AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn men's basketball forward/center Walker Kessler was recognized by the Southeastern Conference and multiple national media and awards committees as its Player of the Week selection on Monday.
It was his first career weekly SEC honor. Kessler was also selected as the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Player of the Week as well as ESPN Power Rankings Player of the Week. College basketball analysts Jon Rothstein, Gary Parrish and Seth Greenberg recognized him on their weekly lists.
In his conference debut, the sophomore led then No. 11-ranked Auburn to a 70-55 victory over No. 16 LSU in both teams' SEC opener on Dec. 29 at Auburn Arena. It was LSU's first loss of the season as the Tigers rolled to their ninth-straight win.
Kessler recorded the second-ever triple-double in program history – joining former Auburn forward Kenny Gabriel – with a game-high tying 16 points, 10 rebounds a career-high 11 blocks in 28 minutes of action. He shot 75 percent from the field and showed his diverse range with a made 3-pointer in the second half.
In addition, he became the first player in the SEC to have consecutive games with 7+ blocks since 2013. Kessler made seven blocked shots against Murray State on Dec. 22.
He is currently on a season-best four-game double-digit scoring streak and leads the SEC and is third nationally averaging 4.4 blocks per game. According to STATS, Kessler is also the only NCAA Division I player in the last 25 years to have a triple-double against a 10-0 or better team. He is one of only nine NCAA Division I players this season to register a triple double – the only in the SEC and one of three from a Power 5 Conference.
For the second time this season, freshman forward Jabari Smith was tabbed SEC Freshman of the Week. He shared the weekly award with Kentucky's TyTy Washington Jr.
Last week, Smith extended his team-best, double-digit scoring streak to 10-straight games in the LSU victory. He registered a game-high tying 16 points, while shooting 41.7 percent from the floor with two 3-pointers in his SEC debut. He is currently the team's leading scorer averaging 16.2 points per game which is fifth-best in the league.
