March 3, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Junior guard Robert Vaden has been tabbed the Conference USA Co-Player of the Week, announced the league office on Monday. Vaden, who shares the award with Houston's Robert McKiver, had a week for the ages in leading UAB to two important league wins to give the Blazers sole possession of second place in the latest C-USA standings.

Furthermore, Vaden was tabbed the National Player of the Week for CollegeHoops.net and The Sporting News, while also earning Co-National Player of the Week for ESPN.com.

In two UAB wins, Vaden averaged 35.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, while also shooting 52.7 percent from the floor and 56.0 percent from beyond the arc. In the process, he broke or tied nearly every single-game school record.

In the 88-81 victory at UTEP last Wednesday night, the All-America candidate connected on 12-of-21 shots from the floor and 9-of-14 from beyond the arc en route to a career-high 41 points in the victory. In the process, Vaden broke the school records for threes made in a game (9), road points (41), single-game points (tied with 41) and broke the Don Haskins Center record for treys made in a game.

He followed that performance by going for 30 points in the 69-44 win over Tulane on Saturday night. It marked the second consecutive 30-point game and his fourth of the season (one off the school record). He also hit 11-of-11 free throws which tied for the fourth-best single-game performance at the charity stripe in school history.

Vaden enters the final week of regular season play averaging 22.0 ppg (would be a school record), has hit 127-of-297 three pointers (both school records) and is shooting 87.5 percent from the charity stripe. He also ranks second in the nation in three-point field goals made per game (4.5).

The Blazers will play their regular season home finale against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Wednesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. at Bartow Arena.