News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
BIRMINGHAM – Texas A&M’s Manny Obaseki earned SEC Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career for his strong play in wins over Mississippi State and Ole Miss last week, the league office announced on Monday.
Obaseki’s award marks the fourth SEC Player of the Week honor of 2023-24 for the Aggies, who had never had more than two in 11 previous seasons in conference. Other Aggies earning Player of the Week honors were Henry Coleman III (Nov. 20), Wade Taylor IV (Dec. 18) and Tyrece Radford (Feb. 12).
The junior guard from Allen, Texas, averaged 21.0 points in the crucial wins over the Bulldogs and Rebels that evened the Aggies’ ledger against the league at 9-9 and secured the No. 7 seed at this week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville.
The 6-foot-4, 195-pound Obaseki led the team in scoring in both games, marking the first time in his 88-game career that he’s been the Aggies’ points leader in consecutive contests. He scored 17 points against the Bulldogs in the midweek game and then posted his career high with 25 points in Saturday’s regular season finale in Oxford. He connected on nearly 60% of his shots from the field in the two games (15-of-26, .577) and was sizzling from beyond the arc as he hit 6-of-8 3-pointers (.750).
Obaseki’s late season emergence has been a boon to the Aggies, who have won three straight with him in the starting lineup and snapped a five-game losing streak in the process. Since returning to the starting lineup for the first time since the NIT Championship game in 2022, Obaseki has averaged 18.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists while hitting 52.8% from the field and 60.0% from deep. Dating back to his 11-point effort off the bench against South Carolina, Obaseki enters the SEC Tournament with four straight double-digit scoring games.