Carlton, Blair Named The American Players of the Week

Staff Report
Posted 1/11/22

After leading the Cougars to a pair of wins while averaging a double-double, University of Houston graduate forward Josh Carlton was honored as the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week. 

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Carlton, Blair Named The American Players of the Week

Posted

After leading the Cougars to a pair of wins while averaging a double-double, University of Houston graduate forward Josh Carlton was honored as the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week. 

It was the first weekly award for Carlton during his collegiate career, he shared the award with Temple’s Damian Dunn.

In a road win at South Florida and a home win over Wichita State inside the Fertitta Center, Carlton averaged 26.0 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. The Winterville, N.C. native also connected on 67.9 percent of his shots from the field (19-of-28) and made 70.0 percent (14-of-20) from the free throw line.

Starting the week in the Cougars’ second road game in four days, Carlton led all players with 30 points and 11 rebounds at South Florida on Wednesday. The UConn transfer connected on 11-of-16 shots from the field and became the first Cougar with a 30-point double-double since Tashawn Thomas finished with 31 points and 15 rebounds at Tulsa on Feb. 16, 2013.

Carlton posted career highs in points (30), field goals (11), field goal attempts (16) and free throws (8) against the Bulls.

He followed that with a 22-point, 12 rebound performance against Wichita State  on Saturday inside the Fertitta Center. Carlton led all players in both of those categories as well as four blocked shots to tie his personal best. He also snared a career-best 10 offensive rebounds. and became the first Cougar since forward Justin Gorham in 2020-21 to post consecutive double-doubles. 

This season, Carlton is averaging 11.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game to rank third among the Cougars in both categories. He leads Houston and The American with 3.5 offensive rebounds per game.

UP NEXT              

  • The Cougars will take a week-long break from competition before meeting Tulsa at 7 p.m., Saturday inside the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla. That game will air on ESPN2.
  • The Cougars then return to the Fertitta Center to play two straight home games, starting 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 18, vs. South Florida and continuing at 5 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 22, vs. East Carolina.
  • All Houston Men’s Basketball games can be heard on 950 AM KPRC.

Blair Wins American Women's Basketball Player of the Week

Houston sophomore guard Laila Blair was named American Athletic Conference Player of the Week, announced the conference on Monday.

Blair's standout performance against American opponents Wichita State and Tulsa tabbed her first conference Player of the Week award. Her combined 34 points, 15 rebounds, and eight assists in the last two games helped the Cougars improve to 9-5, remaining undefeated in conference play thus far this season. As a freshman, Blair appeared in 24 games and tallied 12 starts. She closed out the season with 2021 WNIT Fort Worth Region All-Tournament team honors and a selection to the 2021 American Athletic Conference All-Freshman team. Blair was also named conference Freshman of the Week twice during her first season with the Cougars.UP NEXT The Cougars hit the road first for two away games starting with a matchup against conference foe UCF on Tuesday, January 11 at 5 p.m. CT before taking on Temple in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 15 at noon CT. 

University of Houston, AAC, Basketball, NCAA, players of the week