EWU’s Austin McBroom earns national honor

Just a day after earning the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball Player of the Week, Eastern Washington’s Austin McBroom picked up a big national honor.

McBroom, who scored 72 points last weekend in wins over North Dakota and Northern Colorado, is the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week, the the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, announced Tuesday

This is the third Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week honor earned by a Big Sky Conference men’s basketball player. EWU standout Tyler Harvey earned the honor last season and Weber State’s Damian Lillard picked up Player of the Week honors in 2012.

McBroom scored a career-high 37 points in the Eagles’ 97-80 win over Northern Colorado on Saturday. In Thursday’s 95-85 win over North Dakota, he posted 35 points.

McBroom is averaging a Big Sky-best 21.3 points per game, which is also 14th in NCAA Division I. His scoring average currently ranks as the fifth-best in school history and his 511 total points are already 12th. In addition, his average of 3.71 3-pointers per game leads the league and is third nationally.