Western Kentucky freshman center Charles Bassey (left) is fouled as he shoots by Texas-San Antonio forward Adrian Rodriguez during WKU’s 81-76 loss Wednesday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Western Kentucky center Charles Bassey tied the Conference USA record Sunday by winning his 10th C-USA Men’s Basketball Freshman of the Week award.

Bassey’s 10 weekly freshman honors this season ties the record previously set by Rice’s Marcus Evans in 2015-16.

The 6-foot-11, 245-pound native of Lagos, Nigeria, recorded his C-USA-leading 15th double-double of the season in WKU’s lone game last week, an 81-76 overtime loss to Texas-San Antonio.

Bassey finished with a team-high 21 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks, netting 7 of 9 (77.8 percent) shots from the field and 7 of 8 (87.5 percent) free throws. He also grabbed one steal and was one minute shy of his career high with 38.

Bassey passed NBA veteran Courtney Lee for the second-most points ever by a WKU freshman with 464 in the outing. He was also named last week one of five national finalists, including the only freshman, for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.

The Hilltoppers will be the No. 2 seed in this week’s Conference USA Tournament and will face No. 7 Florida International or No. 10 North Texas in the quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m. CT Thursday in Frisco, Texas.{&end}