DENVER – New Mexico State freshman forward Pascal Siakam has been named Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 9-15. This is his second WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and of his career.
The Doula, Cameroon, native averaged 22.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game as the Aggies went 2-0 on the week to take a 2.5 game lead in the WAC standings with four games remaining in regular-season play. In a win over Seattle U last Thursday, Siakam scored a career-high 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go along with seven rebounds. He followed it up with a game-high 20 points in the Aggies’ win over Bakersfield, his third 20-point game of the year. Siakam also grabbed seven rebounds, dished out two assists and nabbed two steals. For the week, he shot 65.2 percent (15-of-23) from the field and was a perfect 14-of-14 from the free throw line. Siakam currently leads the WAC and ranks 20th nationally in field goal percentage (57.8 percent), leads the WAC in blocked shots (1.67 per game) and is second in the conference in rebounds (7.5 per game).
Other nominees included: Chicago State’s Clarke Rosenberg posted his first double-double of the season with 15 points, 10 rebounds and two assists in a loss to Missouri-Kansas City ... DeWayne Russell of Grand Canyon finished with 19 points on 50 percent shooting and four rebounds in a win over Utah Valley ... UMKC’s Reese Holliday tallied 19 points on 54.5 percent shooting to go with two rebounds and one assist ... Janari Joesaar of Texas-Pan American averaged 20.5 points and 4.0 rebounds as the Broncs went 1-1 last week ... Utah Valley’s Zach Nelson averaged 17.0 points on 56.5 percent shooting, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks as the Wolverines went 1-1 on the week.