McGowens, Markowski win Freshman of Week honors

Nebraska basketball's Bryce McGowens and Alexis Markowski won Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN/Nebraska Athletics) – Nebraska basketball’s Bryce McGowens and Alexis Markowski won Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.

Markowski: Alexis Markowski was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the first time in her career, and sophomore Jaz Shelley claimed a spot on the Big Ten Weekly Honor Roll for the second consecutive week when the conference announced its weekly women’s basketball awards on Monday, Nov. 29.

Markowski, a 6-3 forward/center out of Lincoln Pius X High School, averaged 6.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in 15 minutes per game off the bench for the Big Red in a pair of wins at The Dana on Mission Bay Holiday Tournament in San Diego (Nov. 26-27). She closed the tournament with seven points and seven rebounds to go with her first career assist and a blocked shot in 14 minutes in a championship game win over the host Toreros. 

Markowski opened the tournament with five points on 2-of-2 shooting to go along with a career-high nine rebounds and a block in a 65-53 win over 2021 NCAA Tournament qualifier Drexel.

Through the first seven games of her college career, the 2021 Nebraska High School Player of the Year has averaged 8.6 points and 6.3 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game. Her production equates to 23.4 points and 17.2 rebounds per 40 minutes.

Markowski is Nebraska’s first Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Week honoree since Sam Haiby captured the award on Feb. 4, 2019.

Markowski and the unbeaten Huskers (7-0) head to Winston-Salem, N.C., Wednesday to battle unbeaten Wake Forest (7-0) in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Tip-off in the first-ever meeting between the Huskers and Demon Deacons at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum is set for 6 p.m. (CT) with live video available through the Watch ESPN App.

McGowens: For the second time in three weeks, Nebraska’s Bryce McGowens was honored as Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday.

McGowens averaged 20.0 points on 50 percent shooting, 7.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists in helping the Huskers to a perfect 2-0 record last week, helping Nebraska enter this week’s Big Ten/ACC Challenge riding a four-game win streak. The 6-foot-7 guard from Pendleton, S.C., had 18 point six rebounds and four assists in NU’s win over Tennessee Tech and followed up that performance with 22 points, eight boards and four assists in the 83-70 win over South Dakota on Saturday.

McGowens leads all Big Ten freshman in scoring (17.7 ppg) and ranks is second in rebounding (6.9 rpg), as he paces the Huskers in both categories. McGowens is the first Husker men’s basketball player to earn multiple weekly freshman honors since Shavon Shields in 2012-13.

Nebraska returns to action on Wednesday, Dec. 1, as the Huskers travel to NC State. Tipoff is set for 6:15 p.m. on ESPNU and the Huskers Radio Network.