The Saturday following Thanksgiving is always a slow one for college basketball — in part because so many schools spent an earlier part of the week playing in some tournament somewhere, in part because football takes up most of the sports-space on television. That’s my way of saying only three teams in Sunday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings played Saturday, and all three were in buy games that doubled as mismatches.
Arizona is the most notable of the group.
The Wildcats beat Norfolk State 98-61 inside the McKale Center to improve to 7-0 and remain No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 thanks to a body of work featuring three victories over top-35 KenPom teams. Arizona junior Motiejus Krivas took eight shots, made seven of them and finished with a game-high 20 points. Five-star freshman Koa Peat added 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Next up for Arizona is back-to-back games against SEC schools — first on Saturday at home against Auburn, then on Dec. 13 in Birmingham against Alabama. If the Wildcats win both, they’ll be 9-0 with five victories over schools that were ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll — specifically Florida (No. 3), UConn (No. 4), UCLA (No. 12), Alabama (No. 15) and Auburn (No. 20).
Elsewhere Saturday, Nebraska, which is 20th in the Top 25 And 1, improved to 8-0 with a 72-63 win over South Carolina State. That’s the good news for the Cornhuskers — but there was also some bad, specifically that Connor Essegian is done for the season because of an ankle injury.
“I’m heartbroken for him,” said teammate Pryce Sandfort.
Essegian suffered the injury in the second half of Tuesday’s win over Winthrop. The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 10.7 points in 22.5 minutes per game last season. According to coach Fred Hoiberg, Essegian will apply for a medical redshirt. And given that he’s only appeared in seven games this season, there’s no good reason he shouldn’t receive it.
