Pac-12 Awards: Johnny Juzang Reels in Second Player of the Week of the Season
For the second time this year, the Bruins' top scorer has taken home the top award in the conference.
The Pac-12 announced its weekly honors Monday, and No. 7 UCLA men's basketball (13-2, 5-1 Pac-12) guard Johnny Juzang won the Player of the Week award following his team's wins over Utah and Colorado. Juzang previously won the award in November, and the Bruins have now boasted two winners in three weeks after guard Tyger Campbell secured the honor on Jan. 10.
The Bruins did not have another player nominated for that award or Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, which went to Utah guard Lazar Stefanovic.
Juzang led UCLA in scoring in both of their tight wins over the mountain schools, putting up 28 points against Utah on Thursday and 23 against Colorado on Saturday. Juzang shot 50% or better from the field and from beyond the arc in both games, also supplementing that efficiency with nine total rebounds.
Between the two contests, Juzang averaged 25.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 1.0 steal and 1.0 turnover per game on .581/.571/.917 shooting splits. Juzang, who now ranks No. 2 in the Pac-12 with 18.3 points per game on the season, has scored 23 or more points in four consecutive games and has only failed to break double figures on one occasion this year.
If it weren't for Juzang, the Bruins would have fallen far behind both the Utes and Buffaloes, as he was the team's only true scoring threat in both games. Guard Jules Bernard contributed 14 points against Utah and guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 14 against Colorado, but no one other than Juzang made more than four field goals in either game.
Of the 43 shots UCLA made over the weekend, 18 of them came off the hot hand of Juzang – Jaquez had the second most with seven.
Juzang also started getting to the free throw line far more often during the Bruins' most recent stretch, attempting 7.3 per game after just eight trips to the line across his previous nine appearances. And when he's gotten to the charity stripe, he's converted, leading the Pac-12 in free throw percentage at 83.7% since the start of the season.
This is the third Pac-12 Player of the Week award Juzang has collected in his career, the first coming in February 2020 after a road sweep over the Washington schools. Juzang averaged 29.5 points 7.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 0.5 turnovers per game on .463/.381/.917 shooting splits that weekend.
When Juzang won the award earlier in the season, he did so after averaging 22.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game against Cal State Bakersfield and Villanova.
Juzang has three games coming up this week, starting with a top-10 battle against No. 3 Arizona at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday night. Juzang scored 12.5 points per game in his two appearances against the Wildcats last year, but the Bruins won both of those matchups.
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