BOSTON - After a successful non-conference portion of the season, league play begins this week with eight America East tilts. The conference's nine teams combined for 55 non-league wins, the most since 2012-13 and 11 more than a year ago.
Stony Brook's Jameel Warney earned America East Player of the Week honors and Albany's Joe Cremo picked up Rookie of the Week presented by Under Armour accolades.
Read more about the weekly award winners and conference notes below:
Player of the Week
Jameel Warney, Stony Brook - Sr., Forward, Plainville, N.J.
- Averaged 20.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.0 blocks in a pair of quality wins over NJIT and Columbia last week.
- Shot 70.8 percent from the floor (17-of-24).
- Had 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting and nine rebounds in a win at NJIT Monday.
- Collected 20 points, seven boards and five blocks in a win over Columbia Saturday.
- This is Warney’s fourth honor of the season and 14th of his career, tying him with Taylor Coppenrath for the most in league history.
Rookie of the Week presented by Under Armour
Joe Cremo, Albany - Fr., Guard, Scotia, N.Y.
- Averaged 15.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in a pair of Albany wins last week.
- Had 15 points and six boards in a win over St. Francis Brooklyn Tuesday.
- Scored 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting in a win over Cornell Saturday.
- This is his second straight Rookie of the Week honor.
Notes
- America East teams combined for 55 regular-season non-conference wins, the most since the 2012-13 season and 11 more than a year ago.
- America East ranks 23rd out of 32 Division I conferences in RPI, according to the Jan. 4 College Basketball News RPI Report, a four-spot improvement from this time last year.
- Seven of America East's nine teams have better RPIs than at this time last year.
- Stony Brook, which has a league-best RPI (60), is riding a five-game win streak.
- Albany, which has a top-95 RPI (94), enters conference play with 11 non-conference wins and winner of nine of its last 10 games.
- New Hampshire’s seven non-conference wins match its program record set last season.
- The top four teams in the league standings -Albany, New Hampshire, Stony Brook and Vermont- are a combined 35-21 on the season, including 20-1 at home.
- UMass Lowell's win over Boston College on Dec. 6 was the first by an America East team over an ACC foe since Maine beat the Eagles on Jan. 2, 2010.
- Jameel Warney earned his 13th career America East Player of the Week award on Dec. 21, tying Vin Baker for the second-most in league history.
- Warney eclipsed the 1,000 career rebound mark earlier this season becoming just the sixth player in league history with 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds.
Weekly Award Winners
Nov. 16 - Player of the Week: Iba Camara, New Hampshire; Rookie of the Week: Ernie Duncan, Vermont
Nov. 23 - Player of the Week: Trae Bell-Haynes, Vermont; Rookie of the Week: Issac Vann, Maine
Nov. 30 - Co-Players of the Week: Willie Rodriguez, Binghamton & Jameel Warney, Stony Brook; Rookie of the Week: George Blagojevic, Hartford
Dec. 7 - Player of the Week: Jameel Warney, Stony Brook; Rookie of the Week: Devine Eke, Maine
Dec. 14 - Player of the Week: Will Darley, UMBC; Rookie of the Week: Joe Sherburne, UMBC
Dec. 21 - Player of the Week: Jameel Warney, Stony Brook; Rookie of the Week: Everson Davis, Binghamton
Dec. 28 - Player of the Week: Carson Puriefoy, Stony Brook; Rookie of the Week: Joe Cremo, Albany
Jan. 4 - Player of the Week: Jameel Warney, Stony Brook; Rookie of the Week: Joe Cremo, Albany