BATON ROUGE – After two impressive wins on the road at Mississippi State and against No. 16 Tennessee, Javonte Smart and Cameron Thomas earned weekly honors from the Southeastern Conference on Monday.
Smart was named the SEC Player of the Week, while for the third time this year Thomas was named the league’s Freshman of the Week.
Smart, a junior from Baton Rouge, averaged 21.0 points, 6.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 69.6 percent (16-of-23) from the field in the two wins. Smart recorded his second career double double at Mississippi State with 11 assists to go with 22 points.
Smart helped LSU defeat Tennessee for the third straight year, scoring 20 or more in all three wins. He had a seven-point run of his own early in the second half to push LSU’s lead to double digits against the Vols.
Thomas, from Chesapeake, Virginia, averaged 25.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in the games against State and the Volunteers. He scored 25 points in each game, giving him now 14 games of 20 or more this season, the most by a Division I freshman this season. He has scored 20 or more points in five straight games.
Thomas used his ability to get to the line to help the Tigers in the win over Tennessee, making 11-of-11 free throws.
The Tigers are 13-6 overall and in a tie for second in the Southeastern Conference at 8-4.