St. John's University Athletics
Hatten Named BIG EAST Player of the Week
1/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Hatten averaged 29.0 points in two games for the Red Storm (9-5, 2-2 BIG EAST), including a career-high tying 34 points in a 77-72 victory at Georgetown. In that game, he scored 19 points in the last seven minutes to lead SJU back from a 16-point second half deficit. Hatten shot 14-of-25 from the floor, with three steals and three assists.
Earlier in the week, he had 24 points and nine rebounds in an 82-73 loss to Villanova.
In two games, he also averaged 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.5 steals while shooting 53.8 percent. Hatten has scored 29.7 points per game in conference play this season, which leads the league.
An All-American candidate, Naismith Award candidate (best player 6-1 and under) and Wooden Award nominee for national player of the year honors, the 6-1 guard now has 971 points in 43 career games at St. Johns, a 22.5 per game average. He needs 29 points to become the 41st player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Should he reach that mark, he would become one of eight players in St. Johns history (joining Walter Berry, Bob Zawoluk, Chris Mullin, Mel Davis, Bootsy Thornton, Tony Jackson and Malik Sealy) to reach that mark in just two seasons.
He leads St. Johns, and the BIG EAST, in scoring with 23.4 points per game, which ranks among the top-15 in the country. The 6-1 guard ranks among the top-20 in six other categories in the league: 17th in rebounding, 6.3 per game; 13th in defensive rebounds, 4.21 per game; 13th in field goal percentage, 46.0%; 14th in assists, 3.43 per game; 12th in free throw percentage, 72.5% and second in steals, 2.79 per game.
In just two years, Hatten has made his mark in the Red Storm record books. His current two-year scoring average of 22.5 points per game is the highest in school history. In 20 career BIG EAST games, he is averaging 23.8 points per game, the highest in conference history, besting the mark of 22.6 set by former Georgetown guard Allen Iverson.
He set a school record with 105 steals last year including twice tying the school record of eight. He has registered 39 this season, giving him 144 for his career, which ranks eighth all-time.
St. Johns returns to action on Saturday, playing at Virginia Tech. The game tips off at 2 p.m., will be televised by Fox Sports and can be heard on 1050 AM ESPN Radio.
