Pac-12 Weekly Honors: Week Six
Posted by AMurawa on December 19th, 2011We’re through with finals week, we’ve got just one week of non-conference play remaining, and we’re staring conference play right in the face. And we still don’t know what to make of most of the teams in the conference. Nevertheless, while the losses continue to pile up around the league, we’ve got three awards to hand out to worthy receipients.
Team of the Week
Roberto Nelson Is Just One Of The Beavers Who Caught Fire This Week (Andy Cripe, Gazette-Times)
Oregon State – The Beavers won all three games they played this week, and did so in dominating fashion. After dropping an ugly one to Idaho the week prior, OSU bounced back in a big wa, beating three mid-majors by an average of 32 points and doing so with a complete team effort. Sunday night’s win over Portland State makes for a good example, as six different players scored in double figures, the team effectively shot 69.4%, they dominated the glass (40 OR%, 80.6 DR%) and they handed out 27 assists on their 40 field goals. Center Joe Burton was not among the six players to score more than 10 points, but he helped out in his own way with nine assists and six rebounds, while freshman forward Eric Moreland also failed to get into double figures in points, but did haul in 13 rebounds to go with three blocked shots. Meanwhile, Angus Brandt caught fire and hit 19 of his 24 shots this week, including three-of-four from deep. And the backcourt of Jared Cunningham and Ahmad Starks continues to shine, with Cunningham scoring ten or more in every game this week, while handing out five assists per game and swiping a bit more than three steals per night. Starks, not to be outdone, hit 12 of his 16 three-point shots this week.
Player of the Week
Roberto Nelson, Soph, Oregon State – It’s hard to pick one Beaver to take home the hardware this week, but we’ll give the honor to Nelson for being right there with the rest of his teammates in terms of production, and doing so in slightly fewer minutes. Nelson was just another in a long line of Craig Robinson’s charges to catch fire this week, going for 55 points in 65 minutes, knocking down 11-of-15 from deep (and 17-of-30 from the field), while grabbing ten rebounds and handing out seven assists. The sophomore out of Santa Barbara has now scored in double figures in five straight games and looks to be a big offensive spark off the bench for OSU the rest of the way. Nelson is the third different Oregon State player to win the RTC Pac-12 Player of the Week this season (Jared Cunningham won in week two, Devon Collier in week three).
Newcomer of the Week
Tony Wroten, Fr, Washington – At this point, the race for the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year race is beginning to crystallize, with Wroten, Arizona’s Nick Johnson and Stanford’s Chasson Randle as the threesome that has separated itself from the pack. But while Johnson and Randle have been solid, Wroten has turned in a spectacular run in recent games. He’s grabbed a spot in the starting lineup (albeit mostly as a result of center Aziz N’Diaye’s knee injury), he’s scored over 20 in each of his last three games, and he averaged 25 points, 5.5 rebounds and a couple of assists per game this week, while shooting19-of-38 from the field. He is still prone to some out-of-control plays, his free throw shooting (50.8% on the year) is going to be an ongoing problem, and he’s not great at making his teammates better, but he can seemingly find his own shot at will and is capable of taking over a game offensively. His game still needs polish, but he’s just now beginning to shine.
Andrew Murawa Likes Basketball.
