Pac-12 Awards: UCLA's Dylan Andrews Earns Freshman of the Week

For the third week in a row, a Bruin has taken home one of the top honors in the conference.

The Pac-12 announced its weekly performance awards Monday afternoon, and UCLA men's basketball guard Dylan Andrews took home Freshman of the Week honors. Guard Jaylen Clark was nominated for Player of the Week, but he ultimately lost out to Oregon guard Will Richardson.

Andrews' win comes off the back of back-to-back wins by his teammate, Amari Bailey, on Nov. 28 and Dec. 5. The Compass Prep (AZ) product beat out Arizona forward Henri Veesaar and Cal forward Grant Newell for the honor this time around.

The Bruins only played one game this past week due to final exams, beating Denver 87-64 on Saturday. It was a hard-fought contest through the first half, but the energy shifted at the beginning of the second.

Andrews started the second half in place of fifth-year point guard Tyger Campbell, and UCLA immediately went on a 17-0 run. That gave the Bruins the separation they needed to cruise to a win, and Andrews posted a plus-27 plus/minus in the 23-point victory.

The freshman finished the afternoon with a career-high 11 points and six assists, all without turning the ball over once. Andrews shot 5-for-10 from the field and 1-for-2 from beyond the arc, also bringing down four rebounds.

On the season, Andrews is averaging 3.8 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game on .385/.154/.750 shooting splits. Andrews' .162 win shares per 40 minutes ranks fifth among qualified Bruins, higher than both Campbell and Bailey.

The Pac-12 first introduced its Freshman of the Week award back in the 2019-2020 season. Both Campbell and guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. won its that year, but the team went nearly three full years before putting forward another winner again.

UCLA has now had a player win the award three times this season, just five weeks into the campaign. Outside of Bailey and Andrews, the Bruins also have center Adem Bona and swingman Abramo Canka who could add to that total moving forward this year.

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