JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman junior forward John Zhao (Sevierville, Tenn.) has been named the WePlayed Sports South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday morning. 

Zhao earns his first weekly laurel from the league office. He is the first Eagle to earn SAC Player of the Week honors since Bryant Thomas following the opening weekend of the 2022-23 season.  Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) was honored following the opening weekend of this season by the Tennessee Sportswriters' Association. 

The junior helped the Eagles to a 2-0 road record this past week, with a 23-point, six-rebound day at Tusculum in an 83-73 win and a 21-point, six-rebound performance in Saturday's 94-81 triumph at Anderson. 

For the week he averaged 22 points and six rebounds per game.  He made 14-of-21 shots from the field and 3-of-7 from three.  He made 13-of-14 free throws. 

The league's second-leading scorer, Zhao has already turned in six, 20-point nights this season. He has four, 20-point games in his last five contests.  He already has matched Bryant Thomas' six, 20-point games from last season. 

Carson-Newman hasn't had a player with more than six 20-point games in a season since Grant Teichmann's eight in 2018-19. 

He is the first Eagle with six, 20-point nights in the first semester since Charles Clark, the SAC's all-time leading scorer, had seven before the Christmas holiday in his senior year, 2017-18.  Clark had seven before Christmas in his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. 

Zhao and the rest of the Eagles will be on display Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Holt Fieldhouse against Tennessee Wesleyan. Pregame coverage against the Bulldogs starts at 1:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video stream is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/FloMbb.