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The Associated Press announced its national players of the week in men’s and women’s basketball for Week 3 of the season. On the men’s basketball side:
Melvin Council Jr., No. 17 Kansas
The 6-foot-4 senior stepped up with a huge game that helped Kansas edge N.C. State in overtime on the road, posting career highs of 36 points and nine 3-pointers in the 77-76 win.
Council was averaging 10.7 points but had missed his first 10 3-pointers of the season and entered Saturday’s game having made just 5 of 27 3-pointers. Council took advantage of the Wolfpack’s sagging-in defense to build a confident rhythm that would ultimately carry through a tight finish, with Hall of Fame coach Bill Self saying Council “put us on his back tonight.”
Council had matched his career high by making four 3s in the first 15 minutes, and scored the last 13 points of regulation for Kansas, whose freshman star and top NBA prospect Darryn Peterson checked out late in regulation due to lingering hamstring troubles. He finished 13 of 27 from the field and 9 of 15 from behind the arc.
Runner-up
Brayden Burries, No. 1 Arizona. The 6-4 freshman had season highs of 28 points and seven rebounds in the Wildcats’ weekend road win against then-No. 12 Alabama. Alabama led 41-39 at halftime, but Burries led the charge back with 20 of his points coming in a 14-minute second-half flurry. By game’s end, Burries had made 11 of 19 shots and 5 of 10 3-pointers as Arizona won by 21.
Honorable mention
AJ Dybantsa, No. 10 BYU; Pryce Sandfort, No. 15 Nebraska; Lamar Wilkerson, Indiana.
Keep an eye on
Dennis Parker Jr., Radford. The 6-6 junior guard has blossomed as a scorer since transferring from N.C. State. That includes him scoring 53 points — the highest in Division I by any player all year — in Sunday’s win against Coppin State.
Parker made 19 of 24 shots and 10 of 14 3-pointers to go with eight rebounds in 33 minutes. His scoring output was a school and Big South Conference single-game record, and was nine points more than any other D-I player has managed this season entering the week. Parker is averaging 19.0 points and shooting 49.7% for the Highlanders.
And for women’s basketball:
The junior wing led the Longhorns to two wins last week. She became the fifth player in Texas history to record a triple-double when she had 28 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a win over Texas-Rio Grande Valley. She followed that up with a solid effort in a rout of then-No. 13 Baylor. Booker shot 26 of 36 (72%) from the field over her two games for the week and averaged 9.0 rebounds.
Runner-up
Addy Brown, Iowa State. The junior forward had consecutive 20-point efforts to help the No. 10 Cyclones beat two in-state opponents. She helped Iowa State reach 12-0 for the first time in 11 years with the victories over No. 11 Iowa and Northern Iowa.
She averaged 24 points, 12 rebounds and four assists while shooting 54.8% from the field.
Honorable mention
Shay Ciezki, Indiana; Azzi Fudd, No. 1 UConn; Fadima Tall, No. 25 Princeton.
Keep an eye on
San Diego State guard Nat Martinez had 22 points in a 64-53 victory over Kansas State. She made six 3-pointers and scored 16 of her points in the second half. It was the second time this season that she has scored more than 20 against a Power Four team. Martinez had 24 against Penn State.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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