Marcus Taylor Named Big Ten Player of the Week
3/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 4, 2002
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Big Ten Conference announced on Monday, March 4, that Michigan State sophomore Marcus Taylor (Lansing, Mich./Waverly) earned men's basketball Big Ten Player of the Week honors. Taylor earned the first weekly selection of his career after exploding for back-to-back games of 32 and 34 points to move past five players and win the conference scoring title. The sophomore guard shot 61 percent on the week (20-38) from the field and 67 percent from long range (8-12) to average 33.0 points and 6.0 assists per game. Taylor led the Spartans to their fifth-straight win to close out the regular season and clinch the No. 5 seed, and a first-round bye, in the upcoming 2002 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament to be played at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Michigan State will play Indiana on Friday at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN2.
Taylor opened the week by setting a new career-high with 32 points on 67 percent shooting (10-15), including a perfect 3-3 from three-point range, to lead MSU to an 81-76 road win at Ohio State on Feb. 26. The Spartan guard followed that performance with another career-best, pouring in 34 points on 56 percent shooting (10-18), including five three-pointers, while adding nine assists to push Michigan State past Iowa, 93-79, on March 2. Taylor's nine assists equaled a career-high as he suffered only two turnovers in the contest.
After entering the final week of Big Ten play ranked sixth in the Conference in scoring, Taylor moved past five players to win the Big Ten scoring title with a 17.7 points per game average. He is the first Spartan to lead the league in scoring since Shawn Respert in 1995. Taylor also led the Big Ten in assists with 5.00 per contest to become just the second player to lead the league in both categories, joining Iowa's Andre Woolridge, who accomplished the feat in 1997.
Taylor is the second-straight Spartan to earn Player of the Week honors, joining Adam Ballinger, who earned the honor on Feb. 25.
