Turner Nabs National Player of the Week

Texas A&M senior guard Elston Turner continues to reign in the weekly awards after his 40-point performance last Saturday against Kentucky in Rupp Arena. Earlier in the week he was named the SEC Player of the Week and now Turner is grabbing national awards.

St. Louis (USBWA) - The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected Texas A&M's Elston Turner as its Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week.

The USBWA's weekly honor is presented by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and will be handed out each Tuesday through Feb. 19 this season.

As the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week, Turner was nominated for the weekly award, which was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors from a list of Division I conference players of the week.

Turner, a 6-5 senior from Sacramento, Calif., became just the third opposing player to score 40 points in Kentucky's Rupp Arena, leading the Aggies to an 83-71 win over the Wildcats. Turner's 40-point outburst allowed him to join LSU's Chris Jackson and Navy's David Robinson as the only players to reach the 40-point mark at Rupp. Meanwhile, the win lifted the Aggies to a 2-0 start in their first season in the SEC.

On the afternoon, Turner scored 25 points in the first half and finished 14-19 from the field and 6-10 from 3-point range. The 40-point game was also the first by a Texas A&M player since Don Marbury on Jan. 5, 1985. Earlier in the week, Turner scored 15 points in A&M's SEC debut, a 69-51 win over Arkansas.

This is the fourth season that the USBWA has selected a national player of the week. The weekly Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week will be considered for the Oscar Robertson Trophy watch list, which will be released at mid-season.