More than two months into the season, UCLA finally did it. The Bruins have a Pac-12 player of the week.
Sophomore guard Johnny Juzang won the award Monday after following a 25-point performance against Washington State with a career-high 32 points in a 64-61 victory over Washington.
Juzang becomes the first UCLA player to win the award in nearly two years, Jaylen Hands having been the last Bruin to receive the honor on March 4, 2019.
“It’s a nice honor and I’m grateful for the award, but really we’re just focused on winning and the postseason and taking it game by game and we’re just focused on where the season’s going,” Juzang told The Times.
Juzang shot 46.3% from the field and made 11 of 12 free throws (91.7%) in the two games. With his scoring spree against Washington, Juzang became UCLA’s first player to account for at least half the Bruins’ points in a game since Reggie Miller scored 38 in an 81-73 loss to Washington State in December 1986.
“That’s pretty cool,” Juzang said of the feat.
Juzang has become the Bruins’ leading scorer in the wake of his surge and is now averaging 14.2 points per game.
UCLA (14-5 overall, 10-3 Pac-12), which plays Arizona (14-7, 8-7) on Thursday at Pauley Pavilion, did not have a conference player of the week until now largely because of its team-oriented approach in which four players average at least 9.9 points per game even after senior guard Chris Smith was lost for the season with a knee injury.
