INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has named five Oscar Robertson National Players of the Week for games of the week ending Sunday, Jan. 18.
For the 2025-26 season, the USBWA continues its national player of the week program that has been affiliated with the Oscar Robertson Trophy since the 2009-10 season. Prior to the 2024-25 season, the USBWA had recognized just one player each week.
Each Tuesday during the regular season, designated USBWA board members will select five standouts from the 31 Division I conference players of the week to be recognized. This week's selections were chosen from a list of the conferences that named a player of the week on Monday. This week's selections were postponed one day by the Martln Luther King Jr. holiday
For the second straight week, two Big Ten players earned the honor and Wiscosin and Kennesaw State each had an honored player for a second straight week.
Following are the five players selected for performances this past week:
John Blackwell, Wisconsin (BIg Ten)
The 6-4 junior guard from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., averaged 23 points. 5.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists, as the Badgers claimed a pair of wins. He ecorded 27 points, including the game-winning, buzzer-beating three-pointer, six rebounds, and five assists in a 78-75 win at Minnesota, then posted 19 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals in a 96-87 win over Rutgers.
Rueben Chinyelu, Florida (SEC)
A 6-10, 265-pound junior from Enugwu-Agidi, Nigeria, Chinyelu averaged 19.5 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in wins at Oklahoma and at No. 10 Vanderbilt. He posted back-to-back double-doubles, highlighted by a 20-point double-double at No. 10 Vanderbilt. Chinyelu came up big when it mattered most with 16 points in the second half in the back-and-forth battle in Nashville. He shot .700 from the field (14-20) and a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line to average 19.5 points per game on the week.
Diggy CoIt, Maryland (BIg Ten)
CoIt averaged 36.5 points while shooting 23-of-41 (.561) from the field and 13-of-26 (.500) from three-point range in a 1-1 week for Maryland. The 5-11 grad student giard from Scotland, Pa., scored 30 points in an 88-71 loss at USC, his 10th career 30-point outing. Colt set an XFINITY Center scoring record with 43 points in a 96-73 win over Penn State. His 30 points in the first half against Penn State marked the most in the first half by a Big Ten player in over five years, while his nine three-pointers tied a program mark
RJ Johnson, Kennesaw State (Conference USA)
For the second straight week, a Kennesaw State player earns this honor after turning in a career week for the Owls in wins over FIU and WKU. The sophomore guard averaged 28.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists all while shooting 63.6 percent (7-for-11) from downtown. The Huntsville, Ala., product scored a career-high 26 points as the Owls came from behind to defeat the Panthers on Wednesday night, including the game-clinching layup with under two minutes to go. On Saturday at WKU, he topped his career-best with 31 points, scoring 18 in the second half to pull away. Johnson added nine rebounds and five assists in the road victory.
Erik Platt, Stony Brook (CAA)
The graduate guard orchestrated a pair of wins over two of the league’s top teams, Hofstra and Charleston, playing all 90 minutes for the Seawolves. He averaged 28.5 points per game on 52.5% shooting from the floor (21-for-40). His standout performance of the weekend came in Stony Brook’s 112-106 double-overtime win on Saturday, a contest that matched the conference record for most combined points (218) in a single CAA contest. Turning in not only one of the most impressive showings in the CAA this season, but one of the greatest performances in Seawolves’ history, with a career-high 39 points, a mark that sits seventh in the program’s record book, on 13-of-24 shooting from the floor. Pratt also cracked Stony Brook’s top three with 13 assists and finished with four 3-pointers, nine made free throws and seven rebounds. The Seawolves’ leading scorer started the week with an 18-point, four-assist effort with three rebounds in a 76-71 victory over the Pride. Pratt has now logged 18 consecutive games scoring in double figures.
Since the 1958-59 season, the USBWA has named a National Player of the Year. In 1998, the award was named in honor of the University of Cincinnati Hall of Famer and two-time USBWA Player of the Year Oscar Robertson. It is the nation's oldest award and the only one named after a former player.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the USBWA will name finalists for the award, which is voted on by the entire membership. The winner of the award will be announced at the 2026 Men's Final Four in Indianapolis, with the formal presentation to follow at the annual USBWA Awards Luncheon hosted by the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 800 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected an All-America team since the 1956-57 season. For more information on the USBWA and the Oscar Robertson Trophy, contact executive director Malcolm Moran at 814-574-1485.
2025-26 USBWA Men's Weekly Honors
• Week ending Nov. 9: TJ Long, Vermont; Koa Peat, Arizona; Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama; Bruce Thornton, Ohio State; Caleb Wilson, North Carolina.
• Week ending Nov. 16: Cameron Boozer, Duke; Mikel Brown, Louisville; Kingston Flemings, Houston; Delrecco Gillespie, Kent State; Braden Smith, Purdue.
• Week ending Nov. 23: Michael Ajayi, Butler; David Coit, Maryland; MJ Collins Jr., Utah State; PJ Haggerty, Kansas State; Ethan Roberts, Penn.
• Week ending Nov. 30: Leo Beath, UC San Diego; Simeon Cottle, Kennesaw State; Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan; Darin Smith, Central Connecticut; Nick Townsend, Yale.
• Week ending Dec. 7: Cameron Boozer, Duke; Tre Carroll, Xavier; Cruz Davis, Hofstra; Aidan Mahaney, UC Santa Barbara; Milan Momcilivic, Iowa State.
• Week ending Dec. 14: Myles Colvin Jr., Wake Forest; Melvin Council Jr., Kansas; Graham Ike, Gonzaga; Dennis Parker Jr., Radford; Lamar Wilkerson, Indiana.
• Week ending Dec. 21: Christian Anderson, Texas Tech; Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee; Braden Huff, Gonzaga; Paul McNeil, NC State; Stephon Payne, Seton Hall.
• Week ending Jan. 4: Rafael Castro, George Washington; Boopie Miller, SMU; Paulius Murauskas, St. Mary's; Kahlil Singleton, Canisius; Chase Walker, Illinois State.
• Week ending Jan. 11: Nick Boyd, Wisconsin; Simeon Cottle, Kennesaw State; Richie Saunders, BYU; Braden Smith, Purdue; Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt.
• Week ending Jan. 18: John Blackwell, Wisconsin; Rueben Chinyelu, Florida; Diggy Coit, Maryland; RJ Johnson, Kennesaw State; Erik Platt, Stony Brook.