The afterglow of Northwestern's 74-70 victory over Illinois in Champaign continued Monday when John Shurna was named a co-Big Ten Player of the Week with Ohio State's Jared Sullinger, and Dave Sobolewski was named the conference's co-Freshman of the Week with Iowa's Aaron White.

Shurna, the league's leading scorer with a 19.6 points per game average, averaged 26 points this week in Wildcat wins over Nebraska at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Thursday and at Illinois on Sunday. The win at Assembly Hall was the Wildcats' first win in Champaign since 1999.

In the Illinois win, Shurna scored the bulk of his 24 points in the second half (17) and his point total moved him into second place on the program's all-time leading scorers list, surpassing Evan Eschmeyer. Shurna went 11 of 15 from the field against the Illini and averaged 71.4 percent from the field in his two games last week.

"I think, even in the last game, I thought he looked, [in the second half] like he's just more aggressive," coach Bill Carmody said. "He's not a Raggedy Ann doll -- and I've accused him of that -- with his arrms going one way. He seems stronger and more controlled going to the basket."

Sobolewski played all 40 minutes at Illinois and scored 14 points and did not commit a turnover. For the week, Sobolewski averaged 14.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.5, and scored 15 points, grabbed a team-high six rebounds and handed out five assists in the Nebraska victory.

His 3.36 assist-to-turnover ratio leads the Big Ten and is third nationally.

* Carmody said Monday that he is hopeful the team will get guard JerShon Cobb back in the lineup soon. Cobb has been out for nearly a month with left leg discomfort, but Carmody said Cobb was able to practice for "a day and a half" last week. Carmody also said he is optimistic that center Luka Mirkovic could play at least 10 minutes when the Wildcats host Iowa Thursday.