Dec. 6, 2010
Vanderbilt redshirt junior Festus Ezeli was named the SEC Player of the Week for his play against Western Kentucky and Belmont last week. Ezeli averaged 19.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in the two Commodore wins.
The honor is Ezeli’s first career Player of the Week award.
Ezeli is the third Commodore to win the award this season – Brad Tinsley captured the honor after posting the school’s first triple double in the team’s opening game against Presbyterian, and John Jenkins won the award after averaging 21.7 points per game in the 2010 Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The three awards in the first four weeks of the season mark the first time since the honor’s inception in 1985 that one school has won three out of the first four awards.
Ezeli had a career-high 24 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Belmont on Saturday. The game marked the first 20-point, 10-rebound game of his career and his second career double-double. Ezeli was 10-for-14 from the free throw line, which was a career-best for free throws made, and also had four steals, which shattered his old career mark of one steal. In his career, he now has 80 blocks, which ranks fifth all-time on the Vanderbilt block list.
The last time Vanderbilt captured three awards in the same season was in 2007-08, when Shan Foster won an astonishing four times.