SAN DIEGO – San Diego State's Matt Mitchell has been named the Mountain West Conference's Player of the Week for the week ending on Nov. 29. The announcement was made from the league office on Monday morning.
In sweeping both games last week, 73-58 over No. 22/21 UCLA and 77-58 versus UC Irvine, Mitchell averaged 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals to help improve the Aztecs record to 2-0 this year and 32-2 in its last 34 games.
Against UCLA, the senior forward was one of the team leaders with 15 points. He knocked down three triples, and added two rebounds, two assists and two steals. It was the 44th time in his career he made multiple three pointers in a game, and the 15th time since the start of last season (33 games at the time). In the first half, Mitchell hit back-to-back threes to help the Aztecs weather an early UCLA shooting barrage and propel the team to a six-point halftime lead. In the second half he hit an early three to extend the lead to nine points and with under four minutes knocked down a jumper to put SDSU up by 16 points en route to a 15-point victory. The game was the 100th of Mitchell's Aztec career, and he became the 33rd player in program history to reach the milestone.
The win over UCLA was the Aztecs' sixth in its last 10 games versus ranked opponents and was the second win in a row against a ranked Bruins squad. Prior to Wednesday's win, the last time two programs met was in the 2012 Wooden Classic, where SDSU defeated No. 24 UCLA, 78-69.
Versus UC Irvine, the Riverside, Calif., native, finished with 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. He scored six points in the first half, with four coming in the final two minutes of the period as the Aztecs pried open a nine-point advantage at halftime. San Diego State built a 20+ point lead five minute into the second half and cruised to the 77-58 win. Mitchell, playing limited minutes in the second half, hit another three and a pair of free throws to reach double figure scoring for the second game this season.
For the week, Mitchell shot .391 from the floor (9-of-23), .364 from distance (4-of-11) and knocked down 4-of-5 from the line. After two games, he leads the Aztecs in scoring, steals (4), is second in assists (4) and fourth in rebounds (6).
This is the first Mountain West weekly award of the season, the first for an Aztec this season, and the first of Mitchell's career.
San Diego State hosts St. Katherine on Wednesday, Dec. 2 and San Diego Christian on Friday, Dec. 4. Both games are scheduled to start at 6 p.m., respectively, on Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena.
-SDSU-
Matt Mitchell Named MW Player of the Week
