Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – After scoring 121 points and grabbing 72 rebounds in eight November games, men's basketball forward Milan Jaksic has been named the Sandman Signature Edmonton Downtown Player of the Month for November.
As the top Griffins student-athlete across all sports for the month, Jaksic receives a free night's stay at the Sandman Signature Edmonton Downtown hotel.
The Windsor, Ont. native is the first Griffins men's basketball player to win a Sandman Player of the Month award since the recognition began in 2019.
Jaksic produced double doubles in half of his November games – Nov. 1 vs. Mount Royal, Nov. 16 at Calgary, and Nov. 29-30 vs. Brandon. He is now up to seven for his career, which is the most by a Griffins player in the program's U SPORTS era.
"Milan is figuring out how to use his strengths on offence and is becoming more consistent," said Griffins head coach Mike Connolly. "He's always had the ability to rebound at a high level. November, he has stepped up his performance expectations to focus on rebounding. When Milan is active, he is elite."
Jaksic scored 22 points twice in a November game – Nov. 15 at Calgary and Nov. 29 vs. Brandon – and finishes the first semester leading the Griffins by averaging 15.1 points/game (tied for 15th in Canada West). His team-leading rebounds average (9.0/game) is sixth in the conference.
"This November, Milan was more active and determined in his play, stepping up to do hard things for the team to succeed," said Connolly. "Milan also did this during the toughest part of our schedule, competing against the No. 2 (Calgary) and No. 4 (Winnipeg) teams in Canada. Second terms looks good for Milan."
Jaksic finished off the first semester on a high, scoring the winning basket in Saturday's 90-88 victory over Brandon – MacEwan's first regular season triumph in five years.
The Griffins men's basketball team kicks off the second semester at Regina on Jan. 10-11 at Regina.
