A monster final week - highlighted by two straight 30-plus scoring games - earned sophomore guard Marcus Taylor Big Ten Player of the Week honors Monday.

The honor is the second consecutive time a Spartan has earned the award. Junior forward Adam Ballinger shared the award with Illinois forward Robert Archibald for the week of Feb. 25.

Taylor set and reset career highs in scoring, dropping a career best 32 points in a 81-76 road win over No. 18 Ohio State on Tuesday and following up with a new career high 34 points in a 93-79 win against Iowa on Saturday.

Taylor also equaled a career best with nine assists against the Hawkeyes.

The 66-point week gave Taylor the Big Ten scoring crown at 17.7 points per game, moving from sixth place to first in the conference. The Lansing native also led the league with five assists a game.

Taylor becomes just the second player ever to lead the conference in both categories. Iowa’s Andre Woolridge led the conference in scoring and assists in 1997.

Big Ten coaches continue to rave about Taylor, who has emerged as one of the premiere guards in the league.

“You’ve got someone who’s probably playing better than anyone else in the league and that’s Marcus Taylor,” Illinois head coach Bill Self said. “He’s really led that young team.”

After Saturday’s loss to MSU, Iowa head coach Steve Alford said Taylor “dominated the game.”

All-Big Ten individual honors, for which Taylor is a leading candidate, will be announced Tuesday.