St. Louisan Phillip Russell has made quite a name for himself in college basketball as one of the top players in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The former Vashon High standout has enjoyed a stellar sophomore campaign at Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau. The 5’10” sophomore guard is currently averaging 19.2 points a game which is currently first in the OVC. His offensive exploits have had the Redhawks in contention for the OVC regular-season championship. SEMO entered the week in second place behind Morehead State.
Russell is also averaging 2.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists a game while shooting 36 percent from 3-point range and 83 percent from the free throw line. In the past six games, Russell has taken his game to an even higher level as he started to put up some prime-time numbers. During that six-game stretch, Russell is averaging 27.5 points a game. He scored a career-high 37 points in two of those six games. On January 14, he had 37 points and six assists in a 91-84 victory over Morehead State. He put up another 37 points along with 10 assists last week in SEMO’s 99-98 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock.
Russell is following up on a very productive first season at SEMO where he earned All-OVC Freshman Team honors after averaging 13.4 points a game while leading the Redhawks in assists and steals. He earned OVC Freshman of the Week honors five times last season.
