Hopson SEC freshman of week

Some hot offense in one game and clutch defense in another earned SEC freshman of the week honors for Tennessee’s Scotty Hopson.

Hopson learned Monday he was the SEC’s freshman honoree for the second time this season. The first was way back in November.

Hopson scored a career-high 21 points in a win over Mississippi State on Wednesday.

He got only seven points Sunday but had a critical blocked shot in UT’s 79-75 win at Florida.

The Gators had sliced a 16-point UT lead to 75-72 when Erving Walker got open to launch a 3-pointer with 37 seconds to play.

The 6-foot-7 Hopson lunged and got a finger on the ball to deflect the 5-7 Walker’s shot.

“He used every inch of that length,’’ UT coach Bruce Pearl said Monday.

“I was antsy when I saw Scotty lose sight of the guy who had just scored their last eight points. We were just fortunate he was able to recover.’’

LSU’s Marcus Thornton is SEC player of the week after averaging 27.5 points in wins over Florida and Kentucky.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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