DENVER – Idaho’s Kyle Barone has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 13-19. The honor marks the second career WAC Player of the Week for Barone.
Barone, a junior center from Garden Grove, Calif. (Pacifica HS), had a career game on Saturday in Idaho’s 77-68 Sears BracketBuster win over Portland State. Barone scored 25 points, connecting on 10-of-11 (.909) shots from the floor. He added eight rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in the win. He also went 5-of-5 from the free throw line. He connected on 9-of-10 shots in the first half to give Idaho its biggest halftime lead of the season at 42-25. His 10-of-11 shooting performance is the best single-game effort by a Vandal since 2008 and is tied as the third-best in Idaho single-game history. The game was Barone’s ninth in a row with at least seven rebounds and his sixth-straight double-figure scoring game. His 25 points and 10 made field goals are both career highs. During the team’s season-best active five-game win streak, Barone is averaging 17.6 points and 8.4 rebounds on 33-of-54 (.611) overall shooting and 22-of-28 (.786) from the free throw line.
Other nominees included: Fresno State junior forward Kevin Foster … Louisiana Tech freshman guard Kenneth Smith … Nevada senior forward Olek Czyz … New Mexico State senior guard Hernst Laroche … San Jose State sophomore guard Keith Shamburger … Utah State sophomore guard Preston Medlin.