Player of the Week: Kendall Williams, New Mexico

Player of the Week: Kendall Williams, New Mexico

A lot of players put up impressive performances this week, but there really wasn’t much of a discussion as to who the Player of the Week would be. Kendall Williams in a landslide. The junior point guard scored 46 points — shooting 12-16 from the floor and 10-13 from three — as the Lobos went into Moby Arena and knocked off Colorado State, 91-82.

The 26 points that Williams scored in the second half would have been a career-high. He scored 20 points after picking up his fourth foul midway through the second half. He hit three threes to cap off a game-winning, 14-2 run in the final five minutes. And, more importantly, he carried New Mexico to a win over the second-place team in the MWC despite the fact they were man-handled on the glass and gave up 82 points. The Lobos now have complete control over the conference race, taking a two-game lead with just four games remaining.

The All-They-Were-Good-Too Team

G: Trey Burke, Michigan: The Wolverines bounced back from a stretch where they lost three out of four to beat both Penn State and Illinois this week. And while the youngsters on John Beilein’s roster continue to have their ups-and-downs in their first season as collegians, Trey Burke is still putting up huge numbers. He had 29 points and five assists in a win over Penn State, following that up with 26 points and eight assists to beat Illinois. On the week, he was 17-27 from the floor, 5-7 from three, 16-19 from the line and committed just a single turnover in 78 minutes.

G: Victor Oladipo, Indiana: Oladipo was, once again, the star for the Hoosiers as they went into East Lansing and knocked off Michigan State, taking over sole possession of first place in the Big Ten. He had 19 points, nine boards and five steals in the win, including six points in the final minute and what turned out to be the game-winning tip-in with just under a minute left in the game.

F: Chris Crawford, Memphis: Crawford finished with 19 points, four boards and four assists in a win over Southern Miss on Saturday, which came a game after he nearly notched a triple-double against Houston. Crawford had 11 points, 13 boards, nine assists and three blocks against the Cougars. Making things all the more frustrating? Crawford could have had the triple-double had Adonis Thomas been willing to make a layup in the final seconds after Houston had conceded. Good sportsmanship prevailed, however.

F: Otto Porter, Georgetown: Porter has been simply sensational over the last seven weeks or so, but on Saturday, he had his breakout game. Porter scored 33 of Georgetown’s 57 points as the Hoyas went into the Carrier Dome and knocked off Syracuse. He added eight boards, five steals and two assists while shooting 12-19 from the floor and 5-10 from three. The win also gave Georgetown sole possession of first place in the Big East and thrust Porter into the National Player of the Year discussion.

C: Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky: Turns out that Kentucky’s season isn’t quite over yet, as the Wildcats beat both Vanderbilt and Missouri at home this week. Cauley-Stein had 20 points, seven boards and three blocks in the win over Vandy, following that up with 12 boards and seven blocks to help hold off the Tigers. He wasn’t the only Wildcats with a big week, but his emergence as a force in the paint helps to nullify the loss of Nerlens Noel.

Bench: Aaron Craft (Ohio State), Anthony Drmic (Boise State), Shabazz Napier (UConn), Rasheed Sulaimon (Duke)

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.