SALT LAKE CITY – Utah men’s basketball center Branden Carlson was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday by the league office after leading the Runnin’ Utes to a sweep of the Washington schools this past weekend at home.
This is the first player of the week honor for the 7-footer and joins Rollie Worster as the second Ute to earn the accolade this season. This is the first time since the 2019-20 season that the Utes have earned this award at least twice and with two different players in a single-season. It just the fourth time Utah has had multiple player of the week accolades in a single season since joining the league in 2011-12.
Carlson averaged 26.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.5 blocks and 1.5 steals to go with a .724 (21-of-29) shooting clip in the two games last week to help propel Utah into second place halfway through Pac-12 play.
The South Jordan, Utah, product opened the week with a career-high 28 points – the third time this season he’s bested his previous career-high – against Washington State going a near perfect 11-of-12 from the floor with eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. His only miss came from beyond the arc that night, finishing 3-of-4 from 3-point range. He also became the eighth player in Pac-12 history to score 28-plus points with 10-plus field-goals and a 90-percent shooting clip since 1996-97- joining Todd MacCulloch 2x, Jason Collins, Bryce Taylor, Quincy Pondexter, Jamal Bey and Christian Koloko.
With this trip to the line, @ballerbranden35 has a new CAREER HIGH – 28 points??
°?? https://t.co/rz7s5hI5Zt#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/Z0BaDPya1A
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) January 20, 2023
Carlson once again had a dominant night versus Washington on Saturday, scoring a game-high 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting with eight rebounds, three blocks and a new career-high three steals.
The floor general finds the big man for the exclamation point on the UTAH 9-0 run??
cc: Rollie Worster ? @ballerbranden35
?? https://t.co/DZieJeyBEH°#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/2GxcF9r2l8
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) January 22, 2023
He became the first Runnin’ Ute to score 25-plus points in consecutive games since Andrew Bogut did so during the 2004-05 season while also becoming the first Ute to score 20-plus points in three-straight games since Timmy Allen in 2019-20.
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