MIAMI (Jan. 4, 2016) – FIU senior forward Adrian Diaz was named the Conference USA Co-Player of the Week, for games through Jan. 3, the league office announced on Monday. The Miami native averaged 18.0 points-, 10.0 rebounds- and 3.0 blocked-shots-per game in helping FIU to a 2-0 record this past week, with wins over Florida A&M (65-45) on Dec. 29 and Florida Atlantic (76-59) on Jan. 3.
 
This is the third C-USA Player of the Week honor of the season for Diaz and the fourth of his career (March 9, 2015, Nov. 23, 2015 and Dec. 2, 2015). He is the first three-time recipient this season.
 
Offensively, Diaz shot a blistering 80 percent (12-of-15) from the field and currently ranks 10^th nationally in field goal percentage (.659). He began the week, scoring 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field (86.7 percent), grabbing five rebounds and rejecting three shots against Florida A&M. Diaz then posted a 23-point, 15-rebound performance in the Conference USA opener versus Florida Atlantic, scoring the first 12 points of the second half, and 18 of FIU's first 20 points after the break. It was Diaz' sixth double-double of the year and the 12th of his career. He shot 6-of-8 (75.0 percent) from the field against the Owls. Diaz, who is the nation's leading shot blocker (3.71 bpg), added three blocks, two assists and two steals against FAU.
 
On the year, Diaz leads FIU in both scoring (15.7 ppg) and rebounding (9.5 rpg), in addition to his blocks-per-game. His points-per-game and rebounds-per-game averages are also ninth and second in C-USA, respectively.
 
FIU heads out for its first conference road trip of the season, facing WKU on Jan. 7 at 8 p.m. (ET), and Marshall on Jan. 9 at 7 p.m.
 
The Panthers will return home to Lime Court at FIU Arena on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. to take on Louisiana Tech, and then Southern Miss on Jan. 16 at 7 p.m.
 
For men's basketball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow @FIUHoops on Twitter, and "Like" FIU men's basketball on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/FIUMensBBall) for the latest Panther basketball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
 
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and at the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is Worlds Ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.