Big East coaches are going to have a tough call to make for Rookie of the Year honors.
And it should come down to a pair of St. John’s freshman.
Forward Moe Harkless is averaging 15.7 points — second-best among rookies in the Big East — and 8.7. rebounds, tops among rookies.
His teammate, D’Angelo Harrison, meantime, is averaging 16.9 points, tops among Big East rookies and sixth overall in the Big East.
Only West Virginia’s Kevin Jones (20.4), Marquette’s Darius Johnson-Odom (18.4), Villanova’s Maalik Wayns (17.8), DePaul’s Cleveland Melvin (17.7) and UConn’s Jeremy Lamb (17.3) are averaging more than Harrison, a 6-3 guard out of Missouri City, Texas.
For the season, Harrison has scored 20+ points 10 times, including six out of the last nine games.
“Harrison is a really good player,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said after Harrison went off for 22 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in St. John’s 66-63 victory over the Bruins Saturday. “I watched him coming out of high school and he’s very talented. He made some big shots for them. He’s a very good player.”
In the two weeks since we named Harkless the Big East Rookie of the Year in this space, Harrison has outscored his teammate, 73-51, in four games.
Still, Harkless is outperforming Andre Drummond, the Big East Preseason Rookie out of the Year out of UConn.
Drummond is averaging 10.0 points and 7.4 rebounds.
In the end, it should come down to Harkless vs. Harrison.
Either way, St. John’s wins.
