In his first two seasons with the Hillsdale College men's basketball team, junior Patrick Cartier was G-MAC Freshman of the Year, Male Athlete of the Year and a consensus All-American.
In his third season, the Brookfield, Wisconsin native has arguably been even better.
Cartier received more recognition this Wednesday afternoon from the G-MAC office, receiving G-MAC Men's Basketball Player of the Week honors for the week of Jan. 10-17. It's the second time this season and the eighth time in his career that Cartier has received a weekly honor from the conference.
The junior had strong week in a tough stretch for the Chargers, finishing with 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists in a narrow, hard-fought loss at home to Ashland, 53-52 on Thursday. Hillsdale rebounded with its best offensive performance of the season on Saturday, and Cartier played an important part, recording a 31-point, 10-rebound double-double along with six assists on 73.3 percent shooting from the floor.
Cartier's performance against Tiffin was the fifth 30-plus point game of his career at Hillsdale, as well as his ninth double-double. For the season, the junior is averaging 22.5 points per game – the top mark in the G-MAC and 12th in the entirety of NCAA Division II – on a 62.7 field goal percentage that is 15th in the nation as well.
Compared to his 2020-21 season – a year that ended with Cartier as the G-MAC Player of the Year and an All-American to both the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association – the junior is averaging two more points and nearly a full assist more, while playing roughly the same amount of minutes.
Hillsdale is 11-4 overall and 6-3 in G-MAC play, a game back of first place in the league. Cartier and the Chargers will continue to battle in a tight conference title race this weekend, with games on Thursday against Trevecca Nazarene and on Saturday against Kentucky Wesleyan.
Photo by Anthony Lupi '22