Utah Valley men’s basketball center Fardaws Aimaq has been named the Lute Olson National Player of the Week after leading the Wolverines to a pair of overtime road wins last week against Pepperdine and Long Beach State.

He was also named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for November 15-21.

Aimaq, a redshirt sophomore center from Vancouver, B.C., Canada, opened the week with a career-high 34 points, adding 14 rebounds, in an 86-74 overtime win at Pepperdine. He then added 25 points to go with 16 rebounds in an 84-78 overtime win at Long Beach State.

On the week, he averaged 29.5 points per game and 15.0 rebounds per game, adding three blocks, two steals and a pair of assists.

The Lute Olson award is presented annually to the top player in Division I college basketball. The 2022 Lute Olson National Player of the Year award will be announced April 1 in New Orleans, site of the NCAA men’s basketball championship.

On the women’s hoops side, BYU senior guard Paisley Harding was named the West Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week on Monday.

Harding led BYU to wins over Arizona State and Boise State last week, averaging 18.5 points per game while shooting 48 percent from the field. She also averaged 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.

Against Arizona State, Harding led all scorers with 25 points and led the Cougars to a 55-44 win over a physical Pac-12 team. Harding also had four rebounds and went 8 of 15 from the field in 36 minutes of action.

On Saturday against Boise State, Harding scored 12 points and had three steals to go along with four boards to lead a dominant 84-40 win over the Broncos.

A preseason All-WCC team selection, Harding has scored in double figures every game and leads the 4-0 Cougars in scoring at 17.5 points per game.

BYU hosts Utah State Tuesday at noon in the Marriott Center. The game will be broadcast on BYUtv.org and the BYUtv App.

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