Dec. 6, 2010
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - San Diego State senior forward Malcolm Thomas has been named Mountain West Conference Player of the Week, the league announced Monday. The award is the first of his career after he helped the Aztecs to a pair of double-digit victories last week.
In a 69-55 win over Saint Mary's, Thomas was instrumental in limiting Saint Mary's to 55 points, which was more than 35 points less than what SMC was averaging coming into the game. The senior blocked a career-high-tying six shots and was a part of an Aztec defense that finished with a season-high 10 blocks. The six blocked shots matched his own record for the most in a single in Steve Fisher's 12-year tenure at SDSU and was the second-highest figure in school single-game history. The preseason all-MWC pick also added 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, six rebounds, one assist and a steal in 28 minutes of action.
Against the Missouri Valley Conference favorites, Wichita State, Thomas welcomed the Shockers to the block party and denied another four attempts (SDSU had five blocks for the game), giving him 10 blocks in his two games this past week. His effort was his third multiple-block game of the season and he has currently blocked at least one shot in six straight games. Thomas chipped in another 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, five rebounds, one assist and one steal in 29 minutes. His fourth double-figure scoring performance of the season (21st of his career) marked the first time this year he has scored 10 or more points in consecutive games. In fact, the last time he posted double-digits in scoring in back-to-back outings was March 6 and March 11 of last season.
For the week, Thomas enjoyed a balanced stat line, averaging 12.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.0 blocks, 2.0 steals, 1.0 assists and a field-goal percentage of 66.7 percent (10-of-15).
Thomas is the second Aztec this season to earn Mountain West player-of-the-week honors. Sophomore Kawhi Leonard won the first two weekly awards of the year and San Diego State has captured the accolade three times through the first four weeks of the campaign.