SIUE’s Carr, Eslik receive OVC honors
Following a week in which the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's basketball won a pair of games, a pair of players is being rewarded.
Guards C.J. Carr and Burak Eslik have each earned weekly honors from the Ohio Valley Conference.
Carr, a sophomore guard from Rock Island, was selected as the men's basketball Co-Player of the Week. Eslik, a junior guard from Istanbul, Turkey, was honored as the Newcomer of the Week.
Carr averaged 15 points per game in SIUE's wins over SIU Carbondale and Portland State. Carr sank sister school SIU Carbondale with a 20-foot jumper with 25 seconds to play to give the visiting Cougars the 76-74 win. That shot capped a 16-point effort in which Carr was 6 for 7 from the field and 2 for 2 from three-point range.
He scored 14 points Saturday to help lead SIUE back from a seven-point second-half deficit to secure a 10-point home win over Portland State. He led the team with five assists. Carr led the Cougars with five steals for the week.
Carr had previously struggled before the shots started to fall in Carbondale. He’s lifted his scoring average to 9.4 points per game and is shooting 35.9 percent from the field.
“"CJ is a guy who has struggled, but we continue to stay in his ear and his teammates have done a good job staying behind him and trying to motivate him,” said SIUE head coach Jon Harris. “One thing I told him after the Northwestern game — because he was passing up shots — I told him to he can't ever let his confidence waiver. He puts too much time in the gym to ever let his confidence waiver.”
Eslik also was a huge part of SIUE's two-win week. Recruited out of Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Eslik led all scorers Wednesday at SIU Carbondale, pouring in 23 points. He was 8 for 15 from the field, including connecting on a career-high four three-pointers in six attempts.
SIU Saluki head coach Barry Hinson made it known following his team’s loos to the Cougars that he recruited Eslik heavily and was disappointed when he choose the Edwardsville instead of Carbondale.
"We let a kid that decided not to come here have a big game,” Hinson said of Eslik. “We recruited Eslik hard but he chose SIUE and we told our guys he would come out hard and be great. He had eight of their first nine points. Our guys didn’t take me seriously."
Following his career night against the Salukis, Portland State made a concerted effort to limit the junior's touches. Eslik still managed nine points. He scored seven of his nine points in the second half helping the Cougars turn the game around from a seven-point deficit to a 10-point win. He knocked down five of six free throw attempts during the half.
Eslik is the Cougars’ stop scorer at 13.6 points per game.
SIUE (3-7) is off until returning to the court Mon., Dec. 21 at Southern California.
This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 5:07 PM with the headline "SIUE’s Carr, Eslik receive OVC honors."