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 Player of the Week — Franck Kepnang, Washington

My vote came down to Franck Kepnang, Pelle Larsson, and Tristan da Silva. All three are deserving of the award and this might be the first poll where I wish I could vote for more than one player.

I expect the results to be fairly even across the board between the trio. I decided to give mine to Kepnang mostly on gut feeling. Both Larsson and da Silva had more productive games on paper.

But Kepnang was the reason UW beat Gonzaga.

Without his production, the Dawgs would not have won. You arguably can’t say the same about Larsson and da Silva. Arizona and Colorado crushed their opponents and likely would have won regardless of their production. Kepnang, on the other hand, was the difference in his game.

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Freshman Player of the Week — Myles Rice, Washington State

Only three freshmen were nominated this week which made this choice very easy. Arizona’s KJ Lewis and California’s Rodney Brown Jr. were the other choices and neither came close to the production of Myles Rice.

The Wazzu freshman averaged 5.5 assists in his two games last week while putting up 11.0 ppg. Rice also tallied 4.5 steals per game and came close to tying the all-time Washington State record for steals in a game on Sunday when he snagged seven against Grambling.

He’s playing like a veteran and is one of the primary reasons the Cougars are exceeding expectations this season.