Gophers Nate Mason Named B1G Freshman of the Week

For the third straight week, the Big Ten Conference has recognized the University of Minnesota with a weekly award, as guard Nate Mason was named the Freshman of the Week on Monday. Mason is just the second Gopher to receive the honor since its inception in 2010.

A Decatur, Ga., native, Mason matched a pair of career highs in the Gophers’ only action of the week, a 92-57 win over Seattle University on Friday. Mason contributed 15 points and six steals to help lead Minnesota to its sixth straight victory. He also added three rebounds and an assist in 25 minutes of action against the Redhawks.

With that performance, Mason marked his seventh double-digit scoring effort in 11 games. The freshman is the Gophers’ fourth-leading scorer (9.7 ppg) and rebounder (3.9 rpg), is second in 3-point shooting (.457) and assists (3.4 apg), and third in steals (2.1 spg). His 3-point shooting percentage and steals rank fifth among all Big Ten players, while his assist/turnover ratio of 3.1 is sixth in the B1G.

In the last two weeks, the Gophers earned two Player of the Week nods in Andre Hollins (Dec. 8) and Maurice Walker (Dec. 15). Minnesota’s only other recipient of the Freshman of the Week honor was Joe Coleman, who won the award on Jan. 16, 2012.

The Gophers return to action tonight, hosting Furman at 7 p.m. at Williams Arena.