Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren named WCC Freshman of the Week for ninth time

Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren is now a nine-time winner of the West Coast Conference’s Freshman of the Week award.

Coming off one of his best rebounding efforts this season against Pepperdine, followed by a strong defensive outing against Santa Clara, Holmgren picked up the award for the fifth time in six weeks and ninth time overall.

In Gonzaga’s 86-66 win at Pepperdine on Wednesday, Holmgren scored 18 points while matching his season-high with 17 rebounds. The Minnesota native also had four blocks – the 13th time this season he’s had at least that many in a single game.

Holmgren followed with his 10th double-double of the season three days later against Santa Clara, scoring 10 points to go with 10 rebounds in an 81-69 win that clinched a regular-season WCC title for the Zags. He blocked five more shots against the Broncos, bringing his season total to 85.

For the season, Holmgren is nearly averaging a double-double with 14.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. He is averaging a double-double in WCC games with 16.0 ppg and 10.9 rpg. Among WCC players, Holmgren ranks sixth in scoring, second in rebounding and first in blocked shots.

Although Holmgren wasn’t as efficient as he’s been, shooting 9 of 20 from the field against Pepperdine and Santa Clara, he’s still the conference leader in overall field goal percentage at 62% while shooting 44.6% on 3-pointers.

Saint Mary’s guard Tommy Kuhse was named the WCC Player of the Week after scoring 22 points in the Gaels’ win over San Francisco before pouring in a career-high 25 points against BYU.