Arizona forward Ryan Anderson was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week after averaging 26.5 points and 13.5 rebounds in Arizona's wins over Washington State and Washington last week.
"Much hard earned and deserved," UA coach Sean Miller said today at his weekly news conference. "He did it on on the road in two pivotal games for us, especially against Washington. The timeliness of his big plays, his rebounding, just his sheer numbers are really awesome."
Anderson beat out Oregon State's Gary Payton II, Oregon's Chris Boucher and Cal's Kameron Rooks for the honor.
It's the first such award for Anderson in his college career, though he was the ACC's Rookie of the Week as a freshman.
During his news conference today, Miller spoke at length about Anderson's consistency, which began over the summer. Anderson tied Matt Korcheck with the most reps of the 185-pound bench press with 21, and then broke a Miller-era record by winning the gold jersey (from most total production points in practice) for six weeks in a row during the preseason.
"His dominance started early and his leadership started over the summer," Miller said. "He’s been really really consistent. You look at our schedule, he may have had 1 or 2 subpar performances. Even somebody like Derrick Williams or Nick Johnson, great players but they're going to have those games that are not up to their standards.
"But Ryan from a consistency perspective, it’s amazing how every game he’s been outstanding."
Actually, Anderson's toughest game of the season was probably Jan. 9 at USC, when he had just five points on 2-for-7 shooting and eight rebounds in UA's four-overtime loss.
Miller said the two talked after that game about what motivates him and noted that there's often a "lot of emotion" that can work against players going home to Los Angeles.
Arizona moved up from No. 23 to No. 17 in the Associated Press media Top 25 poll, while jumping from 20 to 14 in the USA Today coaches Top 25.
The Wildcats' RPI is now 28, fifth-best in the Pac-12 behind Oregon (3), USC (15), Utah (18) and Colorado (26).
ESPN's Bracketology has UA a No. 5 seed in the South region, where Xavier is a No. 2. Six other Pac-12 teams are in Lunardi's field, with Oregon a No. 3.
But in CBS' Bracketology, Jerry Palm has eight Pac-12 teams and the Ducks are a No. 2. Arizona is a No. 6, while USC and Utah are 5s.
24/7 Sports posted some Courtside Films footage of Lauri Markkanen at the National Prep School Invitational.
