Jaelen House and JT Toppin Earn Mountain West Weekly Honors

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The New Mexico Lobos swept this week’s Mountain West men’s basketball weekly awards, the conference announced Monday. Jaelen House was named the conference’s player of the week, while JT Toppin was named the freshman of the week.

House’s player of the week honor is the second of his career and the second by a Lobo this season, joining Donovan Dent, who was honored on Dec. 11. Toppin earned his third straight freshman of the week honor and his seventh of the season, the second most awards in a season in the history of the honor.

House and Toppin helped lead the Lobos (18-3) to the team’s first back-to-back 20-point victories in Mountain West play since 2007-08, winning 95-75 at San Jose State and topping Nevada 89-55 for UNM’s largest margin of victory in a conference game since 2011-12. Overall, the Lobos have won five straight conference games, all by double figures.

Last week, House had a team-high 18 points to go with four assists in the win at San Jose State. He followed that performance with a 21-point, six assist, six steal effort to lead UNM against Nevada. It was the first 20pt/6asst/6stl game in the Mountain West over the past 14 years and his six steals tied his Mountain West career high.

Toppin earned his seventh award of the season after posting his seventh double-double of the season at San Jose State to tie the UNM freshman record. He had 14 points and 10 rebounds against the Spartans, while also tying a career high with five blocks. Against Nevada, Toppin had five points, five rebounds and two blocks.

The Lobos will conclude the two-game homestand on Wednesday night when they host Boise State. Game time is 8:30 p.m. and the game will air on FS1. Tickets are on sale now at GoLobos.com/tickets.