Arizona Basketball: Lauri Markkanen Named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the 2nd time!

Arizona Basketball fans, your freshman Lauri Markkanen is Pac-12 Player of the Week.

For the second time this season and in the four weeks, Lauri Markkanen is the Pac-12 Player of the Week. The first time Lauri received these honors was after the trip to the L.A. area earlier this season.

The trip to Washington this past weekend resulted in a total of 45 points and 24 rebounds (13 offensive vs. 11 defensive). Lauri shot 12-13 from free throw (92-percent) and overall shot 16-30 from the field (53-percent).

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Lauri’s calling card has been his long-range shooting. The freshman seven-footer is second in the conference in three-point field goal percentage, shooting .457 from deep. Bryce Alford, from UCLA, leads the Pac-12 shooting .461 from three. So if you round up, Bryce and Lauri are both shooting 46-percent.

But it was Lauri’s play inside the arc that stood out against the Huskies on Saturday night. Lauri only shot 1-5 from three-point-land. Fortunately for Arizona, Markkanen’s three-point shooting wasn’t needed.

Markkanen dominated in the post, off the dribble and was hitting his mid-range jumper efficiently.

Lauri getting back on track and comfortable in the paint couldn’t have come at a better time. The now No. 4 Arizona Wildcats have a tough match-up this week in Tucson. The Wildcats play USC Thursday night before taking on No. 6 UCLA Saturday night, this weekend’s ESPN College Gameday.

“We have to take responsibility, as a coaching staff, to put somebody with his talent in a better position, to score closer to the basket, to get the ball easier, and to take advantage of his height and strength,” Sean Miller said during his Monday press conference (see video below).

Lauri was in a slump heading into the trip to Washington. In the four games before the Washington schools, Markkanen scored eight (Oregon State), four (Oregon), eight (Stanford) and six (Cal). He tallied a total of 26 points in four games, which was how many he scored against Washington.

“Lauri was an outstanding player this week. We talked to him about using his size around the rim,” Miller said.

Coach Miller has preached all season long about how hard Lauri works in practice, how much he prepares for each game, mentally and physically. But in the four games leading up to Washington State, we saw a lack of confidence in him.

His shot wasn’t falling from outside, he was having trouble getting the ball inside, and he looked uncomfortable on the dribble drive. Kudos to Coach Miller, his staff, and Lauri’s teammates, and Lauri himself for getting him out of his own head, and back to playing at an elite level.

With Dusan Ristic and Kadeem Allen, both nursing injuries, the Wildcats wouldn’t have survived had Lauri continued to struggle.

The team was down to a seven-man rotation and needed someone to step up. Markkanen did just that in both games this past weekend, as Coach Miller pointed out.

“Lauri was big this week because we were short-handed, we played two road games, we’re late in the conference season, and he was a terrific player in both games,” said Miller.

The SoCal schools are traveling to Tucson this week. Even though Kadeem and Dusan reportedly will be back, the Wildcats need Lauri to stay confident to pull off the season sweep over USC and UCLA.

Next: Arizona Wildcats Best Dunks of the Season

USC is first up this week. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. MST Thursday, February 23rd. BEAR DOWN ARIZONA!