Jan. 23, 2006
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State junior forward Marcus Slaughter has been named Mountain West Conference Player of the Week for the period ending January 22 after guiding the Aztecs (12-6; 5-1 MWC) to a pair of conference wins. This is Slaughter's second weekly award of the season and of his career.
A native of Riverside, Slaughter averaged 20.0 points, team-highs of 16.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.0 blocks to go along with 1.5 steals. For the week, he connected on 13-of-22 field goals (59.1 percent), 14-of-17 free throws (82.4 percent), committed just two turnovers in 69 minutes of action and owned an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.5-to-1.
In last Wednesday's 76-57 win at TCU, Slaughter had game-highs of 23 points (9-12 FGs; 5-7 FTs), 18 rebounds and four assists. His rebound total was just five short of the Horned Frogs' game total of 23. At the end of one period in Fort Worth, Slaughter had already posted his 19th career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. The junior forward's performance allowed him to have a +40 efficiency rating in the game, the highest by any SDSU player in a game this season and the highest since the statistic started being kept in the 2003-04 season.
In the Aztecs' most recent game, a 88-61 victory over Brigham Young, Slaughter posted his third straight double-double, eighth of the season and the 20th of his career as SDSU posted its largest margin of victory in the history of the BYU series, which dates back to 1940. The Riverside native scored 17 points (9-10 FTs), grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, added three assists, two steals, one block and no turnovers in 33 minutes of action. At one point in the first half, Slaughter scored 11 consecutive points to help the Aztecs overcome a three-point deficit to take a lead they would never relinquish.
Slaughter becomes the first Aztec to win the award multiple times this season and first since Brandon Heath won it twice last year. This is also the first time since the 2001-02 season that the Aztecs have collected back-to-back player of the week awards. That year Tony Bland and Al Faux were honored Dec. 3 and 10, respectively.
This marks the fourth time a San Diego State player has earned the weekly award in 2005-06. Besides Slaughter, Heath and Kyle Spain have been honored once this season.