Taveion Hollingsworth earns C-USA Co-Player of the Week award after record week

Hollingsworth, Taveion (headshot)

Elliott Wells

Junior guard Taveion Hollingsworth was named Conference USA Co-Player of the Week for the second time this season after turning in one of the top individual efforts in conference history for the WKU men’s basketball team over the weekend, the league office announced Monday.

Hollingsworth averaged 32.5 points, 42.5 minutes, as well as four rebounds, three assists and three steals per game across WKU’s split of two overtime contests against the top two teams in C-USA.

The 6-foot-2-inch, 165-pounder established a new career-high of 43 points in WKU’s final home game in Diddle Arena on Thursday night against Louisiana Tech. His 43 points were the eighth-most ever by a Hilltopper and the most since 1971, as well as the ninth-most ever by a C-USA player.

The junior guard led the Hilltoppers to a 95-91 overtime victory over LA Tech despite WKU trailing by 15 points with 3:23 left to play. Hollingsworth scored 17 points across the rest of regulation, including a game-tying 3-pointer with two seconds left.

Hollingsworth played 44 minutes against the Bulldogs, shooting 11-of-18 from the field, hitting 4-of-7 3-pointers and converting a career-high 17-of-19 free throws from the charity stripe.

The Lexington native also led the Hilltoppers with a team-high 22 points with four steals on Sunday afternoon in a 78-72 overtime loss at North Texas.

WKU has accumulated five C-USA Player of the Week honors so far this season, which leads the league: sophomore Charles Bassey on Dec. 2, redshirt junior Carson Williams on Jan. 6, redshirt senior Jared Savage on Feb. 17 and Hollingsworth twice on both Jan. 20 and March 2.

Jordan Rawls was also named the Nov. 25 C-USA Freshman of the Week, meaning five total Hilltoppers have been honored with a total of six C-USA weekly awards throughout this season.

Reporter Elliott Wells can be reached at [email protected]. Follow Elliott on Twitter at @ewells5.