NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Atlantic 10 Conference has named Davidson senior Foster Loyer its Men's Basketball Player of the Week. Richmond freshman Jason Nelson was chosen as the league’s Rookie of the Week. The awards, the first weekly honors of the season, were announced Monday and are for games played Nov. 7-13.
 
Loyer finished the opening week of the season averaging 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game. In addition, the guard shot 47.9 percent from the floor, 46.7 percent from 3-point range and made 25 of his 29 free throw attempts for a 86.2 percent clip. After scoring 30 points in Davidson’s season opener against Guilford, Loyer flirted with a triple-double in the Wildcats’ thrilling come-from-behind double-overtime win at Wright State. The Clarkston, Mich., native drilled three 3-pointers and scored 11 of his career-high 38 points in the second overtime as Davidson erased a 21-point deficit to rally past Wright State, 102-97. Loyer also added 11 rebounds and 9 assists in 48 minutes of action. The preseason all-conference performer capped the week with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists against VMI.
 
Nelson, a guard from Richmond, Va., totaled 34 points (17.0 per game), 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and shot 56 percent from the field (14-25) while leading UR to a pair of double-digit wins. He scored a game-high 21 points to pace the Spiders against Northern Iowa and added 13 versus VMI, along with three assists and two steals.  The 34 points across two games are the most by a Spiders freshman since Kendall Anthony in 2011-12
 
HONOR ROLL
Freshman Reed Bailey averaged 10.3 points on 12-of-15 (.750)  shooting in Davidson’s three wins … Amzil Mustapha had back-to-back strong performances for Dayton, tallying 14 points and five rebounds versus Lindenwood and 20 and five against SMU in the two wins  … UD freshman Mike Sharavjamts opened his career with two 10-point games, while also averaging 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists for the Flyers … George Mason’s Josh Oduro averaged 13.7 points and 7.0 rebounds in a 2-1 week for the patriots, including a 20-point, 12-rebound double-double in a win over Longwood … Ricky Lindo, Jr., scored 19 points with nine rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting (.625) and a perfect 8-for-8 at the line for George Washington against Howard, and he averaged 9.5 rebounds per game …  GW freshman Maximus Edwards finished the week with 15 points per game and 7.0 assist per game, shooting .611 from the field (11-of-18) …  … La Salle's Khalil Brantley had 22 points, four rebounds and six assists, shooting .556 (5-of-9) from the field and .800 (12-of-15) at the line in the Explorer’s first win of the season … Tom Welch opened the year with a. 15-point, 15-rebound double-double for Loyola Chicago, while also throwing the full-court inbounds pass to Sheldon Edwards for a buzzer-beater to force overtime … Rhode Island’s Ishmael Legget averaged 17.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals in the Rams’ two season-opening games … Rhody freshman Abdou Samb was 9-of-12 (.750) in URI’s two games last week, including scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds versus Texas State … St. Bonaventure’s Kyrell Luc averaged 18 points, tallying 23 with five assists in the Bonnies season-opening victory over Saint Francis … Bonnies freshman Barry Evans had 12 points and eight rebounds in the Brown and White’s win over the Red Flash to open the year … Saint Joseph's freshman Erik Reynolds II scored 17 points on 6-11 (.353) shooting versus No. 3 Houston at the Veterans Classic … SJU freshman Rasheer Flemming contributed nine points and seven rebounds in the game against No. 3 Houston ... Yuri Collins picked up where he left off last year, recording 27 assists in Saint Louis’ two openers, recording 14 dimes versus Murray State and 13 against Evansville for a 13.5 average.