It didn't take long for the Bruins to start dominating the conversation around the Conference of Champions.
The Pac-12 announced its weekly honors Monday, and No. 2 UCLA men's basketball (2-0) guard Johnny Juzang won the Player of the Week award following his team's wins over Cal State Bakersfield and then-No. 4 Villanova. Juzang led or co-led the Bruins in scoring both nights, and he ended the first week of the season as the leading scorer in the entire conference.
The Bruins did not have another player nominated for that award or Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, which went to Stanford forward Harrison Ingram.
Juzang averaged 22 points per game between his first two contests, putting up 19 against the Roadrunners and 25 against the Wildcats. The All-American candidate played 33 minutes per game and also averaged 6.0 rebounds per game against CSU Bakersfield and Villanova.
The high scoring numbers came despite an off night from deep for Juzang, who shot 1-of-8 from long range Friday against the Wildcats to lower his 3-point percentage on the season to 25%. Juzang shot 48% from 2 and 91.7% from the free throw line over the course of the week.
Juzang got a good chunk of his production by getting to the line – not only did he hit all but one of his attempts, but he also got to the line a total of 12 times between the two games. That ranks No. 1 on UCLA and No. 8 in the Pac-12.
Through two games, Juzang leads the Pac-12 in points per game and usage percentage, as he ranks No. 1 on the Bruins in field goal attempts and No. 2 in turnovers.
This is the second Pac-12 Player of the Week award Juzang has collected in his career. The last time he got it was following a road split against Washington State and Washington in February in which he averaged 29.5 points 7.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 0.5 turnovers per game on .463/.381/.917 shooting splits.
Juzang and UCLA have two more games this week, tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m. Monday night versus Long Beach State and a matchup against North Florida 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
More must-reads: