SAN DIEGO – San Diego State men's basketball's Jaedon LeDee has been named the Mountain West Conference's Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 18. The announcement came from the Conference office in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Monday morning.
LeDee, a 6-9 forward, led San Diego State to a 2-0 record last week with victories over Colorado State and New Mexico, to take a share of the lead in the conference standings.
In two games, he averaged 25.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals, 1.0 assists and 0.5 blocks in an average of 30.5 minutes of action. He shot 70.8 percent from the field (17-of-24), 50.0 percent from beyond the arc (1-of-2) and 68.2 percent from the line (15-of-22).
The Houston native scored in double figures in each game, extending his season-long run of double-digit scoring games to 26 straight and notched his 13th and 14th 20-plus point games of the campaign as well.
On Tuesday against Colorado State, he led all scorers with 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting (71.4 percent) from the floor and 7-of-11 from the line (63.6 percent), and added six rebounds, a steal and a block.
LeDee, who had five points and one rebound at the half, erupted in the second 20 minutes. He shot 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) overall and 6-of-9 from the line (66.7 percent) in the second half, personally outscoring the entire Colorado State team, 22-11 in the final 20 minutes.
He contributed 14 of the team's first 16 points coming out of the break to reduce a 14-point halftime deficit to just four points with just over 14 minutes to play and finished the half with 22 of the team's 41 points. He drew 11 fouls and saw two of the defenders assigned to him foul out trying to stop him.
Against New Mexico on Friday, he shot 70.0 percent from the field (7-of-10), 50.0 percent from the bonus distance (1-of-2) and 72.7 percent from the line (8-of-11) in scoring a game-high 23 points to go along with a career-high 4 steals, a pair of assists and three rebounds.
After a tight first six minutes in which New Mexico led by as many as three points, LeDee over a 33-second period, hit a jumper to close the gap to a single point and then nailed a 3-pointer to give SDSU a 14-12 advantage with 13:09 to go in the half, it was a lead the Aztecs would never relinquish.
His four steals led directly to eight points and though he only had three rebounds, two on the defensive glass, his offensive board led to a put back bucket and his two defensive rebounds ended New Mexico possessions with single shots.
He drew 10 fouls and was involved either through his scoring, assists, steals and an offensive rebound in 37 of the team's 81 points in the game.
This is LeDee's second Mountain West Player of the Week award of the year and his career and the third for an Aztec this season.
San Diego State returns to action on Tuesday, February 20 at Utah State. The Aztecs and Aggies have a tip scheduled for 7 p.m. MT/6 p.m. PT and the game being broadcast on CBS Sports Network.