BATON ROUGE ? LSU senior Marcus Thornton was named SEC Player of the Week on Monday by the Southeastern Conference office for his efforts in wins against Florida and Kentucky this past week.
Thornton was also named national player of the week by ESPN’s Andy Katz in his Weekly Watch.
Thornton, from Baton Rouge, averaged 27.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists as the Tigers wrapped up their 10th SEC title with the two wins. He scored 15 of his 23 points against the Wildcats in the game’s final 9:30 after the Wildcats had taken a 10-point lead. He dished out the game-winning assist against Kentucky when he found Tasmin Mitchell open for a three-pointer with 9.8 second left. He had 32 points, five rebounds and five assists in leading the Tigers to a victory over Florida. Thornton has scored in double figures in 13 consecutive games.
For the season, Thornton is averaging 21.0 points per game, 5.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.6 steals.
Of Thornton, Andy Katz wrote the following in making Thornton his player of the week:
“Marcus Thornton might have quietly become the top contender for the SEC Player of the Year, ahead of Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks and Florida’s Nick Calathes. Thornton is on the best team in the SEC and has become LSU’s top talent.
“Thornton lit up Florida with 32 points, making 10-of-11 free throws and six 3s in a crucial 81-75 home win earlier in the week. He followed up that performance with 23 points in LSU’s road win at Kentucky. In that game, Thornton also brought the ball up and essentially served as the decoy as he took a pick from Tasmin Mitchell, then shifted the ball back to Mitchell for a wide-open 3-pointer after Kentucky didn’t switch its defense. Mitchell’s 3-pointer beat Kentucky for the Tigers’ first win in 20 years at Rupp Arena.
“Thornton has been a big-time scorer, but he’s finally producing for a winning team. Thornton’s 21 points per game and his 40.3 percent mark on 3s not only mark on 3s not only make him SEC Player of the Year worthy, but also should put him under consideration for All-American status.”
The Tigers play their final home game Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against Vanderbilt at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Tickets are available online at www.LSUtix.net.
The five seniors ? Marcus Thornton, Quinton Thornton, Chris Johnson, Terry Martin and Garrett Temple ? will be honored in pre-game ceremonies beginning at 6:45 p.m.