UC Irvine junior Mamadou Ndiaye (Dakar, Senegal/Brethren Christian HS) put forth a dominant performance against former conference rival Utah State to earn the selection as Big West Men’s Basketball Player of the Week.
The 7-6 center recorded 17 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead the Anteaters to a 73-63 victory over the Aggies in Logan, Utah, Saturday night.
Ndiaye tied his career high for boards, and hit seven of his eight field goal attempts. He also has registered three consecutive double-doubles.
Ndiaye proved pivotal down the stretch, hitting a free throw and a dunk in a span of 23 seconds to extend UCI’s lead to 67-60 with 1:04 remaining.
His four swats raised his career total to 158, putting him at No. 7 on the Big West all-time list, just two short of tying former Pacific center Michael Olowokandi (160, 1995-98) for the sixth slot.
Ndiaye leads the Big West in field goal percentage at 65.7 percent (46-of-70) with a minimum of four made field goals per game.
Others nominated: Tavrion Dawson (CSUN); A.J. Spencer (Long Beach State); Taylor Johns (UC Riverside); Aaron Valdes (Hawai‘i)