MBK: Wolters Named Summit Athlete Of The Month

The Summit League named South Dakota State men’s basketball star Nate Wolters its male athlete of the month on Wednesday for the second straight month.

“He obviously had a great month, and it’s kind of unusual for an athlete to get it two months in a row like that, particularly when you’re looking at all the athletes in the league,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “Kudos to The Summit League for giving it to him, because it was probably well-deserved in terms of what he did in January and what he did in February.

Wolters collects his second-straight Athlete of the Month honor and the second of his career after posting 53 points, the highest scoring mark in NCAA Division I this season, and after leading South Dakota State to 30-straight home victories, currently the longest in the nation.

The St. Cloud, Minn., native scored 53 points in the win at Fort Wayne on Feb. 7, marking new league and school single-game records.  For his 53-point performance, Wolters was earned four national Player of the Week awards, including the ESPN Player of the Week, the Lute Olson Award National Player of the Week, and the ESPN Capital One Impact Performer of the Week. 

On Feb. 9 at Oakland, the senior guard scored 36 points with six rebounds and seven assists, which included a perfect 9-for-9 from the stripe to help SDSU set a school record for free throw percentage going 17-for-17 from the line. 

On Feb. 16, Wolters tallied a game-high 18 points with six assists and three rebounds, completing a season sweep of Western Illinois and marking the Jackrabbits’ 30th consecutive home victory. 

During the month he also posted two double-doubles, the first against CSU Bakersfield with a 32-point, 10-rebound performance, with the second coming in a win at Omaha as he posted 18 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, to help SDSU clinch the No. 1 seed in The Summit League Tournament. 

For the month, the three-time Summit League Player of the Week, averaged 27.6 points, 6.0 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.  He shot 58 percent from the field and 77 percent at the line as the Jacks went 5-3.  Wolters was also named a finalist for the Lou Henson Award, is a Naismith Player of the Year candidate and a Breitbart Sports College All-American.

Courtesy: Ryan Sweeter, SDSU