NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) recognized senior guard Kolden Vanlandingham at the Player of the Week on Tuesday afternoon. Vanlandingham becomes only the third North Park player in program history to earn at least three POW honors in a season and is the first to do so since the 2016-2017 season when Jordan Robinson was honored the same way. He joins Robinson and Juwan Henry, who won three POW's in the '14-'15 season and four POW's in '15-'16, as the only players in the last 25 years to accomplish this feat.
Vanlandingham led the Vikings to two crucial conference wins this week over Augustana and Wheaton, notching North Park's third straight win as they continue to fight for playoff positioning. Through both games, Kolden posted 20+ points and shot an impressive 19-33 (57%) from the field, 5-11 (45%) from behind the arc, and made 9 of 10 free throws.
Against Augustana last Wednesday, Vanlandingham finished with 29 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a heavily contested game-winning layup, driving to his left and finishing with his right to edge North Park past Augie 79-77.
On Saturday's home win over Wheaton, he led the Vikings with 24 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and another game-winning shot – this time he drove down to the right block where he turned around and rose over his defender for the fadeaway jumper to give the Vikings a 94-92 lead before big man Lazario Cornish sealed the deal with a free throw to secure North Park's 95-92 victory.
Vanlandingham will look to keep his hot hand as the Vikings aim to continue their streak this week against nationally-ranked Illinois Wesleyan on Wednesday evening in Chicago.
