arena, the third longest home winning streak in all of Division I basketball, trailing only Syracuse (30) and Kansas (28).
Wolters and the Jackrabbits return to Summit League play on Saturday against North Dakota State in Fargo, N.D., at 7 p.m., and put the home winning streak on the line again on Jan. 10, 2013 against Oakland at 7 p.m.
