University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Welsh Named Pac-12 Player of the Week
December 07, 2015 | Men's Basketball
SAN FRANCISCO – UCLA sophomore center Thomas Welsh has earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors, the conference office announced Monday.
In UCLA's two wins last week, Welsh averaged 18.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Welsh registered team-highs in points (21) and rebounds (11) in UCLA's 87-77 win over No. 1 Kentucky last Thursday. He had his second consecutive double-double on Sunday night, totaling 15 points and 10 rebounds in an 83-76 win against Long Beach State.
Welsh, a 7-foot center who starred at nearby Loyola High School (Los Angeles), has registered three double-doubles this season. Through the Bruins' first nine games, he has averaged 13.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. In addition, Welsh ranks sixth in the Pac-12 in field goal percentage (62.8).
UCLA earned its first victory over the nation's No. 1-ranked team since toppling Arizona in overtime in a first-round Pac-10 Tournament game on March 13, 2003. The Bruins' victory marked the first time any Pac-12 team (as a member of the Pac-10 or Pac-12) was unranked and knocked off the nation's No. 1 team in non-conference play since Dec. 1, 1986, when UCLA downed North Carolina, 89-84.
Welsh has become UCLA's first player to secure Pac-12 Player of the Week honors since Norman Powell earned his third weekly award of the year last season (on March 2, 2015).
The Bruins (6-3) are back in action against No. 20/17 Gonzaga (5-2) on Saturday, Dec. 12. Game time at Gonzaga's McCarthey Athletic Center (Spokane, Wash.) is 7 p.m. PT. Saturday's game will be nationally televised by ESPN2, as Dave Pasch and Sean Farnham will have the call.
