PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 11 Rutgers men's basketball junior Ron Harper Jr. earned national recognition Monday for his excellent play as he picked up Player of the Week awards from ESPN.com and College Sports Madness. Harper Jr. was Rutgers' leading scorer in two Big Ten wins last week, at Maryland and over No. 13 Illinois, scoring 27 and 28 points respectively.

The Don Bosco Prep product helped RU close out both wins with dominant performances in the closing halves, with 22 second half points vs. No. 13 Illinois and 19 second half points at Maryland. He averaged 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists, shooting 59 percent (19-of-32) from the field and 62.5 percent from 3-point distance (10-of-16) on the week. He now has three straight games with five three-pointers. He has scored at least 15 points in every game, and at least 25 points in four of six games.

"We hold ourselves to a high standard," Harper Jr. explained following the game versus Illinois. "We talk about 1-0 every game and we're going to keep focusing on be 1-0 in every game. We love each other, we trust our coaches, we trust each other, and that's a great recipe for success. We have great work ethic, our coaches have done a great job developing our games. We trusted each other, we trusted our coaches, and it gets to show now." 

Harper Jr. is averaging 24.0 points and 7.3 rebounds on the year. The Wooden Award Watch list member leads the Big Ten in 3-point percentage (52.5), is second in the league in scoring, 4th in field goal percentage (60.0) and 10th in rebounding. Nationally, he ranks fifth in scoring and is 16th in field goal percentage. 

"Rutgers had one of its best seasons in program history last year, one that should've ended in the NCAA tournament, and the Scarlet Knights did it without a true star," wrote ESPN.com's Jeff Borzello. "Geo Baker hit some big shots late in games, but Rutgers mostly won games because of its defense and balanced attack. Well, Steve Pikiell has a legitimate star now. Ron Harper Jr. has taken as big a leap between his sophomore and junior years as anyone in the country, and is playing terrific basketball. This past week, Harper had 27 points, five rebounds and four assists in a road win at Maryland, then had 28 points and nine boards in a marquee win over Illinois. He has now put up at least 26 points in four of his past five games and has gone 15-for-24 from 3-point range in his past three games."

"The big riser this week was Rutgers, which won at Maryland last Monday and then beat Illinois at the RAC on Sunday to remain undefeated," The Athletic's Seth Davis noted. "This Scarlet Knights team is legit, and as I noted last week, Ron Harper Jr. is playing like an All-American."

Behind Ron Harper Jr.'s efforts, the Scarlet Knights are off to their first ever 2-0 start to league play, including the first road win at Maryland as a conference member. The win over No. 13 Illinois was the second highest ranked win under head coach Steve Pikiell. Rutgers is currently the lone Big Ten team at 2-0 in league play.

RU vaulted up eight spots in the national rankings to No. 11 in the AP Poll, the team's highest ranking since the Final Four season of 1975-76. The Scarlet Knights are the third highest ranked of the seven ranked Big Ten teams. Four other conference teams are receiving votes. 

The team heads back on the road for another matchup against a ranked foe, taking on No. 23 Ohio State on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. That game will air nationwide on Big Ten Network. 
 
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