March 8, 2010
LOGAN, Utah - Utah State men's basketball player Tai Wesley has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week it was announced by the league office Sunday. Wesley was also named the America First Credit Union Utah State Student-Athlete of the Week, which is voted on by a state media panel, for the period ending on Sunday, March 7.
It is the second time this year that Wesley has been named WAC Player of the Week and the third time that a USU player has received the award joining senior guard Jared Quayle. As for USU Athlete of the Week honors, it is the sixth time overall that Wesley has garnered USU's top weekly individual honor.
Wesley, a 6-7 junior forward from Provo, Utah (Provo HS) led Utah State to a pair of home wins last week against Fresno State (76-39) and New Mexico State (81-63) to clinch its third-straight Western Athletic Conference regular season championship. Against the Bulldogs, Wesley scored 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds, five assists and one steal. Against NMSU, he scored a season-high 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting, and added six rebounds, a season-high tying six assists and two blocks.
For the week, Wesley averaged 22.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.5 blocks, while shooting 82.6 percent from the field (19-23) and 63.6 percent at the free throw line (7-11). Last week marked the first time in his career he scored 20-plus points in back-to-back games.
On the season, Wesley is averaging 13.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game, and is shooting 57.8 percent from the field and 71.5 percent from the free throw line. He currently ranks third in the WAC in field goal shooting, third in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.02), seventh in blocked shots, 10th in rebounding, 11th in assists, 13th in scoring and 15th in free throw shooting.
Utah State (25-6, 14-2) is the top seed in the upcoming WAC Tournament in Reno, Nev., and will play Boise State (15-16, 5-11) in the quarterfinals on Thursday, Mar. 11 at 1 p.m. (MT) in a game that will be televised live on ESPNU.
Nominees from other sports for USU Athlete of the Week honors include:
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - Redshirt freshman center Banna Diop (Dakar, Senegal) helped Utah State to a 1-1 home record last week as it lost to Boise State (57-47) and defeated Hawai'i (53-51) to secure the seventh-seed in the upcoming WAC Tournament. Against the Broncos, she had eight points, six rebounds and two blocks, and against the Rainbow Wahine she had 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. For the week, Diop averaged 9.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, and shot 47.4 percent from the field (9-19).
GYMNASTICS - Junior Lyndsie Boone (Winthrop Harbor, Ill.) posted a 38.225 all-around score, finishing second in a tri-meet with Brigham Young and hosted by Boise State. Boone was also ninth on floor (9.625), tied for 13th on beam (9.425), 14th on bars (9.600) and 15th on vault (9.575), helping Utah State register a 189.225.
MEN'S TENNIS - Junior Nikita Ryashchenko (Saint Petersburg, Russia) won all four of his matches last weekend as Utah State posted a pair of 7-0 wins against the College of Idaho. Ryashchenko posted a pair of straight set wins at No. 6 singles (6-2, 6-0) and No. 2 singles (6-0, 6-2). He also teamed with junior Alex Thatcher for an 8-1 win at No. 3 doubles in the first match and then posted an 8-1 win at No. 2 doubles with junior Matt Braithwaite in the second match of the day.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - Junior Hailey Swenson (North Salt Lake City, Utah) led Utah State to a 2-0 record last week as it defeated Montana State, 5-2, and the College of Idaho, 7-0. Against the Bobcats, Swenson posted a straight sets win at No. 1 singles (6-2, 6-4) and teamed with freshman Jaclyn West for an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles. Against the Coyotes, Swenson again posted a straight sets win at No. 1 singles (6-0, 6-1) and then notched an 8-1 win at No. 1 doubles with West.
MEN'S TRACK - Junior Clint Silcock (Salmon, Idaho) cleared a season-best height of 2.16m (7-01.00) in the high jump at the Final Qualifier Meet hosted by the University of Washington last weekend. Silcock's jump is also a NCAA provisional mark.
SOFTBALL - Freshman second baseman Tina Ferguson (Payson, Utah) helped Utah State to a 3-2 record at the Colorado State Classic this past weekend as USU defeated North Dakota State (11-4), Utah Valley (10-8) and South Dakota State (7-2), and lost to NDSU (9-1) and Colorado State (5-3). Ferguson went 1-for-2 with a three-run home run in the Aggies' win against North Dakota State and had RBI's against both Utah Valley and Colorado State. Overall, she hit .500 (6-12) during the tournament, with five runs batted in and three runs scored.
2009-10 Utah State Athlete of the Week Winners
Aug. 31 - Lauren Hansen, Soccer
Sept. 7 - Liz McArthur, Volleyball
Sept. 14 - Liz McArthur, Volleyball
Sept. 21 - Diondre Borel, Football
Sept. 28 - Robert Turbin, Football
Oct. 5 - Benjamin Schilleman, Golf
Oct. 12 - Natalie Norris, Soccer
Oct. 19 - Emily Kortsen, Volleyball
Oct. 26 - Walter McClenton, Football
Nov. 2 - Brian McKenna, Cross Country
Nov. 9 - Diondre Borel, Football
Nov. 16 - Amber White, Women's Basketball
Nov. 23 - Bobby Wagner, Football
Nov. 30 - Robert Turbin, Football
Dec. 7 - Jared Quayle, Men's Basketball
Dec. 14 - Pooh Williams, Men's Basketball
Dec. 21 - Tai Wesley, Men's Basketball
Dec. 28 - Tai Wesley, Men's Basketball
Jan. 4 - LaCale Pringle-Buchanan, Women's Basketball
Jan. 11 - Amber White, Women's Basketball
Jan. 18 - Jared Quayle, Men's Basketball
Jan. 25 - Sven Poslusny, Men's Tennis
Feb. 1 - Nate Bendall, Men's Basketball
Feb. 8 - Mike Pyrtle, Men's Track
Feb. 15 - Brian McKenna, Men's Track
Feb. 22 - Heather Heinrich, Gymnastics
Mar. 1 - Kim Quinn, Women's Track
Mar. 8 - Tai Wesley, Men's Basketball
