ST. LOUIS (USBWA) Cal State Northridge forward Lamine Diane is the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week for games ending the week of Feb. 3. Diane was selected by CBSSports.com's Matt Norlander, in partnership with the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.
Norlander's popular weekly freshman watch column will continue to feature nation's the top freshmen each week in addition to the national player of the week. Later in the season, the USBWA will release a midseason watch list before naming finalists for the award. This season marks the first time a weekly national freshman of the week will be selected and, each Tuesday through Feb. 26, a standout first-year player will be chosen for the honor.
Diane, a 6-7 forward from Dakar, Senegal, earned the award off a pair of games that saw him average 30.5 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocks as the Matadors (10-13, 4-3 Big West) split two league games. He scored 39 points 29 of them in the second half · and hauled in 13 rebounds last Wednesday at Cal State Fullerton, tying CSUN·s Division I scoring record. He followed it three days later with his BWC-best 13th double-double of the season with 22 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Cal Poly in only 27 minutes on the court.
"No one was more deserving of Frosh of the Week honors than breakout star Lamine Diane," Norlander wrote in his weekly column highlighting freshman play across the country. "Diane's performances this season have been impressive considering he does not shoot many 3-pointers and he's only a 51.5-percent free-throw shooter. Yet he's averaging 24.1 points."
Diane has made waves across all of Division I basketball and leads the nation in field goals made with 220 while also ranking eighth in rebounds per game (11.0), 10th in points per game (24.1), 11th in double-doubles (13) and 19th in blocked shots per game (2.3). He is also one of two players in the country to average more than 24 points and 10 rebounds and is first among all freshmen in rebounds per game and second in points per game.
Diane, who leads the Big West in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, is the first freshman in the Big West Conference's 50-year history to win its Player of the Week honor three times in one season.
The late Wayman Tisdale was a three-time USBWA All-American at the University of Oklahoma. Following a stint on the 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team, he played 12 seasons in the NBA before retiring in 1997 to focus on a blossoming jazz music career. In March 2007, he was diagnosed with cancer and, following a courageous and difficult battle that included the amputation of his right leg in 2008, he passed away in May 2009.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With more than 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected an All-America team since the 1956-57 season. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Joe Mitch at 314-795-6821.
2018-19 Wayman Tisdale National Freshmen of the Week
Week ending Dec. 2: Zion Williamson, Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)
· Week ending Dec. 9: RJ Barrett, Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)
· Week ending Dec. 16: Wynston Tabbs, Boston College (Atlantic Coast Conference)
· Week ending Dec. 23: Mac McClung, Georgetown (Big East Conference)
· Week ending Dec. 30: Tyler Herro, Kentucky (Southeastern Conference)
· Week ending Jan. 6: Antoine Davis, Detroit (Horizon League)
· Week ending Jan. 13: Jaylen Gardner, East Carolina (American Athletic Conference)
· Week ending Jan. 20: Zion Williamson, Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)
· Week ending Jan. 27: Zion Williamson, Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)
· Week ending Feb. 3: Lamine Diane, Cal State Northridge (Big West Conference)
· Week ending Feb. 10: Devon Dotson, Kansas (Big 12 Conference)1
· Week ending Feb. 17: Jalen Pickett, Siena (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
· Week ending Feb. 24: RJ Barrett, Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)