EMCC’s Nick Walker earns second MACCC Player of the Week hoops honor

For the second time this season, East Mississippi Community College’s Nick Walker has been named the MACCC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week. The announcement was made Tuesday by the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference office.

EMCC’s Nick Walker earns second MACCC Player of the Week hoops honor
February 20, 2024

JACKSON – For the second time this season, East Mississippi Community College's Nick Walker has been named the MACCC Men's Basketball Player of the Week. The announcement was made Tuesday by the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference office.

In addition to averaging 19 points and 10.5 rebounds over two games a week ago, Walker shot 56 percent (14-of-25 FGs) from the field and 83 percent (10-of-12 FTs) from the line during the Lions' pair of wins. After opening last week by recording his 19th career double-double with a career-high 27 points (10-of-16 FGs & 7-of-8 FTs) and 13 rebounds in EMCC's 91-72 road win over Jones College, the sophomore forward followed with 11 points and eight boards during the Lions' 64-52 home victory over Mississippi Delta.

For the season, Walker ranks as East Mississippi's third-leading scorer at 13.1 points per game as well as the MACCC's No. 3 rebounder with an average of 9.6 boards per contest. While having recorded seven double-doubles to date this season, the Hattiesburg product is shooting 51.6 percent from the field overall and 72.2 percent from the charity stripe.

Walker previously claimed his first weekly conference honor of the current season following his season-opening, double-double performances at the Northeast Mississippi-hosted Bonner Arnold Classic back in November. He averaged 17.5 points and 12.5 rebounds during EMCC's decisive tournament victories over Dyersburg State (Tenn.) Community College (101-69) and Baton Rouge (La.) Post Grad Academy (106-49).

Having taken a year away from basketball during the 2022-23 season, Walker was previously a two-year starter for head coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. After averaging 12.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting 66.0 percent from the field during the COVID season, Walker was EMCC's third-leading scorer (8.7 ppg) behind former NJCAA All-Americans Jakorie Smith and Blake Butler as well as the team's No. 2 rebounder (7.8 rpg) on the Lions' 2022 MACCC Tournament championship club.