Vaden Named Big Ten Player of the Week

Robert Vaden became the second IU player to earn Big Ten Player of the Week honors this season, garnering the honor after his 22-point effort in Indiana’s 80-54 win at Ball State Saturday night.

The Hoosier sophomore broke the school record for single-game 3-point proficiency against the Cardinals, going 6-of-6 from behind the arc. That eclipsed the previous mark of 5-for-5, held by Kyle Hornsby (vs. Michigan, 2/17/02) and Keith Smart (vs. Ohio State, 3/5/87).

“Robert is to me one of the better players in our league that doesn’t get a lot of recognition because he’s so unselfish,” said IU Coach Mike Davis. “This year I’ve had to kind of force him and get on him about not being aggressive offensively...We hope he continues to be aggressive offensively, because when he’s aggressive, it really helps us.”

Vaden ranks second on the team in scoring (14.9) and he’s been particularly dangerous in recent weeks. In his last three games Vaden is averaging 19.3 points and is 14-of-18 from behind the 3-point arc. That includes 10 straight makes over the last two games.

That run of 3-point proficiency has him threatening the all-time conference mark of 15 straight 3-pointers, currently held by Northwestern’s Todd Leslie. Leslie made those 15 straight 3-pointers over a four-game stretch in 1990.

Vaden joins Marco Killingsworth as Indiana’s Big Ten Player of the Week honorees this season. Killingsworth earned the league’s weekly honor on Nov. 21 and Dec. 5.