Pullen wins Big 12s weekly award

Kansas State junior guard Jacob Pullen was named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday in an announcement by the league office.

Pullen, who helped the Wildcats to wins over Xavier and No. 18/17 UNLV last week, averaged 22.0 points on 48.1 percent shooting (13-of-27), including 52.9 percent (9-of-17) from 3-point range, for the week with 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals in 27.5 minutes per game.

Pullen began the week by scoring 14 of his game-high 16 points in the second half of a 71-56 win over the Musketeers in 24 minutes.  He then followed with a season-high 28-point output in a 95-80 win over the nationally-ranked Runnin' Rebels, including a career-best 7-of-10 performance from beyond the arc.  The seven 3-point field goals tied eight other players for the fourth-most by an individual in school history.  Pullen is 17 points shy of becoming the 21st player in school history to eclipse the 1,000-point barrier.

Pullen is the first Wildcat to earn Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week honors since teammate Denis Clemente claimed the distinction on Feb. 2, 2009.  Overall, he is the sixth player to earn the honor since 1997-98.

Kansas State (9-1), winners of six in a row, will take a break this week for final exams before resuming play on Saturday against Alabama (6-3) at 8 p.m. CT in the Coors Classic at the Mitchell Center in Mobile, Ala.  The contest will be televised live on Ch. 98 in the state of Kansas to all Cox subscribers.