College notebook: Y.'s Brandon Davies, Weber State's Damian Lillard receive conference honors

PROVO — BYU junior forward Brandon Davies earned West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors after guiding the Cougars to a pair of wins.

Behind Davies' play, BYU defeated No. 24 Gonzaga and Portland. In those contests, Davies averaged 16.5 points, nine rebounds and 4.5 steals. He also shot 56 percent from the floor.

In the win over the Bulldogs, Davies scored 15 points of 7-of-12 shooting and pulled down five rebounds. Against the Pilots, Davies poured in 18 points, collected 13 rebounds and had a career-high eight steals, which was one away from a school record.

This marks the second time this season that Davies has received player of the week honors. He also earned that recognition on Jan. 2.

BIG SKY HONORS LILLARD AGAIN: For the fifth time this season, Weber State junior guard Damian Lillard has been selected as the Big Sky Conference men's basketball Player of the Week.

The 6-foot-3 junior guard from Oakland, Calif., averaged 37.5 points, five assists, two rebounds and one steal per game as the Wildcats earned home wins over Portland State and Northern Colorado. Lillard shot 69.7 percent from the field, 64.7 percent from 3-point range, and 70 percent from the free-throw line. He also scored his 1,700th career point and moved into 12th place on the Big Sky's all-time scoring list.

The nation's top scorer opened the week by scoring 40 points with five assists in a 92-79 win over Portland State. Lillard became the only player in the nation to score at least 40 points in two games this season. Lillard made 13-of-18 shots from the floor, was 6-of-8 from 3-point range, and 8-of-10 from the free-throw line. He hit his first six 3-pointers. The 40 points was one shy of his career-high.

Lillard followed with a 35-point game in a 93-81 victory over Northern Colorado. He scored 22 in the second half as the Wildcats moved to 10-1 in conference play. Lillard made 12-of-18 shots from the floor, was 5-of-9 from 3-point range, and 6-of-10 from the free-throw line. He dished out five assists with three rebounds and two steals. He now has 1,712 points for his career.

Lillard leads the nation with an average of 25.5 points per game. He ranks fourth in 3-pointers per game (3.5) and is sixth in 3-point field-goal percentage (46.3). He is a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award, the John Wooden Award and the Oscar Robertson Award. Lillard has been selected as the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week seven times in his career.