March 9, 2009
IOWA CITY, Iowa – – For the second time in three weeks, Iowa guard Jake Kelly has been named Big Ten Conference Player of the Week. Kelly earned his second honor after helping the Hawkeyes close the regular season with a 75-67 double overtime win over Penn State.
Kelly was earlier recognized Feb. 23 as the league Player of the Week after leading Iowa to a 70-60 overtime win over Michigan on Feb. 22.
Kelly, a 6-6 sophomore from Carmel, IN, recorded the first two double-doubles of his career in the win over Penn State and a narrow 60-58 loss to Ohio State. Kelly had 19 points and a career-high 11 rebounds against the Buckeyes. He added 22 points and a career-best 11 assists against Penn State.
Kelly made 5-12 field goals and 7-8 free throws against Ohio State and also collected two assists and two steals. He was 8-16 from the field against Penn State, hitting 4-8 three-point attempts and 2-2 free throws. For the season, Kelly is shooting 45.4% from the field, 36.9% from three-point range and 84% from the free throw line. Kelly leads Iowa in scoring (11.7) and is averaging 3.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. He averaged 13.2 points and 3.7 rebounds in 18 Big Ten Conference games.
Forced by injuries to take over the point guard position, Kelly is averaging 20.4 points over Iowa’s last seven outings. He has played 326 of a possible 335 minutes in Iowa’s last eight games. Kelly played 47 minutes against Penn State despite suffering from a virus infection.
Iowa will meet Michigan Thursday (1:35 p.m. CDT, ESPN2) in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN.