On Sunday night, the college basketball world discovered Christian Koloko. A day later, his conference recognized the Arizona center’s national coming out party.
Koloko has been named the Pac-12 Player of the Week after averaging 17 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.3 blocks in three games last week. That includes a 22-point, 7-rebound, 4-block performance in Sunday’s 80-62 win over then-No. 4 Michigan in the Roman Main Event title game in Las Vegas.
#Pac12MBB Player of the Week, presented by @Nextiva: Christian Koloko.
Full release ➡️ https://t.co/jJae5bCdIu#BearDown | @ArizonaMBB pic.twitter.com/Pfbd8X7mIc
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) November 22, 2021
The 7-foot-1 Koloko, who was named that tourney’s MVP, is averaging 15.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.0 blocks while shooting 66.7 percent from the field and 77.8 percent from the line.
“I think he’s a problem for anybody,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said on Sunday. “For a while the biggest thing was just making sure he believes it. I think he believes it now.”
Koloko is Arizona’s first Pac-12 Player of the Week since Jemarl Baker Jr. won the award last December.