The Associated Press national player of the week in men’s college basketball for Week 13 of the season:
Brayden Burries, No. 1 Arizona
The freshman guard from San Bernardino, California, had a career-high 29 points with five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks in an 86-83 win over then-No. 13 BYU last Monday night. He followed up with 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals in an 87-74 victory over Arizona State that kept the Wildcats unbeaten at 22-0 this season.
Burries is averaging a team-best 15.3 points along with 4.5 rebounds while shooting better than 50% from the field.
Arizona has a light week with only a trip to Oklahoma State on deck this weekend. But then Burries and the top-ranked Wildcats have six of their next seven against teams ranked in the top 16 of this week’s Top 25 poll. The stretch includes a pair against No. 11 Kansas along with matchups against No. 10 Houston, No. 16 BYU, No. 13 Texas Tech and No. 7 Iowa State.
Runner-up
JT Toppin, Texas Tech. After the All-American forward had 31 points and 12 rebounds in a 90-86 win over Houston the previous week, Toppin poured in 27 points and 10 boards in an 88-80 loss to UCF. Toppin is averaging 22.4 points and 10.9 boards, and he has scored at least 16 points in eight consecutive games.
Honorable mention
Jeremy Fears Jr., No. 10 Michigan State; Richie Saunders, BYU; Alex Condon, No. 17 Florida.
Keep an eye on
Bennett Stirtz, Iowa. The transfer from Drake had 20 points, three rebounds and three steals in a 73-72 win over Southern California. Four days later, he poured in 32 points with seven assists in an 84-66 rout at Oregon. Stirtz played 78 of 80 minutes across the two games.
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