Connor Essegian's 2,526 points rank among Indiana's all-time leaders

Connor Essegian’s 2,526 points still sit in Indiana’s state record book, a total that ranked No. 10 when he graduated from Central Noble in 2022 and now lists 12th in the IHSAA and MaxPreps records after later additions. Essegian has become a useful rotation piece at Nebraska, where the Fort Wayne product has settled in as a 6-foot-4, 205-pound redshirt senior and one of the Big Ten’s steadier bench scorers.

At Central Noble in Albion, Essegian was not just a prolific scorer but the driver of the best run in school history. His senior season brought 26.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, along with better than 42% shooting from 3-point range, and it helped Central Noble finish 28-3 and reach its first Class 2A state championship game. The run delivered the program’s first semi-state title, its second regional title and its first trip to the state finals before Providence beat Central Noble 62-49 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on March 26, 2022.

The championship game showed the edge and the burden that come with carrying a historic scoring load. Providence held Essegian to 18 points, although 10 came in the final 9:25, and Central Noble’s title-game loss capped a season that had already broken through a 44-year-old school scoring record. Essegian had broken that mark by his senior year, and he had already set a school-record 44 points in a conference tournament win over Churubusco as a junior.

That kind of scoring profile put Essegian on the short list for the state’s biggest individual honors. He was one of five finalists for Indiana Mr. Basketball in 2022 and made the Indiana All-Stars that spring.

Essegian earned Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors at Wisconsin in 2023, transferred to Nebraska in April 2024 and then played all 35 games in 2024-25, averaging 10.7 points and 2.8 rebounds as the Huskers’ sixth man.