Vanderbilt's Freije Named SEC Player of the Week 2/3/03

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Vanderbilt's Matt Freije has been selected as the SEC Player of the Week after leading the Commodores to wins over No. 15 Georgia and Ole Miss this past week.

Freije scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Vanderbilt's 94-91 win over Georgia Wednesday at Memorial Gym. In doing so, he became the first Commodore to reach the 30-point mark since Dan Langhi scored 31 points March 1, 2000 versus Georgia. It also was the eighth time in his career he has missed a double-double by just one rebound.

The junior forward followed his Georgia performance by leading Vanderbilt to a 76-68 home victory over Ole Miss Saturday night. Freije scored a team-high 20 points, pulled down five rebounds and pocketed a career-high five steals. He also was 6-of-6 from the free-throw line against the Rebels.

For the season, Freije leads the team in scoring (17.7 ppg) and three-point field goal percentage (.396) and is second on the squad in rebounding (4.9 rpg). He has led the team in scoring in 13-of-18 games this season and has been the game-high scorer in eight games. In seven games vs. Top-25 teams this season, Freije is averaging 20.7 points and 6.0 rebounds.

Freije also is beginning to make his mark on the Vanderbilt record book. He is now 29th on the school's career scoring list with 1,083 points and his 45 career blocks leaves him just three blocks short of breaking into Vanderbilt Top-10 list.

This marks the second Southeastern Conference Player of the Week honor for Freije. He was tabbed SEC Player of the Week last season on January 21, 2002 after scoring a then-career-high 29 points versus Auburn and helping Vanderbilt to a road victory at South Carolina. This also marks the ninth time a Vanderbilt player has received this honor since the 1993-94 season.

Freije and the rest of the Commodores look to make it three straight wins when they travel to Starkville, Miss., Wednesday night to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Central.