DENVER – Hawai‘i’s Zane Johnson has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 19-25. The honor marks the second career WAC Player of the Week award for Johnson.
Johnson, a senior guard from Phoenix, Ariz. (Arizona), led the Rainbow Warriors to a 2-1 record at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamondhead Classic last week.
Johnson opened the week with an 18-point, six-rebound performance in a 65-62 loss to Auburn. He then helped UH overcome a 15-point second-half deficit in an 84-82 win over No. 14 Xavier. Johnson scored 14 points, including a clutch three-pointer late in regulation and recorded the assist on the game-winning basket with 0.8 seconds in overtime. The win marked UH’s first win over a ranked opponent in six years. After going 2-for-2 at the free throw line against Xavier, Johnson broke a 36-year-old record with 29 straight free throws made.
Johnson scored a game-high 27 points in a 75-68 win over Clemson. The 27 points included a 6-of-12 performance from three-point range. He scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half to help UH overcome a three-point halftime deficit.
On the week, Johnson averaged 19.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He shot 43.2 percent (19-of-44) from the field, 38.7 percent (12-of-31) from three-point range and 90 percent (9-of-10) from the free throw line.
Other nominees included: Fresno State sophomore guard Kevin Olekaibe … Louisiana Tech freshman guard Raheem Appleby … Nevada senior forward Dario Hunt … New Mexico State senior forward Wendell McKines … Utah State sophomore guard Preston Medlin.