University of Tennessee Athletics
VOLS NAB SEC PLAYER AND FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK AWARDS
December 24, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 24, 2006
After a pair of wins over Big 12 opponents Texas and Oklahoma State, the Tennessee Volunteers were rewarded by sweeping the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week awards as junior guard Chris Lofton was named the league's player of week and forward Duke Crews was named freshman of the week. For Lofton, it marked the third time this season he has take home the honor and sixth time in his career, the most of any Volunteer player.
Lofton and Dyron Nix (1986-89) are the only Vols to earn the honor at least five times in a career. Allan Houston (1989-93) won the award four times in his career.
Lofton scored a career-high 35 points in leading the Vols to a 111-105 come-from-behind victory over Texas, with 27 of his points coming after halftime. Lofton's 11 rebounds against the Longhorns were also a career-high as it was his first career double-double.
The Maysville, Ky., native has scored 30 or more points five times this season, including four of the last six games, all Tennessee wins.
He drilled a 30-footer over Texas' Kevin Durant to give Tennessee an 88-87 lead with just over a minute left. It was UT's first lead since early in the first half and capped a comeback from a 17-point deficit. He led the Vols with 20 points against Oklahoma State.
For the season Lofton is averaging a league-leading 22.5 points per game, while his 51 3-pointers are 19 better than the next closest in the SEC.
Taking home Freshman of the Week honors is Crews who had his top two scoring performances of the season against Oklahoma State and Texas. He netted a career-high 17 points in Tennessee's win over the 15th-ranked Cowboys and followed with 16 points and eight rebounds in the win over the Longhorns.
The Hampton, Va., native scored 10 points in the first five minutes of the second half against Texas to start Tennessee's comeback from a 15-point halftime deficit.
In addtion, nine of his 18 rebounds during the week came at the offensive end of the floor. He had a career-high eight field goals made in both games.
For the season, Crews has raised his scoring average to 10.4 points per game while averaging 5.8 rebounds.
