By Jeff Powalisz and Max Lederman

The rest of the nation’s top men’s basketball players are looking up at Northeastern point guard Jose Juan Barea this week, as his points average of 29.7 is good for No. 1 in the nation (min. 3 games).

After leading the Huskies in scoring every game so far this season, Barea has been named The Northeastern News Player of the Week.

He secured his place at the head of the list with a 30-point performance against Harvard University Saturday in an 85-75 loss.

In just 34 minutes, Barea compiled his 30 points along with dishing out seven assists.

It was the junior’s second straight game scoring at least 30 points, as he scored 35 in an 88-85 NU win over Cornell University on Nov. 20.

The Mayaguez, Puerto Rico native carried the Huskies to their first win over Cornell by scoring the team’s last 14 points, including the game-winning three-pointer with nine-tenths of a second remaining. Barea hit four straight treys and two huge freethrows in the final 2:26 of the game.

Coming off an impressive performance this summer with his native Puerto Rican national juniors team, Barea is once again among the nations top point guards.

The season is just beginning for Barea and the Huskies as they play Wednesday night in Amherst against the University of Massachusetts at 7 p.m.

– Staff writers Jeff Powalisz and Max Lederman