MONROE, La. – Strong starts to the 2015 calendar year earned Majok Deng and Sharnice Brooks from the ULM men's and women's basketball programs Warhawk of the Month honors, announced Tuesday.
Deng guided the men's team to a phenomenal 8-2 record in the month. He reached double-figures in scoring seven times and upped his career high twice. Deng played a big role in ULM's six consecutive SBC victories, the most in school history.
The Adelaide, Australia product is coming off a career-high 17 points to go along with his eight rebounds on Saturday in a 67-61 win over South Alabama. He came just two days after he posted a team-high 15 points in an overtime victory over Troy.
Deng ranks second in the Sun Belt Conference in blocks with 1.7 per outing and third in defensive rebounds with 5.1 per game. In SBC games only, Deng averages a team-high 11.4 points per game and is shooting .395 (17-43) from three-point range.
The junior came through with a huge performance of 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds against UALR earlier in the month. It was his fourth double-double of the season. Deng also heavily aided ULM in four consecutive road victories, the most since 1998-99.
Brooks, a senior from Mer Rouge, La., led the women's team to a 5-5 conference record through Jan., which is the best record the program has posted in that month since 2010-11 when the team went 5-4. The senior averaged 14.3 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per game in addition to garnering a total of 22 blocks (2.2 per game) over the month.
Overall, Brooks collected seven double-digit scoring efforts, including gathering a career-high 28 points against Troy and then matching that total over Georgia Southern. The 28 points over Troy was combined with 12 rebounds for Brooks' first career double-double.
Brooks also earned three awards during the third week of Jan. after solid performances in each game guided the Warhawks to a 3-0 record over six days. Brooks was named Madness Sun Belt Woman's Basketball Player of the Week, Sun Belt Player of the Week and Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) women's college basketball Player of the Week on Jan. 26.
ULM will be back in action on Thursday when it takes on UALR. The women will tip at 4:00 p.m. and the men will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game but not before 7:30 p.m.
Warhawk of the Month will revert back to a weekly award beginning next week.
Warhawk of the Week Archive
