February 8, 2011

Spartan Rookies Rank Among A-Sun and Nation’s Best

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – USC Upstate men's basketball freshmen Torrey Craig (Rock Hill, S.C./Great Falls), Babatunde Olumuyiwa (Athens, Ga./Clarke Central) and Ricardo Glenn (Augusta, Ga.) rank among the Atlantic Sun's best.  Craig and Olumuyiwa also find their names among the nation's elite.

Craig, Glenn and Olumuyiwa rank first, third and fourth respectively, among freshmen in the A-Sun in rebounds per game.  Craig's 7.2 rpg places him third in the A-Sun, trailing only LaDaris Green of Kennesaw State (7.8 rpg) and Adnan Hodzic of Lipscomb (7.5 rpg). 

Craig's rebounding average places him 15th nationally among all NCAA Division I freshmen.  Meanwhile, Glenn ranks tied for 19th in the conference with 5.5 rebounds per outing, while Olumuyiwa sits just outside the top-20 with 5.1 rpg.

Not only does Craig lead A-Sun freshmen in scoring, he ranks fifth in the conference with 14.8 points per game.  Among freshman nationally, Craig is tied for fifth with Tennessee's Tobias Harris.  Leading the way in scoring (among freshmen) is Jared Sullinger (Ohio State) at 18.0 ppg and he is followed by a pair of Kentucky players (Terrence Jones, 17.9 ppg; Brandon Knight, 17.5 ppg), Trey Ziegler (Central Michigan) with 17.0 ppg and DeAndre Kane (Marshall) with 15.9 ppg.

Earlier this season, Craig snagged 15 rebounds in the win over ETSU (Dec. 5), which places him in a tie for 15th nationally (among freshmen) while his two 14 rebound performances (UNC Asheville, Nov. 29; Stetson, Feb. 4) ranks tied for 25th nationally among freshmen.

Olumuyiwa leads the A-Sun in blocks (63) and blocks per game (2.63) and his 2.63 bpg ranks second nationally (among freshmen) trailing only C.J. Aiken of St. Joseph's who is averaging 3.8 bpg.  Earlier in the season, Olumuyiwa rejected nine shots at South Carolina (Nov. 23), an Upstate school record.  His nine blocks also tied an A-Sun single game record.  Olumuyiwa is tied for sixth nationally with his nine block performance as he is tied with Sean McCarthy (NJIT), C.J. Aiken (St. Joseph's, twice), D.J. Covington (VMI), Aaric Murray (LaSalle).  Olumuyiwa is the only player in the group to record nine blocks against a school from a "Power 6" conference.

The Spartan trio also ranks near the top of the A-Sun in several other statistical categories.  Craig ranks fifth in three point field goals made per game (2.33).  In offensive rebounding, Olumuyiwa ranks fifth with 2.46 rebounds per outing, while Glenn (2.33 orpg) and Craig (2.29 orpg) sit seventh and eighth, respectively.  In defensive rebounding, Craig ranks fourth in the league as he averages nearly five defensive rebounds per game with a 4.92 drpg average.

In league games, Craig is tied for third in scoring with 17.9 ppg and ranks second in rebounding at 8.1 rpg.  Craig's league average of 17.9 ppg, places him fifth nationally (among freshmen), trailing only Trey Ziegler (Central Michigan, 19.6 ppg), Perry Jones (Baylor, 18.9 ppg), Jared Sullinger (Ohio State, 18.5 ppg) and Cleveland Melvin (DePaul, 18.0 ppg).

Craig is also tied for second in three-point field goals per game with 3.00 triples per game and ranks 15th in three-point field goal percentage (36.2%). 

Meanwhile, Olumuyiwa is first in both blocked shots (35) and blocks per game (2.50), while tied for 18th in rebounds per game (5.6). 

In offensive rebounding (league games), Olumuyiwa ranks fifth with 2.71 orpg and is followed by Glenn in eighth (2.46 orpg) and Craig in ninth (2.43 orpg).   In defensive rebounding, Craig leads the league at 5.71 drpg.

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