Arizona’s Markkanen named Pac-12 Player of the Week after L.A. sweep
Jan 23, 2017, 12:03 PM | Updated: 12:07 pm
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
The Arizona Wildcats had a big weekend in Los Angeles with wins over USC and then-No. 3 UCLA, and they would not have pulled off the sweep without freshman Lauri Markkanen.
Markkanen, who is Arizona’s leading scorer, scored 23 points against the Trojans and 18 against the Bruins, and on Monday he was named the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for his efforts.
In all, Markkanen made 14-of-22 shots over the weekend, including 8-of-10 three-point attempts. He also pulled down 15 rebounds in helping the Wildcats earn their first road sweep over both the Los Angeles schools (UCLA and USC) and Bay Area schools (Stanford and California) since 2002-03, as well as improve to 18-2 on the season and 7-0 in the Pac-12.
In 20 games this season, Markkanen is averaging 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds while shooting .524 from the field and .500 from three-point range.
Markkanen is the first Wildcat to be honored with the player of the week award this season.