Per Bearcats:
University of Cincinnati women’s basketball senior forward IImar’I Thomas (first name pronounced ee-MAR-ee) has been selected as the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) National Player of the Week.
Thomas, who was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week for a league-high third time on Monday, scored a school- and conference- record 51 points to go with 12 rebounds in a 76-61 win at East Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 24.
The effort marks the most points scored by a men’s or women’s basketball player this season. She also joined Oscar Robertson as the only two players in UC history to score at least 50 points in a game. Robertson achieved the feat six times, the last coming against North Texas on Feb. 22, 1960 when he scored a men’s program school-record 62 points.
Thomas made a school- and league- record 20 field goals on 27 attempts and was 11 of 13 from the free-throw line against the Pirates.
With the feat, Thomas surpassed 1,800 career points to become the only player in school history to tally at least 1,800 career points and 800 career rebounds.
The 2020-21 AAC Co-Preseason Player of the Year, Thomas followed that performance by scoring a game-high 28 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor and 12-of-15 shooting from the foul line to go with nine rebounds and three blocks during a 71-58 win at Tulsa on Saturday.
For the week, Thomas averaged 39.5 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 68.3 percent from the field and 82.1 percent from the free-throw line.
Thomas entered the week ranked among the nation’s Top 30 in seven categories, including minutes played per game (second at 39.3), field goals made (fifth at 185), total points (seventh at 496), points per game (seventh at 23.6), free throws made (10th at 117), free throws attempted (15th at 144), field goal percentage (25th at .544) and field goal attempts (28th at 340).
VOTE NOW: THOMAS NAMED FINALIST FOR SENIOR CLASS AWARD
Thomas was named one of 10 finalists for the 2020-21 Senior CLASS Award last week.
The award is given annually to a women’s basketball student-athlete who excels both on and off the court in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
Thomas is the first UC women’s basketball player selected as a finalist for the award since its inception in 2002.
The finalists were chosen by a selection committee from the list of 30 women’s candidates announced earlier in the season. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner, and fans are encouraged to submit votes online at the Senior CLASS Award website through March 22. Fan votes will be combined with those of the media and Division I head coaches to determine the winners. The Senior CLASS Award recipients will be announced during the 2021 NCAA Women’s Final Four.
Vote for Thomas at cpaw.me/voteiimari.
