Iowa State men’s basketball: Georges Niang wins Big 12 player of the week award

Dec 13, 2013; Ames, IA, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes center Adam Woodbury and Iowa State Cycloness forward Georges Niang (31) battle for a lose ball at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State beat Iowa 85-82. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Iowa State snags another Big 12 weekly award in men’s basketball, and this time it goes to Georges Niang after his great performance in the win over Iowa on Friday night.

Niang set another career high with 24 points after scoring his previous career high of 22 pointsagainst Northern Iowa one game ago. He single-handedly kept the Cyclones in the game offensively during the first half. The forward finished making 8 of 15 from the field and 8 of 10 from the free-throw line.

This is the sixth award won by a Cyclone this season in the Big 12 weekly awards. Niang joins Dustin Hogue, Melvin Ejim, and Naz Long as winners of the player of the week award. DeAndre Kane won the newcomer of the week award twice.

Considering 15 awards have been handed out in men’s basketball, Iowa State starting the season with 40 percent of them is pretty remarkable. The only week they didn’t win an award was during week four of the season (November 25th through December 1st).

The Cyclones will have a week off for finals and then the team will head to Hawai’i for the Diamond Head Classic tournament. They’ll take on George Mason late Sunday afternoon (4:30 PM CT, ESPNU).

This week’s Big 12 newcomer of the week award was given to Oklahoma’s Jordan Woodward. He had a career-high 24 points and eight assists in their 10-point victory over Tulsa on Saturday. Both Oklahoma and Iowa State have won awards for two consecutive weeks.