ACC Basketball: Players of the Week Announced 2/3

GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Clemson’s Jordan Roper and Louisville’s Terry Rozier have been selected as the Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball Co-Players of the Week in a vote by a select media panel, while Duke’s Jahlil Okafor was selected as the ACC Rookie of the Week. 

The ACC Player of the Week honor is the first of the season for Roper, while Rozier was recognized for the second time. The ACC Rookie of the Year honor is the eighth for Okafor.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
Clemson’s Roper averaged 21.0 points and 2.0 assists as the Tigers scored a 68-57 road win at NC State and a 64-49 win over Boston College, moving above .500 in ACC play (5-4) after a 1-3 start. Roper scored a game-high 18 points at NC State, making 3-of-5 from 3-point range and 5-of 6 at the free-throw line. The junior guard from Columbia, South Carolina followed up by scoring a career-high 24 points in the win over Boston College, including the Tigers’ first 11 points of the game. Roper went 8-of-11 from the floor against the Eagles, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range. The six 3-pointers were a career high and the most by any Clemson player since Andre Young had seven versus Georgia Tech in January of 2012. 

Louisville’s Rozier keyed the Cardinals to a pair of ACC wins at Boston College and at home against 13th-ranked North Carolina. The Youngstown, Ohio, sophomore scored 23 points with five assists and five rebounds in the 81-72 win at Boston College last Wednesday night. In Saturday’s 78-68 overtime win over UNC, Rozier helped the Cardinals rally from 18 points down to tie the game, then scored Louisville’s first six points in OT. He finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds to earn his first career double-double. The 10 rebounds were one shy of Rozier's career-high of 11 against Cleveland State earlier this season. Rozier has averaged 20.9 points over his last 14 games, and has scored at least 22 points in each of his last three. 

The Blue Devils’ Okafor averaged 16.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.0 blocks and 1.5 steals per game as Duke split a pair of road games against AP top-10 opponents. The Chicago native recorded 22 points, 17 rebounds and three assists in a four-point loss to No. 8 Notre Dame. He was 10-of-18 from the field in the contest. Okafor and the Blue Devils rebounded to post a 69-63 win over No. 2 Virginia Saturday. He had 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go along with nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Okafor scored eight points in the second half as Duke overcame an 11-point second half deficit to win its third road game over a top-10 opponent this season. Okafor has now scored in double figures in all 21 games this season.