LA JOLLA, Calif. – UC San Diego senior
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones was named the Lou Henson National Player of the Week on Monday, the second Triton to win the weekly honor this season (
Tyler McGhie, Dec. 23). The 2025 Lou Henson National Player of the Year award will be announced in April in San Antonio, site of the 2025 men's NCAA basketball championship. In addition, Tait-Jones was voted Big West Player of the Week for the second time in his UC San Diego career.
Tait-Jones had a monster week in leading UC San Diego to a pair of Big West wins. He scored 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting in Thursday's win over UCSB and followed that up with a season-high 32 (10-for-14) in a 25-point victory over CSUN. Tait-Jones averaged 28.5 points for the week, connecting on an incredible 73.1% of his field goal tries. The Division I leader in made free throws, Tait Jones was 16-for-18 from the line over the two-game stretch (88.9%). The New Zealand native is second in The Big West in scoring, averaging 22.6 points per game against conference foes.
UC San Diego (17-4 overall, 7-2 Big West) is on the road for its lone game this week, playing at Hawai'i Thursday night at 9 p.m. PT. The game will be televised by Spectrum Sports Hawai'i and can be seen on the mainland via ESPN+. A link to live stats is available on UCSDTritons.com.
UC SAN DIEGO'S BIG WEST WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (Jan. 27, 2025)
Tyler McGhie (Dec. 23, 2024)
Tyler McGhie (Nov. 25, 2024)
Bryce Pope (Feb. 26, 2024)
Bryce Pope (Jan. 29, 2024)
Bryce Pope (Jan. 15, 2024)
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (Nov. 13, 2023)
Toni Rocak (Jan. 3, 2022)
Toni Rocak (Nov. 15, 2021)
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.
