BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Ohio Valley Conference announced its men’s basketball weekly honorees today and University of Tennessee at Martin guard Jordan Sears was named the league’s Player of the Week.
A 5-11, 185-pound junior out of Daytona Beach, Fla., this marks the second OVC Player of the Week honor for Sears this season as he also brought home the award on Nov. 27. He becomes only the eighth Skyhawk to ever win this accolade in the same season and first since his former teammate Parker Stewart in 2022-23.
Today’s announcement also marked the fourth time that UT Martin produced an OVC Player of the Week in 2023-24. In addition to Sears, Jacob Crews (Nov. 20) and Issa Muhammad (Jan. 29).
Sears helped guide the Skyhawks to their third and fourth consecutive victories last week, defeating Eastern Illinois and SIUE by double digits on the road. The speedster averaged 29.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game, shooting 51.7 percent (15-for-29) from the floor. That included a 61.5 percent clip (8-of-13) from three-point range while he also swished 84 percent (21-for-25) of his free throw attempts.
On Saturday in the 90-79 win over SIUE, Sears equaled a career-high with 34 points while adding six assists, four rebounds and three steals. He knocked down nine of his 15 field goal tries, including a career-best six treys in just eight shots from beyond the three-point arc.
Two days earlier, Sears compiled 25 points, six rebounds and five assists in a 76-59 victory at Eastern Illinois.
Sears currently leads the OVC in scoring (20.2 points per game) while also ranking in the league’s top-10 in assists (4.0 per game, third), steals (1.5 per contest, fifth), free throw percentage (.826, fifth), field goal percentage (.471, sixth), three-point field goals per game (2.1 per outing, sixth), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2, seventh).
UT Martin is back on the road for both games this week, starting with a matchup tomorrow at Little Rock.
