Jan. 16, 2012
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - No. 16/16 San Diego State sophomore Jamaal Franklin has been named Mountain West Player of the Week, the league announced Monday morning. The award is the first career weekly honor for the Hawthorne, Calif., native.
The 6-5 guard posted a pair of double-doubles in a week where then-No. 22 SDSU defeated Chicago State and No. 12 UNLV. At the end of the week, Franklin averaged 20.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 33.0 minutes.
In the most recent game vs. the nationally ranked Runnin' Rebels, Franklin exploded for a team-high 24 points, career-high 10 rebounds, two steals, one blocked shot and one steal in 38 minutes. En route to his fourth career 20-point scoring effort, the sophomore converted all eight of his free-throw attempts to establish a career high. His record day at the charity stripe prefaced an eventful final 61 seconds for the guard as he suffered an ankle injury with 1 minute, 1 second left in regulation. After exiting the game, Franklin returned to the game with 37 seconds remaining and made a driving lay-up in traffic with 0.3 seconds left on the clock to give SDSU a 69-67 lead. The two-point cushion proved to be more than enough as the Aztecs opened the MW season with their sixth straight victory over UNLV.
In the outing vs. Chicago State, Franklin scored 16 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. The sophomore also added a team-high two steals in 28 minutes.
Franklin has scored in double-figures in a career-best five straight games. For the season, he has 13 double-digit scoring efforts and three double-figure rebounding games.
The weekly conference award is the third of the season for San Diego State. Chase Tapley is a two-time winner in 2011-12 after garnering accolades on Nov. 14 and Dec. 5.