Men's Basketball

Willie Warren

Warren Honored by Big 12 Yet Again

Freshman guard picks up his fourth league rookie-of-the-week honor.

Jan. 5, 2009

NORMAN, Okla. - Oklahoma's Willie Warren has been named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Rookie of the Week yet again. Warren picked up the honor today for the fourth time in eight weeks, this time for his efforts against Arkansas and Coppin State.

The freshman guard from Fort Worth, Texas, averaged 24.5 points and 5.5 assists while shooting .571 from the field (16-for-28) and .600 from 3-point range (9-for-15).

In a 96-88 loss at Arkansas last Tuesday -- OU's lone defeat of the season -- Warren scored a career-high 35 points with the help of a career-high seven 3-pointers on 11 attempts. He added a career-high four rebounds and four assists. He single-handedly kept the Sooners in the game at times, and had a stretch during a second-half comeback in which he scored eight points in a span of 45 seconds.

Warren responded with 14 points (on only six field goal attempts) and a career-high-tying seven assists (against one turnover) in 25 minutes of play of OU's 93-62 win over Coppin State on Saturday. He was 4-for-6 from the field and 2-for-4 from 3-point range.

The Big 12 coaches' unanimous choice as league preseason player of the year, Warren is now averaging 16.3 points and 3.0 assists per game to rank second on the team in both categories. He is shooting .506 from the field and .380 from 3-point range. The last OU guard to shoot .500 from the field for an entire season was Nolan Johnson in 1999-00.

Warren has 80 points over the last three games, marking the most by an OU true freshman over a three-game stretch since Wayman Tisdale 26 years ago (1982-83 season). He is shooting .500 from 3-point distance (19-for-38) over OU's last seven contests.

Warren was also named Big 12 Rookie of the Week on Nov. 24, Dec. 1 and Dec. 29.

Kansas' Sherron Collins was named Big 12 Player of the Week after averaging 16.5 points and 6.5 assists in two games.

Oklahoma hosts Maryland Eastern Shore (1-8) tonight at 7 p.m. CST before opening Big 12 Conference play at Kansas State on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

SoonerSports.com Headlines