Michigan State freshman Max Christie earned his first Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor for his play in home wins over Louisville and Toledo last week.
Christie's week was highlighted by 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and two blocks in an 81-68 home victory over the Rockets on Saturday. On Wednesday against the Cardinals, the freshman had 11 points, two rebounds, an assists and a steal in a 73-64 win for the Spartans.
For the week, Christie averaged 12.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.0 block and 0.5 steals per game. He shares the Freshman of the Week honor with Wisconsin's Chucky Hepburn, who finished the week with an average of 11.0 points, 4.5 assists, 2.0 steals, 1.5 rebounds and 0.5 blocks.
Christie, a former 5-star shooting guard prospect from Rolling Meadows (Ill.) High School came to East Lansing with the reputation of a lethal shooter and a reliable scorer.
Christie is still adjusting his offensive game to the speed and physicality of NCAA Div. 1 college basketball. For the season, the freshman is averaging 8.9 points per game on 33.8 percent shooting from the floor, and 28.6 percent shooting from three-point range.
Despite those shooting woes, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said following the Louisville game that he was impressed by the maturity of his star freshman, stating that those low shooting numbers have not affected Christie's effort on the defensive end of the floor in any way.
The young shooting guard is averaging 3.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.7 steals per game through the first nine games of the year.
The Spartans (7-2) open Big Ten play on Wednesday with a road trip to Minnesota (7-0), before returning home on Saturday for a matchup with Penn State (4-4, 0-1 Big Ten).
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