JACOB WATERS
A former Auburn star player is causing a stir abroad.
The Turkish Insurance Basketball Super League, Turkey’s top basketball league, announced Monday that Austin Wiley won the league’s regular season Most Valuable Player award.
Wiley averaged a double-double this season with 15.1 points per game and 10.0 rebounds and blocked 1.9 shots per game in his first season with Tofaş Spor Kulübü.
In 24 games played, Wiley recorded a double-double in 14 games and also grabbed 14 or more rebounds in five games.
Wiley has made a name for himself against some of the league’s top teams. Against Fenerbahce Istanbul, who finished second in the regular season, the new MVP scored 18 points and 14 rebounds and 16 points and 15 rebounds in two games.
His most productive game was a 30-point, 11-rebound performance against Frutti Extra Bursaspor.
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Although Wiley had an MVP season, his team only managed a 13-17 record and finished 11th in the standings, missing out on qualifying for the eight-team playoffs. His team did, however, avoid relegation to the second division of Turkish basketball, which goes to the bottom two teams in the 16-team league.
Before his time in Turkey, Wiley played two seasons in the second German league with Römerstrom Gladiators Trier and one season in Lithuania with Neptūnas.
Wiley spent four seasons at Auburn and played three of them – starting 58 of his 83 games. During his career at Auburn, Wiley averaged 8.8 points per game and 6.2 rebounds on 57.5% shooting. He signed with Auburn as a second-generation star and one of the program’s most coveted recruits ever at the time, and fulfilled his potential by playing a role on the men’s program’s first-ever Final Four team.
