DALLAS – Jerry West Award watch list and preseason All-C-USA honoree Taevion Kinsey of Marshall earned his first weekly Conference USA honor of the season as he was named the Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday. Additionally, FIU’s Denver Jones earned his first C-USA recognition as he was named the Freshman of the Week. The 2021 C-USA Players of the Week awards are presented by Surf & Turf Golf and are voted on by the league’s men’s basketball communications directors.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
TAEVION KINSEY, MARSHALL
JUNIOR, G, 6-5, COLUMBUS, OHIO
Kinsey had another standout week on the court as he averaged 21 points, 7.5 rebounds and six assists in a pair of wins for Marshall this week. Against Bluefield University, the junior tallied 21 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out seven assists as he went 9-for-13 in the victory on Wednesday. On Saturday at Eastern Kentucky, he scored another 21 points and had seven boards to go with five assists as Marshall picked up its first road win of the season over the Colonels. The Columbus, Ohio, native has poured at least 20 points through the basket in nine of Marshall’s 10 games this season and leads the conference in scoring at 21.2 points per game. This is the third career weekly honor for Kinsey (Dec. 7, 2020 – POW; Jan.7, 2019 – FOW).
 
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
DENVER JONES, FIU
FRESHMAN, G, 6-4, NEW MARKET, ALA.
Jones scored a season-high 20 points and added 13 rebounds for his first career double-double in a 4OT loss at Eastern Michigan on Saturday. Jones came up clutch in the opening overtime with a three-pointer that tied the game at 62-62 with 40 seconds left to force a second extra frame. Jones pushed it into a third overtime by connecting on a pair of clutch free throws with 15 seconds left in the second overtime to even the score at 72-72. He also made a steal on an in-bounds pass and followed with a layup just five seconds after teammate Petar Krivokapic drilled a trey to cap a 5-0 run in the final seconds of the third overtime period to tie the contest once again at 82-82.
 
2021 WINNERS
Player of the Week
N15      Dayvion McKnight, WKU
N22      Tevin Brewer, FIU
N29      Kenneth Lofton, Jr., LA Tech
D6        Kenneth Lofton, Jr., LA Tech
D13       Taevion Kinsey, Marshall
 
Freshman of the Week
N15      Aly Khalifa, Charlotte
N22      Taefale Lenard, Jr., Middle Tennessee
N29      Rashad Bolden, Southern Miss
D6        Aly Khalifa, Charlotte
D13       Denver Jones, FIU