UC Santa Barbara senior Alan Williams (Phoenix, Ariz./North HS), the Most Valuable Player of the Great Alaska Shootout, earned his 10th career Big West Men’s Basketball Player of the Week accolade.
The 6-8 center led the Gauchos to the championship game of the tournament, in which he averaged 18.7 points, 14.7 rebounds and 3.3 blocks through three games.
Williams came within one of tying the Great Alaska Shootout record for rebounds in a game when he had 20 in the Gauchos’ 65-60 overtime win over Mercer. He added 22 points against the Bears to cement the second 20/20 game of his career, and he also played a stellar defensive role with six blocked shots to his credit.
In the championship game against Colorado State, Williams posted 22 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots, giving him a double-double for the fifth time in six contests.
His 44 total rebounds in three games were just three short of the tournament record. He became the 10th player in UCSB history to score 1,400 in his career and now has 1,402. With 898 rebounds, he needs just seven to become the school’s career leader.
Others nominated: Lanerryl Johnson (Cal State Fullerton); Mike Caffey (Long Beach State); Josh Fox (UC Davis); Mamadou Ndiaye (UC Irvine); Taylor Johns (UC Riverside); Roderick Bobbitt (Hawai‘i)