It didn’t take long for James Blackmon Jr. to earn conference recognition.
The freshman guard was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, the conference announced Monday.
Blackmon shot a combined 54 percent from the field and was 13-for-21 from 3-point range over a three-game stretch of wins against Texas Southern, SMU and Lamar.
He averaged 22 points and six rebounds during that stretch.
Blackmon becomes the first freshman since current sophomore forward Troy Williams earned the honor March. 10.
IU unranked, but receiving votes
After a 4-0 start to the season, IU earned six votes in the Associated Press top 25 and five votes in the USA Today Coaches poll.
In the AP poll, Joe Rexnode of the Detroit Free Press had IU ranked No. 25 and Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times had IU listed at No. 21
SMU, who IU beat when the Mustangs were ranked No. 22, dropped out of the top 25.
Sam Beishuizen
