Riverside—The Big West and College Sports Madness each named UC Riverside forward Taylor Johns the Big West Conference Player of the Week today for games played from December 1-7. Johns is the first member of the Highlanders to garner player of the week accolades since Phil Martin back on January 16, 2012.

View UC Riverside's all-time Conference Player of the Week selections.

The San Francisco, California native helped the Highlanders erase an 11-point deficit against CSU Bakersfield on December 2 by scoring a game-high 21 points, 15 of which came after the break. UC Riverside trailed for 19 minutes and 48 seconds of the second half, only to surge ahead on its final offensive possession which ended on a Johns' lay up.

Against Portland State, Johns scored a game-high 20 points as the Highlanders posted the third best field goal percentage in program history (64.8). UC Riverside made 71.4 percent of its shots in the second half. The Vikings beat USC and CSUN on the road earlier in the year.

Johns missed just six of 23 shots from the floor on the week, and ranks 6th in the Big West in scoring, second in rebounding, second in field goal percentage among players who take at least 10 shots per game, and second in blocked shots.

The Highlanders are on a three-game winning streak which is the longest for the program since the 2011-12 campaign when they won four straight from January 5-14.