SAN FRANCISCO – Washington State Men's Basketball senior forward
Robert Franks is adding to his weekly accolades as he's been named the Citizen Naismith Trophy Player of the Week, the organization announced Monday.
A native of Vancouver, Wash., Franks had the weekend of his career as he led the Cougars to their first sweep at the Arizona schools since 2006-07 and third all-time, as well as their first conference weekend sweep since 2011. WSU started it off with a 91-70 victory at Arizona State, Thursday, Feb. 7 and followed it with a 69-55 victory at Arizona, Saturday, Feb. 9. Franks averaged 32.5 points on 65 percent shooting (22-34 FG, 12-18 3FG, 9-9 FT), 10.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals in the convincing victories.
Franks is the first Cougar to receive national player of the week accolades since Faisal Aden was honored as the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week, Jan. 23, 2012.
At ASU, Franks tied his career-high with 34 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks, along with a career-high 4 steals. Twenty-three of his points came in the first half, marking his second-most in a half, his most in a first half and most in a half this season. Two days later at Arizona, Franks followed it up with 31 points and 8 rebounds as WSU snapped its 13-game losing streak to the Wildcats and got its first win over them since 2009-10. Franks was 9-for-9 from the free throw line on the weekend and has made 28-consecutive free throws.
Franks is averaging 22.6 points per game, leading the Pac-12 and ranking 15th in the country. The forward also moved into 21st on WSU's career scoring list and currently has 1,195 career points. With his 12 3-pointers over the weekend, Franks now has 141 3-pointers, which ranks 10th all-time in WSU's career record books.
Franks was also named the Pac-12 Player of the Week, becoming the first Cougar to pick up the honor since 2015.
The Cougars look to continue their hot streak as they host cross-state rival Washington, Saturday, Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum.