Carlino named WCC Player of the Week
SAN BRUNO, Calif. – The West Coast Conference has named BYU junior guard Matt Carlino its men’s basketball Player of the Week for Feb. 24, 2014. This is Carlino's second career player of the week honor and BYU's fourth player of the week honor in the last eight weeks.
Carlino led BYU to a 2-0 week with home wins over No. 25/22 Gonzaga and Portland. He averaged 22.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.5 steals while hitting .552 (16 of 29) from the field, .526 (10 of 19) from three and .750 (3 of 4) from the free throw line.
Against Gonzaga, Carlino had 15 points, four rebounds, six assists and three steals. He made an immediate impact, hitting a 3-pointer within 30 seconds of coming off the bench to give BYU a 14-13 lead. He later had steals on back-to-back Gonzaga possessions and registered assists on the other end to give BYU a 19-15 lead. His second three gave BYU a 26-18 lead. Carlino had two key assists early in the second half to help BYU maintain a slim lead and then added a fastbreak layup after a steal to make it a six-point game at 60-54. After Gonzaga cut the lead back to four, Carlino scored on back-to-back possessions to push the lead back to eight at 68-60 with two minutes to go. He hit 3-of-4 from the line late in the game to help BYU maintain the lead and get the win.
Against Portland, Carlino tied his career high with 30 points and set a career high with eight threes, tied for second in BYU history. His first nine points came on threes on consecutive possessions as BYU’s lead grew from 24-16 to 33-16. He added his fourth 3-pointer right before the half to give the Cougars a 46-33 advantage. Carlino stayed hot in the second half, scoring 11 of BYU’s 13 points during a 13-3 run that gave the Cougars a 73-48 lead. He hit three more 3-pointers and had a fastbreak dunk during the surge.
Also nominated: Stacy Davis, Pepperdine; Johnny Dee, San Diego; Sam Dower, Jr., Gonzaga; Stephen Holt, Saint Mary’s; Mark Tollefsen, San Francisco
2013-14 WEST COAST CONFERENCE MEN’S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Nov. 11: Tony Gill, Pacific
Nov. 18: Stacy Davis, Pepperdine
Nov. 25: Kevin Pangos, Gonzaga
Dec. 2: Kevin Pangos, Gonzaga
Dec. 9: Thomas van der Mars, Portland
Dec. 16: Stephen Holt, Saint Mary’s
Dec. 23: Bryce Pressley, Portland
Dec. 31: Malcolm Brooks, Pepperdine
Jan. 6: Skyler Halford, BYU
Jan. 13: Tyler Haws, BYU
Jan. 20: Sam Dower Jr., Gonzaga
Jan. 27: Johnny Dee, San Diego
Feb. 3: Tyler Haws, BYU
Feb. 10: Stephen Holt, Saint Mary’s
Feb. 17: Kruize Pinkins, San Francisco
Feb. 24: Matt Carlino, BYU