SBU's Matt Rogers has been named MIAA Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of November 23-28. Rogers averaged 32.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.0 blocks as the eighth-ranked Bearcats swept both games in the SBU Thanksgiving Classic over Henderson State and Dallas Baptist.

The senior from Doniphan, Mo., had 36 points in the Cats' 117-77 win against Henderson State Friday night, just one point from his career high and four points from the SBU single game record. Rogers scored 29 points in the first half alone against the Reddies, including 11-of-12 from the field and 5-of-5 from three-point range. He also recorded six blocks in each game, with all six swats versus HSU coming in the first half. He tied his career high with 13 made field goals against the Reddies. His 36 points against Henderson State came in only 22 minutes.

Rogers continued his strong weekend play with 28 points in SBU's 98-91 win over Dallas Baptist on Saturday night, including 16 in the first half. He shot 65% from the floor (24/37), 70% from three-point range (7/10) and a perfect 9-of-9 from the foul line in the two games. Rogers was joined on the All-SBU Thanksgiving Classic Team by teammate Thijin Moses, along with Emporia State guards Tim Niles and Taylor Euler and Dallas Baptist guard Braxton Adamson. Niles was the MIAA Player of the Week the previous week.

For the season, Rogers is averaging 24.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.8 blocks and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 64% from the field, 56% from beyond the arc and 86% from the foul line. This is the seventh time in his SBU career that he's earned this honor from the conference and first this season.

SBU (7-1) begins MIAA play on Wednesday night in Warrensburg against the #2 Central Missouri Mules (4-0). The battle between two of the nation's top ten teams begins at 7:30 p.m. The contest is a rematch of last year's South Central Region final and features the top picks in the preseason MIAA polls: SBU (coaches) and UCM (media).