Jan. 27, 2003
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame guard Chris Thomas (Indianapolis, Ind.) has been named the BIG EAST Conference Co-Player of the Week after leading the Irish to road victories at Providence and Boston College. The sophomore shares the honor with Darius Rice of Miami. Thomas earns the award for the first time in his career. As a freshman last season, he was named the league’s rookie-of-the-week six times.
Thomas averaged 25.5 points, 6.5 assists and 6.5 rebounds in Notre Dame’s two wins last week. He scored a game-high 23 points against the Friars as he connected on eight-of-17 shots from the field. In addition, he grabbed five rebounds and dished off six assists in 38 minutes. In the Boston College game, Thomas netted a team-high 28 points, including 25 in the second half, grabbed a season-high eight boards and dished off seven assists in 42 minutes.
He is second on the Irish scoring list as he is averaging 17.7 points per game and leads the team in assists (7.1) and steals (1.8 steals). He has scored 20-plus points in eight games this season, and in three of the last four contests.
Thomas is the fourth Irish player to earn either player-of-the week or rookie-of-the-week honors this season. Notre Dame currently is off to its best start since the 1980-81 season with a 16-1 and owns its best ever start in BIG EAST play at 4-1.