MBB: Adama Sanogo wins Big East’s Player of the Week

The Big East conference is definitely thinking that Adama Sanogo is back.

On Monday, the conference named the Connecticut Huskies’ sophomore standout its men’s basketball Player of the Week for his efforts in last Wednesday night’s win over St. John’s. UConn played in only a single contest last week, but Sanogo’s showing in the overtime triumph was enough to warrant such consideration as one of the most impactful efforts in Big East play this season.

Partaking in his third game back from an abdominal injury that caused him to miss most of December, Sanogo put up a double-double in the form of a team-best 26 points (10-of-17 FG) and 18 rebounds in an overtime thriller in Storrs. Through his efforts in the 86-78 victory, Sanogo set a new career-high in rebounds for the second straight game, previously earning 16 in a Jan. 8 loss at Seton Hall (which also featured an extra five minutes). That tally is also the best single-game rebounding output for any Big East men’s basketball participant thus far this season.

The Mali native also added six blocks, tying another personal best previously set on Nov. 25 during a Battle 4 Atlantis contest against Michigan State. Sanogo had previously won the Player of the Week Award after that week of action, shortly before he was sidelined by the aforementioned injury.

Sanogo and the Huskies return to action on Tuesday night against the Butler Bulldogs (7 p.m. ET, FS1).

In other Big East basketball honors, Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard won the Freshman of the Week award for the fifth time this season. The Bluejays were also represented in the women’s weekly winners, as sophomore Emma Ronsiek won the Player of the Week Award on that level. Aneesah Morrow of DePaul won the top freshman honor, while UConn earned representation on the weekly honor roll through Christyn Williams’ efforts, highlighted by a career-best seven-steal performance against Butler last Wednesday night.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags