The story Saturday wasn’t about Jimmer Fredette . He scored 32 points, but BYU lost a tough conference road game at New Mexico. No, the stories that should headline the night deal with four players: Xavier’s Tu Holloway . Louisville’s Peyton Siva . North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes . Kansas’ Thomas Robinson . Holloway scored 33 points, making all 17 of his free throws attempts in Xavier’s stunningly easy 85-62 win at Richmond. Holloway has found a way to get fouled and is making 86 percent of his free throws. Holloway should be the favorite for A-10 Player of the Year. And while Duquesne is the surprise at 6-0 in conference play, Xavier’s Chris Mack should be the coach of the year with the Musketeers at their rightful spot atop the standings. Mack has coached XU to a 7-0 mark despite a plethora of early-season injuries and issues. He’s maximizing the talent of big man Kenny Frease as well, who is averaging 12.4 points and 6.9 rebounds a game. He’s scoring 14.1 points and shooting 63.8 percent in the A-10. “We’ve got competitive kids,’’ Mack said Saturday night. “We kept working. We’ve made no excuses. Holloway and our inside game has been great.’’ Siva led a comeback against West Virginia earlier in the week that helped keep Louisville on track for a possible second-place finish in the Big East. And Siva was the best player in Storrs on Saturday. That’s right. He was the best player on the court on this day. Siva made big shot after big shot, including a bucket to essentially win the game after slicing through UConn’s defense. Siva finished with 19 points and seven boards. Kemba Walker , the favorite for Big East Player of the Year and one of the three likely finalists for national player of the year, scored 20 points, but missed — for what seems like the first time this season — a game-winning shot. Barnes had quite a week. He hit the game-winning 3-pointer to beat Miami on the road and then dusted off NC State with 25 points. Barnes was a controversial preseason first-team All-America pick. He struggled to lead — which is natural for a freshman — and suddenly was deemed a disappointment. Maybe he just needed time to mature, like the rest of his team. And it’s starting to like the blowout loss at Georgia Tech was more of a fluke than anything else. If there is a second-best team in the ACC this week, it’s North Carolina and a lot of that has to do with Barnes. No one had a worse week in college basketball than Robinson. The Kansas Jayhawk lost his mother, Lisa, at age of 43. That left him and his 9-year-old sister Jayla without their mom. His grandparents had both passed away within the past month. Robinson missed the Colorado game earlier in the week and then was with his teammates and coaches in Washington D.C. for his mother’s funeral. He returned to the team Friday and after writing an emotional letter of thanks to the fans, coaches and teammates, he played Saturday and scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a resounding win over Kansas State in Lawrence. Here are thoughts on the rest of Saturday’s action: Penn State has turned into one of the toughest outs in the Big Ten after beating Michigan State, Illinois and now Wisconsin at home. The Nittany Lions nearly beat Ohio State, losing with 46 seconds left, and lost at Purdue on a last-second shot. PSU coach Ed DeChellis said late Saturday his team just need to keep defending and rebounding and they will get that breakthrough road win. The Nittany Lions have the look of an NCAA-tourney team, but it would help their cause if they could beat Ohio State at home March 1 or steal a key road win. NC State got drilled at North Carolina. Last week, Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe said after losing to Duke that he thought the team could turn the corner on the season. The Pack then found a way to beat Miami at home by two, but since then lost by 10 at Clemson and 20 at North Carolina

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Wrapping up Saturday’s action