WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — Washington State University senior Faisal Aden has been named the Pac-12 Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 16-22, Commissioner Larry Scott announced today.
A native of San Diego, Calif., Aden led the Cougars to a 2-0 record on the week as WSU defeated the league-leader twice as first-place Stanford game to town followed by first-place California. He started the week with a career-high 33 points against Stanford Thursday and 24 points against California Saturday. The Cougars were playing at home in Beasley Coliseum for the first time since hosting Western Oregon in Pullman Dec. 18.
In Thursday’s game against Stanford, the 6-foot-4 guard had a big night. On top of his career-high 33 points, Aden added a season second-bets five rebounds in 29 minutes of action. Aden was 10-for-17 from the field and made a career-high 13 free throws, going a perfect 13-for-13 from the line. With his 33 points, Aden became the first Cougar not named Klay Thompson to reach the 30-point plateau since Taylor Rochestie scored 33 points against UCLA, Feb. 21, 2009. The 33 points also puts Aden in a tie for 37th in single-game points. It’s also the most points scored by a Cougar against Stanford since Bennie Seltzer put up 36 against the Cardinal, Feb. 27, 1993.
Sunday against California, Aden shot .750 from the field (9-12), with all his shot attempts coming from inside the 3-point arc, en route to 24 points.He went 6-for-7 from the free throw line and at one point extended his consecutive free throws made streak to 23.
During the two games, Aden averaged 28.5 points per game and 3.5 rebounds per game and added two assists and two steals. He shot .655 (19-for-29) from the field and .950 (19-for-20) from the free throw line. Aden has now reached the 20-point plateau four times this season and 10 times in his career and reached 30 points for the first time in his career.
This is the first honor for Aden, who becomes the second Cougar this season to earn conference Player of the Week as Brock Motum picked up the honor, Dec. 12 2011. It marks Washington State’s 25th all-time Player of the Week and the first time a Cougar senior has earned the award since Taylor Rochestie was the Pac-10 Player of the Week, Feb. 23, 2009. Aden and Motum become the first WSU duo to earn Player of the Week in the same season since Donminic Ellison and Mark Hendrickson both picked up the honors during the 1994-95 season (Jan. 9 and Jan. 23, respectively). It marks the third straight season that WSU has picked up two Player of the Week awards in the same season.
The Cougars play Thursday at Tucson, Ariz. to face in the Wildcats. Saturday, they play at Arizona State.
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