Ricky Hickman’s first Turkish Airlines EuroLeague game for EA7 Emporio Armani Milan was a memorable one. Not only did he lead his team to a thrilling 99-97 victory over his former team, Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, but he earned MVP honors for Regular Season Round 1 in the process. Hickman sparkled with 22 points, 3 assists and 3 steals for a performance index rating of 32, which was the most among all players on winning teams in Round 1. He made 2 of 3 shots from downtown and 12 of 15 free throws after drawing 12 fouls. He didn’t just produce in volume. Hickman came up big with the game on the line by scoring his team’s final 11 points over the last 2:40 to secure the victory. The player with the highest index rating of opening week was on the losing end in that game; Andrew Goudelock led Maccabi’s comeback and finished the game with 27 points, 5 assists and an index rating of 33. So he wasn’t elegible.

It’s the seventh time an Olimpia player earns such honors. The first one was Mike Hall in 2008/09 and the last was Jamel McLean during the past season. Below you find the details about that.

Player	Season	Index Rating vs opponent
Mike Hall	2008/09	28 vs. Real Madrid
Omar Cook	2011/12	22 vs. Panathinaikos
Curtis Jerrells	2013/14	24 vs. Maccabi
Samardo Samuels	2014/15	47 vs. Nizhny Novgorod
Alessandro Gentile	2014/15	30 vs. Vitoria
Jamel McLean	2015/16	36 vs. Efes Istanbul