INDIANAPOLIS (3/4/25) – A day after being awarded Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week, Arkansas State men’s basketball’s Izaiyah Nelson received national acclaim, being named to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Oscar Robertson Trophy National Player of the Week list for games ending March 2.

The USBWA has expanded its national weekly honors program to now highlight five national Division I players each week in conjunction with the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Nelson joins Silas Demary Jr. (Georgia), Eric Dixon (Villanova), Jeff Planutis (Mercyhurst) and Cooper Schwieger (Valparaiso) on this week’s list. He is the second Red Wolf to receive the honor this season, joining fellow All-Sun Belt performer Taryn Todd (Dec. 17).

Nelson capped the regular season in a monster way for A-State (22-9), averaging 21.5 points and a nation-leading 20 rebounds in the Red Wolves’ wins at Louisiana and at ULM. The wins secured the program’s first Sun Belt regular-season crown since 1998 and a top-four seed in the upcoming conference tournament for the second year in a row.

In Wednesday’s 83-64 win at Louisiana, Nelson scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed 21 rebounds (10 offensive, 11 defensive). He was the first A-State player with a 30-20 performance since 1994, and one of 10 Division I players in the last 10 seasons with at least 30 points, 10-plus offensive rebounds and 10 or more defensive rebounds in a game, but the only one to do so in under 30 minutes. His performance was also just the second by a player this season, but the only one against a Division-I opponent.

The Atlanta, Ga., native followed his monster performance on Friday with 13 points and 19 rebounds in the Red Wolves’ 94-67 victory at ULM, securing 13 defensive boards and swatting away a season-high four blocked shots.

Nelson has tallied five straight double-doubles entering the Sun Belt Conference Championship. Over that span, he is averaging 18.2 points and 17.4 rebounds, along with 2.6 blocks.

NEXT UP

A-State is seeded fourth in the Sun Belt Conference Championship, and will play in the quarterfinal round set for 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 8, inside the Bay Center in Pensacola, Fla.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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