AP College Basketball Players of the Week: UConn’s Strong, Arizona’s Burries

The Associated Press announced its national players of the week in men’s and women’s basketball for Week 13 of the season. On the women’s basketball side: Sarah Strong, No. 1 UConn The sophomore forward won the award for the second consecutive week after helping the top-ranked Huskies rout Xavier and Tennessee. She averaged 25.5 points, 3.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks for the Huskies. Strong shot 62.5% from the field and made all eight of her free throw attempts. Runner-up Kara Dunn, USC. The senior guard had a double-double with 25 points and 12 rebounds in a win over then-No. 8 Iowa. The 25 points was her seventh straight game scoring 20 or more points. That streak was snapped in the next game, a 32-point win over Rutgers where she had 18 points. Dunn has more than 1,500 points in her career now. [UConn: Sarah Strong, Huskies Dominate Tennessee After Brief Scare] Honorable mention Ehis Etute, Oregon; Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame; Cotie McMahon, No. 13 Ole Miss. And on the men’s side: 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. The Associated Press contributed to this report.