Baylor junior guard Manu Lecomte has been voted the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Men’s Basketball Newcomer of the Week for a third time this season, the conference office announced Monday.
This marks Lecomte’s fourth Big 12 weekly award of the season. He was previously named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Nov. 14 and Jan. 3, and he earned Big 12 Player of the Week on Dec. 5.
Lecomte’s three Newcomer of the Week honors tie the school record for most times a player has won the award. Ekpe Udoh (2010), Perry Jones III (2011) and Pierre Jackson (2012) were also recognized three times. Lecomte joins Jo Lual-Acuil Jr., who was named Newcomer of the Week on Dec. 19, to give the Bears a school-record-tying four Newcomer of the Week honors in the same season, which was also accomplished in 2012.
Lecomte is one of 21 players in program history to win the league’s Newcomer of the Week award, and those players have combined to earn the recognition 34 times, with 27 of those coming in the last 13 years under Scott Drew.
A Brussels, Belgium, native, Lecomte led Baylor to wins at Oklahoma State and vs. TCU, improving to 22-3 on the season and 9-3 in Big 12 play. He averaged 16.0 points, 3.0 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 34.5 minutes per game during the week.
Lecomte shot .429 from 3-point range, extending his streak to 11 straight games with at least one 3-pointer made, including at least three treys in each of his last five games. He posted 15 points, a team-high four assists, two rebounds and one steal in 37 minutes of Wednesday’s win at Oklahoma State. Lecomte followed that game with 17 points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal in 32 minutes of Saturday’s win over TCU.
Kansas’ Josh Jackson was named Big 12 Player of the Week after leading the Jayhawks to a pair of road wins at Kansas State and at Oklahoma State.
Baylor returns to action tonight in Lubbock, as the Bears take on Texas Tech at 6 p.m. CT on ESPNU. BU then returns home for a sold out game against Kansas at noon CT Saturday on CBS.
Following the Kansas game, BU has just two remaining home games against Oklahoma (Feb. 21) and West Virginia (Feb. 27), and tickets for those games are available at www.BaylorBears.com/tickets or by calling the Baylor Athletic Ticket Office at 254-710-1000.
