Baylor guard Jared Butler earns New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month honor for January

NEW ORLEANS – Jared Butler, the star guard for the undefeated Baylor men’s basketball team, has been selected as the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month for January. Monthly award-winners are selected by the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

A graduate of Riverside Academy in Reserve, Butler averaged 18.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 3.0 steals per game in a perfect 7-0 month of January for No. 2 Baylor (17-0). He was named USBWA National Player of the Week, Naismith Trophy National Player of the Week and Big 12 Player of the Week on January 26 after averaging 26.0 points and 7.0 assists in wins over No. 9 Kansas and Oklahoma State. He scored a season-high 30 points, including drilling 7-of-9 three-pointers in the win over Kansas.

For the season, the 6-3 junior guard from Reserve, La., is averaging a team-best 17.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.4 steals per game. He also earned the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month honor for January of 2020.

Butler was selected for the honor over four other nominees.

Davanté Jones, a graduate of St. Augustine High School, averaged 20.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.4 steals in a 6-3 month of January for Coastal Carolina. He is the national leader in steals with 58 on the season (second in steals per game at 3.6).

In a January 22 win over Troy, the 6-1 junior guard scored 24 of his game-high 30 points in the second half, including eight free throws in the final two minutes as the Chanticleers came from behind for a 90-81 victory. Jones, who was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week following that performance (he also earned that honor once in December), also added four other 20-point performances. He had four games with five steals in January and also added a double-double with 24 points and 14 rebounds in an 81-69 win over Georgia State on January 1.

For the season, Jones is the leading scorer for the Chanticleers with 21.9 points per game (second in the Sun Belt). He also has 6.3 rebounds (10th in the Sun Belt), 3.4 assists (10th) and a Sun Belt-best 3.6 steals per game. He is shooting 51.1 percent (third) from the field, 42.7 percent from three-point range and 88.3 percent (second) from the free-throw line.

Jerkalia Jordan, a John Curtis product, continued her sensational freshman campaign for the Tulane women’s basketball team as she led the Green Wave to a 6-2 month of January. She was named the American Athletic Conference’s Freshman of the Week three times in January and has tied the conference record with five such honors.

Her top performance for the month was a 22-point effort on 8-of-9 shooting in a 65-54 win over Tulsa on Jan. 16. She also stuffed the stat sheet in a Jan. 30 win over Temple as she tallied 22 points (10-of-14 shooting) to go with four rebounds, four assists and five steals. She leads Tulane in scoring (15.8 ppg, fifth in the American and tops among freshman) and steals (29) while being tied for the team-lead in assists (48) while shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from three-point range.

Rayshawn Mart averaged 23.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.7 steals per game as he led the Xavier men’s basketball team to a 5-1 month of January. The senior closed the month with a sensational 38-point, 12-rebound (both career-highs) performance in a double-overtime loss to Tougaloo in which he played all 50 minutes, a school record. The 38 points were the most by an XULA player since 1987 and the most in a home game since 1978. It was his seventh 20-point effort of the season and his third 25-point/10-rebound performance. Mart had another outstanding overtime performance on Jan. 12 as he erupted for 13 points in the extra session of a 79-74 victory over Rust College – he finished that game with 28 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. He also scored 29 points (in just 27 minutes of action) in an 88-41 win over Carver on Jan. 23.

The Houma product closed the month with back-to-back GCAC Player of the Week honors to set the school record for GCAC weekly honors in a season (four) while tying the career record (six). For the season, Mart is averaging 24.9 points (tops in the GCAC), 8.0 rebounds (fourth in the league) and 3.1 steals (tops in the GCAC) per game.

John Curtis’ senior Raven Nunnery has been a dominating presence in girls’ track not only in the Greater New Orleans area, but in the state of Louisiana as well. She participated in last weekend’s LSU high school indoor qualifications and came away victorious on three events that she took part in. She won the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.5 seconds, slotting her among the top seven times in the nation this year. She also anchored the Patriots’ 4×400 relay, which broke the composite state record, and ran the second leg of the winning 4×200 relay team. She has signed to run track at the University of Houston.

The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee has been selecting an Amateur Athlete of the Month each month since 1957. The athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region in order to be eligible.

Recent Greater New Orleans Amateur Athletes of the Month:
2021
January, Jared Butler, Basketball, Baylor University

2020
December, Mandel Eugene, Football, St. Charles Catholic High School
November, AJ Samuel, Football, Edna Karr High School
October, Gage Larvadain, Football, Riverside Academy
September, Cameron Carroll, Football, Tulane University
August, Jacob and Evan Frost, Wrestling, Bayou Elite Wrestling Club
July, Brayden Caskey, Baseball, Gauthier Amedee Legion
June, Ron Franklin, Baseball, Gibbs Construction Legion
May, NOT AWARDED – COVID-19
April, NOT AWARDED – COVID-19
March, William Loyd, Basketball, Xavier University
February, Braden Olthoff, Baseball, Tulane University

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 99 Hall of Fame players, 51 Hall of Fame coaches and 19 Heisman Trophy winners in its 87-year history. The 88th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will feature top teams from the Big 12 and the SEC, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2022. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1.6 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.7 billion into the local economy in the last decade. For more information, visit www.AllstateSugarBowl.org.