SAN DIEGO – San Diego State guard Matt Bradley has been named the Mountain West Player of the Week for the week ending on Jan. 9. The announcement was made from the league office in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Monday morning.
In dismantling the previously unbeaten and 20th-ranked Colorado State Rams, 79-49, Bradley scored a game and season-high 26 points, pulled down seven rebounds and had a pair of steals in 31:47 of court action.
The San Bernardino, Calif., native was 10-of-17 (.588) from the field, including 4-of-6 (.667) from the bonus distance, and 2-of-2 from the line. His 10 field goals and four 3-pointers are season-bests, and his two steals matched his season best. His 26 points were just three off his career high. Bradley scored in double figures for the seventh straight game and the 11th time this season.
The senior guard's first two points came on a pair of free throws just over two minutes into the game, but he then missed three of his first four field goal attempts, including a 3-pointer. He made his second bucket, a layup with 6:34 to play before intermission to give SDSU a 24-22 lead, and over his succeeding 22:10 went 8-of-12 (.667) from the floor, including 4-of-5 (.800) from distance.
With less than two minutes to play in the first half, his jumper in the lane put San Diego State up 32-30, a lead that the Aztecs would never relinquish.
He missed his first field goal attempt of the second half, but on the ensuing two possessions, banged home a pair of 3-pointers to extend SDSU's lead to nine, 43-34. He scored twice more, on a pair of jumpers as the route was on.
The 30-point victory is the largest against an opponent ranked in the AP Top 25 in program history. SDSU improved to 7-3 against ranked Mountain West teams and in its last two games held its opponents, both Mountain West teams, to less than 30.0 percent shooting.
This is Bradley's first Mountain West Player of the Week honor, the third conference player of the week distinction of his collegiate career, having won two Pac-12 Player of the Week awards while he was at California, and the second for an Aztec in as many weeks.
-SDSU-