After leading the men’s basketball team to a 91-84 victory over West Virginia, Marcus Barnes has been named The Northeastern News Player of the Week.

The junior forward had a career-high 31 points in the road victory, the Huskies’ first over a Big East opponent since last year’s win over Boston College at Conte Forum.

Barnes tied a school record by knocking down seven 3-pointers, including a trey that put NU up 86-78 with 1:13 left in the game.

He also leads the team with an average of 20.5 points over four games.

“Marcus is a prototypical combo guard,” said coach Ron Everhart. “He’s a shooting guard that can make plays, or a point guard that can knock down shots. You could call him a one-and-a-half.”

After playing his freshman and sophomore seasons at the University of Miami, Barnes transferred to Northeastern, and, in accordance with NCAA rules, had to sit out the subsequent athletic season. Now, with a season threatening injury to star point guard Jose Juan Barea, Barnes may be asked to switch from his natural position at shooting guard to man the point.

“This is a kid that hasn’t run the point since his sophomore year in high school,” Everhart noted after Barnes torched an overmatched Suffolk squad on Tuesday for 29 points in 25 from the point. “And he’s still a little rusty; he hasn’t played competively for more than a year.”

Barnes is part of the Miami contingent on the Huskies squad brought north by assistant coach Frank Martin. Barnes, Cornelius Wright, Javorie Wilson and his cousin Sylbrin Robinson all went to Miami Senior High School, while Barea went to Miami Christian School.

The Huskies are expecting more big things from Barnes, who averaged 12.3 points, 2.8 boards and 2.2 assists for the Hurricanes as a sophomore.

He also displayed a sense for the big game. His previous career high was 27, which he hung on Georgetown in the quarterfinals of the Big East playoffs. And as a freshman, he earned Big East Rookie of the Year honors after putting up 24 points against UConn, which was ranked 15th in the nation at the time.

As a senior on Martin’s high school squad, Barnes averaged a school-record 30.7 points per game, tops in all of Dade County, to go with more than five rebounds and assists per game. He was named first team All-Dade County and third team All-State.

– Peter Conroy, News Staff