Arizona freshman guard Brayden Burries was named the Big 12's Player and Newcomer of the Week on Monday, the first time a UA player has received an outright Player of the Week honor during the Wildcats' unbeaten start.
Burries averaged 23.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists over UA's wins at BYU and ASU last week. He scored 29 points while hitting 13 of 14 free throws in UA's 86-83 win at BYU on Jan. 26, then had 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the Wildcats' 87-74 win over ASU on Saturday.
Arizona guard Brayden Burries (5) makes room between Arizona State forward Santiago Trouet (1), left, and guard Noah Meeusen (15) on a drive in the second half of their Big 12 game, January 31, 2026, Tempe, Ariz.
Arizona has not had a Big 12 Player of the Week in any form since Koa Peat was named co-player of the Week along with Texas Tech's Christian Anderson on Nov. 10, after Peat had 30 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the Wildcats' season opening win over Florida on Nov. 3.
Peat also won Newcomer of the Week awards that week and Nov. 24, after he had 16 points and 12 rebounds in UA's 71-67 win at UConn, but Burries hasn't won either weekly award. He did, however, get named to the Big 12's "Starting five" (the Player and Newcomer of the Week plus next vote-getters) on Dec. 15, after scoring 28 points against Alabama.
The Big 12 Starting Five this week included Burries, BYU's Richie Saunders, UCF's Themus Fulks, Iowa State's Tamin Lipsey, Iowa Statte and Kansas' Bryson Tiller.
Saunders averaged 25.5 points in BYU's losses to Arizona and Kansas, Fulks had 21 points and seven assists in the Knights' win over Texas Tech, Lipsey averaged 15 points and a total of 14 assists in the Cyclones' wins over Colorado and Kansas State, while Tiller scored 21 points in Kansas' win over BYU.
