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DENVER - UT Rio Grande Valley junior guard Nick Dixon has been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 23-29. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor of his career.
The Hillside, Ill., native led the WAC with 33.5 points on 56.4 percent shooting from the field and 85.2 percent shooting from the free throw line. Dixon added 7.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and a WAC-best 4.0 steals per game over two games last week. He opened the week with a career-high 41 points, the second-highest mark in the WAC this season and 13th-best in the country, to go with seven rebounds, four steals and two assists in a game at Utah Valley. He made a career-high 15 field goals and accounted for 50.6 percent of UTRGV's offense without attempting a three-pointer in the game. Dixon followed it up with 26 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals at Seattle U on Saturday. He made a career high 12 free throws on a perfect 12-for-12 at the line. It was his seventh time leading the team in scoring, his 10th time leading the team in assists and his 22nd time in double-figure scoring. Dixon now leads the WAC in steals (1.96), ranks fourth in scoring (18.9), fifth in field goal percentage (52.2), sixth in assists (3.54), eighth in both rebounding (5.4) and free throw percentage (76.3), ninth in defensive rebounds (3.75) and assist-turnover ratio (1.18), and 10th in offensive rebounds (1.67).
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Matt Smith averaged 20.5 points on 73.9 shooting, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals as the Roadrunners picked up a pair of road wins ... Fred Sims Jr. of Chicago State averaged 18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists over two games ... Grand Canyon's DeWayne Russell averaged 26.0 points, 6.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals on the week ... LaVell Boyd of UMKC averaged 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals last week ... NM State's Ian Baker averaged 21.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals as the Aggies extended their win streak to 18 games ... Zack Moore of Seattle U averaged 21.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals over two games last week ... Utah Valley's Brandon Randolph averaged 16.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 2.0 assists last week.