BasketballNews.com named University of Kentucky junior TayshaunPrince its National Player of the Week for Feb. 12-18, the web siteannounced Tuesday.
Prince, who earned his second Southeastern Conference Player of theWeek honor on Monday, led the Wildcats to road wins over Tennesseeand Vanderbilt last week. The 6-9 forward scored a career-high 30points against the Volunteers and hit six free throws down the stretch toseal the victory. Much of his offensive display was generated by a 6-of-7shooting performance from three-point range. It was the first 30-pointeffort by a Wildcat since Heshimu Evans scored 31 against Maryland inDec. 98 and the point total enabled him to become the 48th member ofUKs 1,000-point club.
Against Vanderbilt, he had perhaps his most complete game of theseason, scoring 27 points, grabbing nine boards, dishing out five assistsand blocking three shots. He scored 16 of the Cats final 23 points in thelast nine minutes to help UK hold off a furious Vanderbilt rally.
When the team plays well, the individual honors always seem tofollow, Prince said, whose Wildcats have won 14 of their last 16 gamesto move to No. 13 in this weeks Associated Press poll.
For the week, he averaged 28.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and threeassists per game. This marks the first national award for Prince at UKand the first by a Wildcat this season.
