Jan. 4, 2010

LEXINGTON, KY – UK men’s basketball player DeMarcus Cousins was named the SEC Player of the Week as announced by the league office on Monday.

Cousins, a 6-11 forward from Mobile, Ala., averaged 18.5 points and 15.0 rebounds in leading the Wildcats to wins over Hartford and Louisville.

Cousins recorded his fourth straight double-double and his league-leading eighth this season with 18 points and 18 rebounds against Louisville. The 18 rebounds tied his career-high and were the second most by a Wildcat freshman in a game. It also tied a 49-year old record, set by Louisville’s Bob Lochmueller in 1951, for most rebounds in a UK-UofL game.

Cousins also tallied 19 points and 12 rebounds in just 19 minutes against Hartford earlier in the week.

Per 40 minutes, Cousins is averaging 32.1 points and 20 rebounds on the season, while averaging 32.9 ppg and 26.7 rpg in Kentucky’s two-game swing this past week.

The honor is the first Player of the Week award for Cousins and his second SEC weekly award. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week last week.

The Wildcats have now been awarded eight weekly awards from the SEC this season. Freshman John Wall has been named the league’s freshman of the week four times, while Cousins has been honored twice and Eric Bledsoe and Patrick Patterson (SEC Player of the Week in week two) once.

UK’s eight awards ties three other teams for most SEC weekly awards in a season. LSU received eight honors in 1989 and 2006, while Tennessee did so in 2007.

Kentucky opens league play on Saturday hosting Georgia. The game is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. ET tip and can be seen live on the SEC Network.