Hawes named Pac-10 PoW

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. ­ WASHINGTON center Spencer Hawes has been named the U.S. Bank Pacific-10 Conference Men¹s Basketball Player of the Week for December 18-24, Commissioner Tom Hansen announced today.

Hawes, a product of Seattle Prep High School, averaged 23.0 points and 10.5 rebounds in a pair of victories for the Huskies, who climbed to 14th in this week's Associated Press poll and No. 13 in the ESPN/USA Today rankings.

"With all the great players in the conference, especially this year, this is a big-time honor," said Hawes.

"I¹d have given it to Jon, but I¹ll take it anyways," Hawes remarked about sophomore teammate Jon Brockman, who had a fine week himself with averages of 18.5 points and 13.0 rebounds.

Hawes opened the week with his first career double-double in registering career-highs of 23 points and 12 rebounds during Wednesday's (Dec. 20) 88-72 win over 12th-ranked LSU. Hawes shot 10-of-16 from the field and was instrumental in stopping LSU All-American Glen 'Big Baby' Davis' double-digit scoring streak at 48 games.

The 7-foot freshman capped the week by matching his career-high with 23 points and added nine rebounds Friday (Dec. 22) in an 80-51 win over Weber State.

For the week, he shot 20-of-30 (.667) from the field, 6-of-7 (.857) from the free throw line, and averaged 2.0 assists and 1.5 blocked shots.

The three blocked shots posted last week by Hawes pushed his team-leading total to 27. That¹s one more than last season¹s team leader, Brandon Roy, compiled during the entire 2005-06 season.

"He was very, very good. I know I¹m stating the obvious," said UW coach Lorenzo Romar. "All of sudden he¹s just been pretty reliable here scoring, he's picked up his rebounding and he's doing it against any opponent so far up to this point.

"The thing that is such a good quality about Spencer is that when teams have doubled him, and I'm sure we¹ll face that these next two games quite a bit, he is so good at finding the open man."

This is the first weekly honor for Hawes and Washington's 28th Player of the Week all-time. The last Husky to receive the honor was Brandon Roy who was recognized Feb. 27, 2006 with his record third consecutive Pac-10 Player of the Week award.

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2006-07 U.S. Bank Pac-10 Players of the Week: Nov. 20 - Chase Budinger, Fr., F, ARIZ. Nov. 27 - Darren Collison, So., G, UCLA. Dec. 4 - Josh Shipp, So., G/F, UCLA. Dec. 11 - Daven Harmeling, So., F, WSU. Dec. 18 - Bryce Taylor, Jr., G, ORE. Dec. 26 - Spencer Hawes, Fr., C, WASH.