The honors continue to roll in for Central College’s Joshua Van Gorp, as he was tabbed as the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Division III National Player of the Week and named to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week on Tuesday.
The Pella Christian graduate is the first player in Central men’s program history to receive the USBWA award, and received the D3hoops.com honor for the second time in his career. Van Gorp, an NABC All-American Team pick last year, broke a pair of 43-year-old school records on Saturday and powered Central to two lopsided conference road wins. For the two games, he averaged 38.5 points and 12.0 rebounds while shooting 80.5% from the field. Van Gorp’s 48 points on Saturday are the fourth-most by an NCAA Division III men’s player this year. He moved into first place in Division III in season field goals (196), fourth in scoring (23.3), sixth in field goal percentage (66.9) and 17th in rebounding (11.0). Last year’s conference player of the year, Van Gorp received men’s basketball player of the week honors for the fourth time, but the first time this season. Earlier this season, he was named to the Bevo Francis Award Top 100 Watch List.
Central, who is 14-6 overall and 8-3 in conference games, plays host to Buena Vista University tonight at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium in a women’s-men’s doubleheader. The men’s game starts at 8 p.m.