KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association announced its fifth Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week, presented by
Shift Group, for the 2023-24 season.
MIAA Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week – Max Alexander, Pittsburg State
Max Alexander averaged 26.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while leading Pittsburg State to a pair of home wins over Newman and previously unbeaten Central Oklahoma last week. The Buhler, Kan., native scored 24 points and dished out five assists while playing all 40 minutes in the Gorillas 75-66 upset over the No. 3-ranked Bronchos. He added 29 points, eight rebounds and three steals in Pitt State’s 82-66 victory over the Jets earlier in the week. Alexander leads the MIAA in scoring to date, averaging 22.1 points per game.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Solomon Oraegbu – Emporia State
Solomon Oraegbu averaged 27.5 points per game as No. 21-ranked Emporia State won two games to remain the only team undefeated in MIAA play. The junior recorded an ESU career high 30 points and seven rebounds in the Hornets 85-74 win over Rogers State. He followed that with a 25-point, four rebound, three steal performance in an 89-77 win over Northeastern State.
Elijah Nnanabu – Fort Hays State
Elijah Nnanabu helped the Tigers knock off two-consecutive NABC Top 25 opponents with wins over No. 17 Northwest Missouri State and No. 22 Missouri Western in Hays’s Gross Memorial Coliseum. Nnanabu led the Tigers in scoring for the week at 15.0 points per game, while adding 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 3.5 steals per game. Nnanabu recorded a career-high seven steals in the win over the Griffons and helped FHSU hold both opponents to exactly 49 points, improving the nation’s best scoring defense that now sits at 55.6 points per game. Nnanabu totaled 13 points against the Bearcats and 17 against MWSU. He led the team in scoring, rebounds, assists, and steals in the game against Western.
Luke Haasl – Central Oklahoma
Luke Haasl led No. 3-ranked Bronchos with two big performances this week. The junior big man averaged 15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.0 blocks per game. In a 73-63 win at Missouri Southern, Haasl posted 11 points, one rebound, and five blocked. He then put up 19 points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots in a setback at Pitt State.
ALSO NOMINATED
Damiri Lindo (Nebraska Kearney), Martin Macenis (Missouri Southern), DJ Richardson (Lincoln), Jack Bachelor (Washburn), Rodney Battle (Rogers State)
ABOUT SHIFT GROUP
Shift Group is a training and recruiting platform placing talented, retired collegiate and professional athletes in high caliber Software Sales positions. Athletes spend their lives engaging in team-based activities where they are rewarded for performance-based outcomes. Competitive drive, work ethic, and the desire to win are innate qualities of those performing at elite levels. Athletes at this level must have discipline, resilience, and grit. These are the intangible parts of any elite athlete’s identity. When combined with confidence, curiosity, and coachability, these traits separate great athletes – and great salespeople. Salesmanship can be taught. It requires the right attitude, habits, and skills – learned, practiced, and repeated in the right environment in order to be mastered. Once an athlete finishes Shift Group training, they get access to hiring managers at Startups, Fortune 500’s, and other organizations building out sales teams across the globe – with the Shift Group team coaching them through every step of the process.
2023-24 MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
WEEK ONE: Jaden Wells, Central Oklahoma
WEEK TWO: Wes Dreamer, Northwest Missouri
WEEK THREE: Alijah Comithier, Emporia State
WEEK FOUR: Bennett Stirtz, Northwest Missouri
WEEK FIVE: Max Alexander, Pittsburg State