A friendly sibling rivalry is brewing in Big Ten basketball.
Nia Coffey nudged her little brother out of the spotlight Monday when the Northwestern senior forward from Hopkins was named the Big Ten women's Player of the Week. A week earlier Amir Coffey, also a former Hopkins star, earned his first weekly conference honor for the Gophers as the Big Ten men's Freshman of the Week.
Nia averaged 28 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and 2.5 steals per game last week.
Amir was the league's top freshman Nov. 21 after becoming the first Gophers freshman to score at least 30 points in a game since Kris Humphries in 2004.
Despite any friendly competition, the Coffey siblings and family are big supporters of one another.
"I'm pretty proud of her all she's done at her university," Amir said. "It is motivating because I want to do just as good as she's doing."
JASON GONZALEZ
