College basketball rankings: UConn leaps BYU in Top 25 And 1 as Huskies topple Cougars in showdown

UConn began a five-game stretch this weekend in which four of the matchups are against currently ranked schools. Dan Hurley will know plenty about his team when it’s done, I’d assume. Either way, things got off to a nice start Saturday when the Huskies led BYU by as many as 20 points and held on for an 86-84 victory in the Hall of Fame Series at Boston’s TD Garden.

Tarris Reed Jr. finished with 21 points. So did Alex Karaban. So did Silas Demary. Those three players are all averaging at least 13.0 points per contest for a UConn team that’s 4-0 and up to No. 3 in Sunday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Purdue remains No. 1 for the eighth consecutive day.

BYU is now No. 4 in the Top 25 And 1.

“I thought we looked like an awesome team for 25 minutes — [but] obviously the last 15 minutes we just kind of hung on and weren’t very good against pressure,” Hurley said of his Huskies, who were up 59-39 with 14:47 remaining before BYU outscored them 45-27 the rest of the way. “But I credit BYU. Those guys showed some real fight today. They could have walked out of here, lost by 20 easily. But those guys dug their heels in and showed that [BYU’s Kevin Young] is a heckuva coach — and they’ve got a real culture and a real chance to compete for championships.”

BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa led all scorers with 25 points. The 6-foot-8 wing is averaging 20.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists through four games while shooting 57.4% from the field and 40.0% from 3-point range.

“That’s as high a level of shot-making as you’re going to see in college basketball,” Hurley said of Dybantsa’s performance. “He had the whole bag going.”

Next up for UConn is Wednesday’s game with Arizona. Then comes next Sunday’s buy game with Bryant that’ll be followed by showdowns with Illinois (Nov. 28) and Kansas (Dec. 2). Arizona is No. 5 in the Top 25 And 1. Illinois is No. 13. Kansas is No. 22. So, over an 18-day span, UConn will play four teams ranked in the Top 25 And 1 and get a look at some of the best freshmen in the sport. In addition to Dybantsa, the Huskies should see Arizona freshman Koa Peat (16.3 ppg and 5.3 rpg), Illinois freshman David Mirkovic (18.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg) and Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson (21.5 ppg and 3.5 rpg), the last of whom, it should be noted, has missed KU’s past two contests with what’s been described as minor injuries.