PacWest Weekly Awards (Feb. 7)

IRVINE, Calif. – A season-best six steals by ART U graduate student guard Denny Slay helped Academy of Art men's basketball get back into the win column last week, and have now earned him the honor of being the Pacific West Conference Defender of the Week. The award is for games played from Jan. 31-Feb. 6.

ART U's only game of the week saw the Urban Knights earn a regular season sweep over Dominican thanks to timely steals and key stops on defense in a 63-52 victory, as Academy of Art tallied double-digit steals (13) for the 14th time this season. Nearly half of those belonged to Slay, who produced two of the most critical thefts with just under five minutes remaining in regulation that swung momentum in favor of the Knights, ultimately turning into the game's first double-digit lead. Slay's effort helped Academy of Art hold the Penguins to just 52 points, the lowest point total since they allowed just 48 points from Notre Dame de Namur on Feb. 21, 2019. With a total of 229 steals on the year at an average of 10.9 per game, ART U ranks fourth and fifth, respectively, in all of NCAA DII men's basketball. Along with his six swipes, Slay also pulled down a pair of defensive rebounds (four total). 

Though this is the first PacWest weekly award in Slay's career, he is the fifth Urban Knight to be tabbed as the PacWest Defender of the Week, joining teammates Christian Popoola Jr. (Nov. 15), Joshua Bagley (Dec. 6), Latrell Williams (Dec. 13), and Klay Brown (Jan. 10, Jan. 17, Jan. 24). The five extend the new ART U program record for number of players earning a weekly ward in single season (previous high: three, 2014-15 and 2016-17). It also further extends the new program record for total PacWest Defender of the Week honors in a single season, topping the previous record of one which ART U had done each year starting with the 2013-14 campaign through 2017-18.