Strong Wins Fourth Guilford College Student-Athlete of the Week Award
Greensboro, N.C. (1/9/07) -- Junior Ben Strong of the men's basketball team earned his second straight Guilford College Student-Athlete of the Week Award Tuesday. The weekly prize is presented by Guilford's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Strong has received the honor four times this season.
Strong, a 6-11, 220-pound center, averaged 25.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game in Guilford’s 2-1 week. He scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half of Guilford’s comeback win at Averett Jan. 2 when the previously unbeaten Cougars were ranked 11th by D3hoops.com. Strong added a game-high 12 rebounds and two blocks in the win. He posted his team-leading and career-high seventh double-double of the season in Guilford’s 80-73 win at Randolph-Macon Jan. 6. He reached the 40-point mark for the second time in three games and finished with 40 points and 14 rebounds, both game highs. Strong became the 26th Guilford student to score 1,000 career points for the men’s basketball team in the victory. The following day, Strong scored a team-high 18 points in the Quakers’ loss at eighth-ranked Virginia Wesleyan.
The Old Dominion Athletic Conference's (ODAC) leader in points (24.0 ppg.), rebounds (10.7 rpg.) and blocks (2.6 bpg.) per game, Strong also ranked among the top-20 NCAA Division III leaders in those categories through games of Dec. 31. He has led Guilford's scorers six times and paced the team's rebounders in 10 of 11 games. Strong makes a team-best 53.8 percent of his shots from the floor, the ODAC's eighth-highest percentage. His 74 percent shooting from the charity stripe stands 12th among the league's best. He starts the week with 1,021 points in 65 career games, the 25th-highest total in school history.
Strong has helped coach Tom Palombo's team to a 10-1 start (4-1 ODAC), the school's best since 1977-78. Guilford won its first 10 games, the best start in school history, before falling at Division III national champion Virginia Wesleyan Jan. 7. The Quakers host league-rival Emory & Henry Saturday (1/13) at 3:00 p.m. in the Ragan-Brown Field House.
Guilford's SAAC is comprised of representatives from each of the school's 16 varsity teams. The group meets regularly to discuss the state of Guilford Athletics and seeks to build community among student-athletes and non-student-athletes on the campus. Recent Guilford SAAC activities include a canned-food drive to benefit local charities and dodgeball competitions among representatives from Guilford's administration and athletic teams.