NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A day after garnering South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week honors, junior forward John Zhao (Sevierville, Tenn.) has added Tennessee Sportswriters Association State Player of the Week honors to his trophy case.
Zhao's plaudit does not take into account Carson-Newman's 107-83 beatdown of Tennessee Wesleyan, Tuesday afternoon. Zhao earns the honor for his performances in Carson-Newman's two road wins last week against Tusculum and Anderson.
The Sevier County-product is the second Eagle to earn recognition from the TSWA this year. Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) garnered the award following the Eagles' two wins to start the year at the SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge against Lees-McRae and King.
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 six 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. In fact, Clark had seven before Christmas in his sophomore, junior and senior seasons.
Zhao and the Eagles break for Christmas before returning to the hardwood Dec. 30 against Belmont Abbey. Tipoff with the Crusders is slated for 4 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video feed will be available through FloSports at cneagles.com/FloMBB.
