Gophers center Daniel Oturu's career-best 30-point performance in Sunday's 75-67 win against No. 19 Michigan earned him his second Big Ten player of the week honor this season Monday.
The 6-foot-10 sophomore scored 20 points in the first half Sunday against the Wolverines, but it was how he finished that made the biggest impression.
Oturu went down with a left shoulder injury early in the second half, but he returned to the game after a few minutes to help the Gophers finish off their fourth straight home victory. He shot 13-for-18 from the field and recorded seven rebounds in 35 minutes
The Woodbury, Minn., native's previous career-high was 29 points, to go with 18 rebounds in a double-overtime loss at Purdue on Jan. 2. Oturu has two more double-doubles than he did last season with 10, which came with 22 points and 10 rebounds in a 74-58 loss last week at Michigan State.
On Monday, ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas also announced on Twitter that Oturu was the Bilastrator's National Player of the Week award winner.
Oturu was also named co-Big Ten player of the week on Dec. 30 after he posted the first 20-point, 20-rebound performance for the Gophers since Tom Kondla in 1966. He had 21 points and 20 rebounds in a Dec. 28 win against Florida International.
Through 16 games, Oturu has nine 20-point performances and ranks second in the Big Ten in scoring (19.9) and blocks (2.9) and first in rebounding (11.9) this season.
The Gophers (9-7) host Penn State on Wednesday at Williams Arena.
