Truman State University senior forward Mike Carlson has been named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week, it was announced by the league office Monday.

Carlson becomes the first men's basketball standout in Truman history to be recognized as GLVC Player of the Week following a week in which he helped the Bulldogs to a pair of conference wins against Maryville and Missouri-St. Louis.  In those GLVC West Division victories, Carlson averaged 27.5 points on 64 percent shooting, grabbed 10.0 rebounds and dished 3.5 assists.

The Superior, Wis., native opened the week by notching his fourth output of 30 points or more with a 34-point, 11-rebound double-double in the 83-66 home win over Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday.  In 18 attempts from the floor, he hit a career-high 14 shots – the most by a GLVC player this season – and added three assists, two steals and a block in the game as well.  In the first half alone, Carlson netted 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting while grabbing seven rebounds in a full 20 minutes of action.

In the 63-61 road win over Maryville on Saturday, Carlson came just shy of his third double-double of the season by scoring 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting and adding nine rebounds, four assists and a block in 39 minutes of play. 

In conference games only this season, Carlson ranks second in scoring at 22.3 points per game and sixth in rebounding with 7.3 boards each time out.  No GLVC player has more 30-point performances than Carlson this season.
 
The two conference wins not only improved Truman (12-3, 5-2 GLVC) to 3-0 in the GLVC West Division, but it also gave the Bulldogs their fourth-straight league win, something that hasn't happened to the team since a five-game streak from Jan. 21-Feb. 7, 2006 when Truman was a member of the MIAA.