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DENVER - UT Rio Grande Valley senior guard Nick Dixon has been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 4-10. This is his first WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and the second of his career.
The Hillside, Ill., native averaged 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.5 steals per game as the Vaqueros went 2-0 on the week to extend their winning streak to three. Dixon shot 60 percent from the field, 50 percent from three-point range and 72 percent from the free throw line on the week. He opened the week with a team-high 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Dixon also added four rebounds, four assists and three steals. On Saturday against UC Irvine, the Vaqueros trailed by as many as 17 points and Dixon went on a personal 9-0 run at one point, scoring a game-high 23 points. He also added five rebounds, four assists and a career-high-tying four steals. UTRGV is riding a three-game winning streak in non-conference play for the first time since joining a Division I conference in 2009. Dixon currently leads the WAC in scoring (21.6), ranks fourth in steals (1.2), fifth in free throw percentage (83.2), sixth in three-point percentage (39.2) and ninth in field goal percentage (50.0).
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Brent Wrapp averaged 5.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.0 steals and had a 8.0 assist-turnover ratio last week ... Glen Burns of Chicago State finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds against Oakland ... Kansas City's Xavier Bishop averaged 15.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.0 steals in a pair of games last week ... Jemerrio Jones of NM State averaged 11.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists as the Aggies went 1-1 on the week ... Utah Valley's Akolda Manyang averaged 20.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 4.0 blocks as the Wolverines went 1-1 last week.