AP College Basketball Players of the Week: Illinois' Wagler, UConn's Strong

Published

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:

Keaton Wagler, No. 9 Illinois

The freshman guard from Shawnee, Kansas, set an Illini record with nine 3-pointers while scoring 46 points in an 88-82 win at then-No. 4 Purdue last week. Wagler finished 13 of 17 from the floor, hit several big buckets in the closing seconds, and wound up with the most points ever scored in a road win over a top-10 opponent in the AP poll era.

Wagler has hit double-figures in 12 consecutive games, including a 13-point, eight-assist, seven-rebound performance in an 89-70 blowout of Maryland earlier in the week. The two victories helped the Illini to push their winning streak to nine games and climb two spots to No. 9 in this week's AP Top 25 poll.

Runner-up

Joshua Jefferson, No. 8 Iowa State. The All-Big 12 forward had his second triple-double of the season with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists — and four steals — in an 87-57 win over UCF. He also had 20 points and four boards in an 84-71 win over Oklahoma State.

Honorable mention

Kingston Flemings, No. 10 Houston; A.J. Dybantsa, No. 13 BYU; Jeremy Fears Jr., No. 7 Michigan State.

Keep an eye on

Kamrin Oriol, G, North Florida. The senior had back-to-back 30-plus scoring games last week, pouring in 32 in an 87-85 victory over Eastern Kentucky, then scoring 33 with 15 assists in a 117-114 overtime win over Bellarmine. Making the performances even more eye-popping: North Florida (5-16) had won only 3 of its first 19 games before the back-to-back victories.

And for the women's:

Sarah Strong, UConn

The sophomore forward helped the top-ranked Huskies go 3-0 last week, averaging 20 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists to go along with 3.3 steals. She had 18 points in a rout of Notre Dame and followed that up with 25 points, hitting 10 of 17 shots against Georgetown.

Runner-up

Ava Heiden, Iowa. The sophomore center had big games against Maryland and Ohio State, helping the Hawkeyes stay unbeaten in Big Ten play. She had 20 points and eight rebounds in the win at the Terrapins and then 18 points and eight rebounds in the victory over the Buckeyes. She also had a career-best four steals in that game.

Honorable mention

Zoe Brooks, N.C. State; Dani Carnegie, No. 23 Georgia; Jada Williams, Iowa State.

Keep an eye on

Columbia junior guard Riley Weiss averaged 27.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and shot 63% from behind the 3-point line in wins over Brown and Dartmouth. Weiss set the school record with 40 points in the victory over Dartmouth, hitting 15 shots, including nine 3-pointers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.