INDIANAPOLIS – Bellarmine University senior forward Jake Thelen has garnered the first Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Week honors for the 2014-15 men’s basketball season, it was announced by the league office Monday. 

Picked as a Preseason All-American by Basketball Times, Thelen supported that distinction in his first two games of the season by posting a pair of double-doubles in victories against quality, in-region opponents.  For the week he averaged 18 points a game while raking in 14.5 rebounds and dishing 4.0 assists per contest.  

Playing in the competitive GLIAC/GLVC Challenge on the road in Saginaw, Michigan, Thelen got his season off to a solid start with a 16-point, 11-rebound performance on 8-of-10 (.800) shooting in an 84-67 win over Northwood University on Friday.  The next night in a true road game at Saginaw Valley State, he surpassed the solid numbers from his first game with 20 points and tied a career-high with 18 rebounds in an 81-71 victory.  He also performed in other phases of the game with a pair of blocked shots and eight total assists.  His assist-to-turnover ratio was an impressive 4 to 1. 

This is the Edgewood, Kentucky, native’s first career weekly selection and it is the first for a Knight since Vance Hall was honored on Feb. 24, 2014.