Pac-12 Awards: UCLA's Amari Bailey Repeats as Freshman of the Week
The Bruins' superstar freshman is continuing to set himself apart from the crowd out West.
The Pac-12 announced its weekly performance awards Monday afternoon, and UCLA men's basketball guard Amari Bailey took home Freshman of the Week honors. Guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. was nominated for Player of the Week, but he ultimately lost out to Utah guard Rollie Worster.
It marked the second week in a row that Bailey won Freshman of the Week.
Across two games – both wins by the Bruins – Bailey averaged 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 block per game on .667/.667/.750 shooting splits.
Bailey matched his career high with 19 points against Stanford on Dec. 1, needing just nine field goal attempts to do so. Although he racked up seven turnovers in the contest, he did come through with six rebounds and three assists to add to the stat sheet.
Considering Bailey scored just six points in 49 minutes in UCLA's first two games away from home this season, it was quite the road debut for the former McDonald's All-American.
Bailey and the Bruins were back at Pauley Pavilion to face Oregon on Sunday, and he came through with another big performance in that one. After not scoring a single point in the first half, Bailey finished the afternoon with 14.
A dunk in the final minutes – immediately followed by a clutch block from behind – helped UCLA lock up a win over the Ducks for the first time since 2019.
On the season, Bailey is averaging 11.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game on .542/.412/.471 shooting splits. His 17.1 player efficiency rating ranks sixth among qualified Bruins, and is towards the top of the list among Pac-12 freshmen.
Bailey has scored in double figures in seven of his nine career appearances, and he has shot 50% or better from the field in five of those games.
The Pac-12 first introduced its Freshman of the Week award back in the 2019-2020 season. Both Jaquez and point guard Tyger Campbell won its that year, but the team went nearly three full years before putting forward another winner again.
Bailey has now doubled the number of UCLA winners in the very first month of his career, and he should have plenty more opportunities to secure it again as the season progresses.
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