By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Errick McCollum was named 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season Round 6 MVP, Euroleague Basketball announced Thursday.
McCollum, 33, is going through his fifth EuroCup campaign. Besides landing the MVP of the season in 2016, he earned four MVP of the Round awards playing for Galatasaray and UNICS Kazan, before notching his first as a member of Lokomotiv Kuban. Other EuroCup achievements include the 2016 championship and leading all scorers in the 2013-14 season.
With a 39 PIR, the brother of CJ McCollum topped all players in action Tuesday and Wednesday, thus getting the latest MVP nod. He posted a 29-point, 13-assist double-double as the Russian side rallied to defeat Dolomiti Energia Trento Wednesday.
Per the press release: “7DAYS EuroCup legend Errick McCollum recorded the second-highest performance index rating of his career on Wednesday to rally Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar to a narrow win and cinch MVP honors for Round 6. McCollum scored 29 points and dished a career-high 13 assists in a 97-95 victory over Dolomiti Energia Trento. He made 4 of 6 three-pointers and 9 of 10 free throws and did not commit a single turnover in compiling a PIR of 39, which was the most of any player in Round 6. Yogi Ferrell had the second-highest PIR in his EuroCup debut for Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana. Ferrell amassed 24 points and 11 assists for a PIR of 38 in a 101-104 loss to Virtus Segafredo Bologna. McCollum’s teammate Johnathan Motley, who already has two MVP of the Round titles to his name this season, was dominant again in Round 6 with 33 points and 11 rebounds for a PIR of 36. Jaron Blossomgame of ratiopharm Ulm helped his team to an 81-96 road win at Gran Canaria with 25 points and just 2 missed shots for a PIR of 32. Rounding out the list of Round 6’s finest performances were Buducnost VOLI Podgorica teammates D.J. Seeley and Zoran Nikolic, each with PIRs of 30. Seeley scored 29 points on 5-of-8 three-point shooting and Nikolic posted 20 points and 10 rebounds in leading Buducnost past Promitheas Patras on the road.
Individual highs: Johnathan Motley of Lokomotiv, 33 points
Motley was Round 6’s top scorer with 33 points against Trento. It was a new career-high and matches the 2021-22 7DAYS EuroCup’s season-high; Justin Cobbs scored 33 points for Buducnost against Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana in Round 5. Motley is also the competition’s leading scorer at 24.7 points per game. Kerem Kanter of Slask Wroclaw and Motley led all rebounders by pulling down 11 apiece in Round 6. Kanter is tied for second in the league in rebounding with 8.0 per game and Motley is fifth with 7.3. Vince Hunter of Boulogne Metropolitans 92 leads the EuroCup in rebounds at 9.2 per game. McCollum dished a career-best 13 assists against Trento. Milos Teodosic of Virtus Segafredo Bologna ranks first in assists for the season at 7.6 per night. The 4 steals collected by Julyan Stone of Umana Reyer Venice against Valencia Basket were the most of the week. Aleksa Avramovic of Partizan NIS Belgrade and Andrew Albicy of Gran Canaria are the EuroCup’s steals leader with 2.5 per night. Octavius Ellis of Turk Telekom Ankara blocked 3 shots against MoraBanc Andorra and is also first overall at 2.3 per game. Motley, McCollum, Ferrell, Nikolic, Jordan Caroline of Trento and Aleksander Dziewa of Slask Wroclaw each registered a double-double in Round 6.”
Check out the Top 10 Plays of Round 6.
Photo Credit: EuroCup