Feb. 8, 2010

LAS VEGAS - UNLV junior Tre'Von Willis has been named ESPN.com's Player of the Week in its Weekly Watch written by Andy Katz as well as the Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Co-Player of the Week for games through February 7. Willis shared this week's conference award with New Mexico's Darington Hobson.

A 6-4 guard from Fresno, Calif., Willis led UNLV to a 2-0 record in conference play last week for its fourth- and fifth-straight wins and its seventh in the last eight games.

In a 78-50 road win at Wyoming on Wednesday, Feb. 3, Willis scored 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting form the field and 6-of-9 from the free-throw line, while adding a game-high eight rebounds and four assists with just one turnover in 31 minute of action. The 28-point win for UNLV was Wyoming's worst home loss in the history of the Arena-Auditorium and the Cowboy's worst home loss in 51 years. It also marked UNLV's largest margin of victory over a MWC opponent on the road since the conference was formed in 1999.

Willis followed that performance with a game- and career-high 33 points in the Runnin' Rebels' 88-74 home victory on Saturday, Feb. 6, over then-No 12 BYU before a sold-out crowd of 18,557, its largest since 18,723 watched UNLV vs. Georgetown on Jan. 23, 1993. Willis dished out a game-high eight assists without a turnover, had five rebounds and added two steals and a block in 38 minutes, while shooting 11-of-20 (.550) from the field, including 4-of-7 (.571) from 3-point range and 7-of-9 (.778) from the charity stripe. UNLV led by as many as 29 points in the first half against the Cougars and Willis led the effort, scoring 21 first-half points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. The win over BYU was UNLV's seventh straight at the Thomas & Mack Center against the Cougars and BYU was the highest-ranked team the Runnin' Rebels have beaten at home since they were a member of the Western Athletic Conference.

For the week, Willis averaged 24.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists while shooting 55.6 percent (15-of-27) from the field, 50 percent (5-of-10) from beyond the arc and 72.2 percent (13-of-18) from the free throw line. The BYU game also marked the second time this season that Willis has scored 30 or more points in a game.

Hobson, a junior guard, scored 29 points in New Mexico's 88-86 overtime win over San Diego State on Saturday. He also pulled down 12 rebounds, while contributing six assists, three steals and no turnovers in the Lobos' only game of the week. He scored eight of UNM's 10 points in overtime, including two free throws with 2.7 seconds left that provided the final margin of victory.He was 9-of-17 (.529) from the field and made four 3-pointers on five attempts (.800) and was 7-of-9 (.778) from the free-throw line.

The Runnin' Rebels (19-4, 7-2 MWC) are tied for first in the MWC with No. 17/17 BYU and No. 15/19 New Mexico and are ranked No. 23 in this week's Associated Press poll and No. 25 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll. UNLV will host New Mexico on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 8 p.m.

This is the third career weekly MWC accolade for Willis and the second this season.