Missouri State senior forward Chris Cooks (Idabel, Okla.) has been named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week after back-to-back 20-point performances for the Bears in a pair of games last week.

Cooks' return to the Missouri State starting lineup couldn't have come at a better time for the Bears as he helped Missouri State claim its first conference victory this week and was dominant in a road loss at Illinois State.

In the win over Wichita State, Cooks had career highs with 23 points and 11 rebounds to go with an 8-for-15 shooting performance that included a pair of assists and four steals. He followed that outing with 20 points at Illinois State with five rebounds a game-high five assists. His 43 points for the week secured his top two scoring efforts of his career and gave the Bears their first 20-point performances of the 2008-09 season.

Cooks is the first Bear player to receive the conference award this season and just the second since 2005-06. Dale Laberth (March 1, 2008) was the most-recent MSU player to earn Player of the Week honors, while Blake Ahearn received the award on December 5, 2005.

The Bears have two home games this week with a Wednesday night game against Drake (7:05 p.m.) and a Sunday night rematch with league-leading Northern Iowa (6:05 p.m.) in a nationally-televised game on ESPNU.