WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State senior Fred VanVleet has been named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week.
 
VanVleet – a point guard from Rockford, Ill. – returned to form in his second and third games back from a hamstring injury to help lead Wichita State to a pair of resume-boosting wins over UNLV and Utah.
 
VanVleet averaged 13.5 points, 5.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds for the week, while clocking 32.0 minutes of court time.
 
It's the third time in his four-year WSU career that VanVleet has won MVC Player of the Week status. He's the first Shocker to take home the honor in 2015-16.
 
The senior point guard scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half to lead the Shockers to a Wednesday win over a UNLV team that ranked just outside the top-25 and had already knocked off a pair of top-15 foes.
 
In Saturday's victory over No. 25 Utah, VanVleet tallied 10 points and six assists.
 
With VanVleet at the controls, the Shocker offense averaged only 6.0 turnovers per game and the defense held two opponents averaging north of 80-point per game to just 50 points each.
 
WSU claimed 17 votes in this week's AP Poll (the equivalent of No. 31 nationally) and 19 in the Coaches Poll (No. 31) after dropping out entirely last week.
 
The Shockers (5-4) look to build on a three-game winning streak when they play at Seton Hall (8-2), Saturday at 11:00 a.m. CT on FOX.