By Curran McCauley
With Virginia’s loss to Duke and convincing victories over Portland and Memphis, the Gonzaga Bulldogs have moved to No. 2 in the country in the AP Top 25, pacing the West Coast Conference with a program-best 22-1 start (11-0 in conference). For his efforts this week, Gonzaga’s Domantas Sabonis was named WCC Player of the Week. See where the freshman ranks in this week’s top 10 after another exciting week of play on the West Coast.
1. Kevin Pangos / Sr. Guard / Gonzaga
Pangos broke the Gonzaga all-time 3-point record early in the game on Thursday at home against Portland. Against Memphis? Just an 11-point, five assist, four rebound performance. Pangos is averaging 4.7 assists per game to just 1.3 turnovers per game, a WCC high ratio of 3.8. The Canadian guard remains a constant leader for a team with national championship hopes.
2. Tyler Haws / Sr. Guard / BYU
Haws is the top scorer on the conference’s top offensive team, averaging 22.6 points per game, tops in the WCC and second in the nation. He moved past Danny Ainge and into second all-time in BYU career history after a 28 point performance against San Francisco Thursday and 21 more on Saturday against Santa Clara. Haws is 113 points away from Jimmer Fredette‘s all-time mark at the school.
3. Domantas Sabonis / Fr. Forward / Gonzaga
Sabonis was a double-double machine last weekend, posting 13 points and 11 rebounds against both Portland and Memphis. Sabonis, the aforementioned WCC Player of the Week, will have a chance to record his fourth double-double in seven games on Thursday at Santa Clara.
4. Vasa Pusica / Fr. Guard / San Diego
The Freshman from Serbia had a breakout weekend, scoring 16 points against both Santa Clara and San Francisco. Prior to the seemingly out-of-nowhere performance, Pusica had scored in double-digits just once, in an early December non-conference tilt against the Big West’s UC Santa Barbara.
5. Jett Raines / Jr. Forward / Pepperdine
Raines was instrumental in helping Pepperdine to a road sweep. Raines scored 14 points and added seven boards in a win against Pacific on Thursday before an 11-point effort in an upset of Saint Mary’s on Saturday in Moraga. Raines added three blocks on the weekend. The Texan is averaging 11.4 ppg and 5.4 rpg on the year.
6. Brad Waldow / Sr. Forward / Saint Mary’s
Waldow has scored in double figures in every game this season, and last weekend was no exception. He went for 14 points and 6 rebounds on Thursday in a win over LMU and tied a conference season high with 25 points (six rebs) on Saturday in a loss to Pepperdine. Waldow is averaging just over 20 points a game to go with 9.5 rebounds per contest, solidifying a place for the Shingle Springs, Calif. in the middle of the WCC Player of the Year discussion.
7. Stacy Davis / Jr. Forward / Pepperdine
Davis was a difference maker in the late part of two wins for the Waves. Against Pacific on Thursday, Davis pulled down a key offensive rebound and delivered a put-back to seal a victory for Pepperdine. He finished with nine points and nine rebounds. On Saturday, Davis scored all 10 points in the second half to go with 12 rebounds as the Waves came away with a key victory – snapping a 17 game losing streak against SMC.
8. Marin Mornar / Jr. Forward / Loyola Marymount
The Croatian came up big for the Lions as LMU garnered a split in their second consecutive Northern California trip. In a loss to Saint Mary’s Mornar had a respectable nine points and six rebounds in addition to a block. Against Pacific on Saturday, Mornar chipped in a career-high 23 points and tied a career-high with 11 rebounds in an OT road victory. The Lions shot perfect from the field in the extra session.
9. Kyle Wiltjer / Jr. Forward / Gonzaga
Wiltjer has instantly become one of the conference’s top players, averaging 15.6 ppg and 5.1 rpg so far in his junior campaign after a transfer from Kentucky. Against Portland and Memphis, Wiltjer went for 11 pts. and 13 pts., respectively while totaling ten rebounds. He might have made the top ten just on the merits of these awesome behind-the-back trick shots. Now let’s see these in a game!
10. Brandon Clark / Sr. Guard / Santa Clara
The reigning WCC Player of the Week, Clark scored in double-figures for the sixth game in a row after being held to just four against Gonzaga on Jan. 10. The senior from Indiana is making a serious push for All-WCC First Team Honors after an honorable mention plaudit a year ago. He’ll have the tough task of leading his team into a match-up against the visiting Zags on Thursday.
Conference Tidbits
A huge shoutout to Santa Clara’s Andrew Papenfus who came back from brain surgery to remove a benign tumor in the offseason and played for this first time in 2014-15 against BYU….Prezemek Karnowski had a double-double against Portland and continues to pair extremely well with Sabonis in the intimidating “Low Bloc” frontcourt up in Spokane….Finally healthy after transfering from Oregon, A.J. Lapray totaled 12 points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks in limited action this weekend….Jito Kok leads the conference with 2.8 blocks per contest…he’ll challenge with Kyle Collinsworth, who battled injury this weekend, for WCC Defensive Player of the Year…..check out Gabriel Aguirre giving TheW.tv correspondent Amanda Blackwell a campus tour of Pacific in this fun feature…Aaron Bright‘s leg injury will be something to monitor for Saint Mary’s after the Stanford transfer left the game against Pepperdine late in the first half…
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