AP photo byDusty Compton Alabama's Richard Hendrix (35) of Athens, pulling down a missed shot against Troy's Bernard Toombs, compiled 22 points and 23 rebounds against the Trojans to earn SEC player of the week honors.

League honors Tide's Hendrix
SEC names Athens grad as its player of the week

By Josh Cooper
jcooper@decaturdaily.com · 340-2460

TUSCALOOSA — The Southeastern Conference named Alabama's Richard Hendrix as its player of the week Monday.

The Athens High grad led the Crimson Tide with 22 points and 23 rebounds in Friday's 84-72 season-opening win over Troy.

"It's a nice individual honor," Hendrix said. "The credit goes to my teammates. They did a great job the last game of giving me the ball and putting me in the position to play well. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to have done that."

Hendrix, a junior, hadn't won the honor previously in his career, although he was SEC freshman of the week three times in 2006. Alabama players have won SEC player of the week honors only twice in the previous two seasons — former Crimson Tide standout Jermareo Davidson won it once each in 2006 and '07.

With Alabama heading to Mercer on Tuesday, Hendrix isn't taking the Bears lightly, especially after their win over Southern California last weekend.

"I'm not surprised by anything now in college athletics. The playing field has become so even across the board," Hendrix said. "We need to treat this one like any other big game."

Hendrix led Alabama last season with 14.6 points and 8.7 rebounds a game.

The league's coaches named him preseason first-team All-SEC this year.

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