Superstar freshman Caleb Wilson led four North Carolina players in double figures with 24 points as the No. 25 Tar Heels defeated No. 19 Kansas 87-74 in an early-season battle of college basketball titans on Friday night.
It was the first-ever matchup between the two schools in Chapel Hill, N.C. North Carolina outscored Kansas 58-37 in the second half. Kansas had won five straight games against North Carolina. The all-time series is now tied 7-7.
North Carolina (2-0) also got 20 points from Henri Veesaar, 17 from Seth Trimble and 12 from Kyan Evans. The Tar Heels outrebounded the Jayhawks 39-27.
Kansas (1-1) was led by its own freshman phenom Darryn Peterson with 22 points. Bryson Tiller added 12 points and Tre White scored 10.
No. 1 Purdue 87, Oakland 77
Braden Smith had 20 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to help the Boilermakers outlast the visiting Grizzlies in West Lafayette, Ind.
Smith led six Purdue players in double figures. Fletcher Loyer scored 15 points, Oscar Cluff and C.J. Cox each scored 14 as Purdue went 13 of 35 from 3-point range and shot 47.1% from the field overall (32 of 68).
Ziare Wells had 21 points and 12 rebounds and Nassim Mashhour added 15 points for Oakland. The Golden Grizzlies outrebounded the Boilermakers 39-37 and hung around with Purdue throughout, trailing by just five points with six minutes left before the nation’s top-ranked team put the game away.
No. 4 UConn 110, UMass Lowell 47
Tarris Reed Jr. made quite an impression in his return from a hamstring injury, pouring in 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds as the Huskies cruised to a huge home victory over the River Hawks.
Reed shot 9 of 12 from the floor for the Huskies (2-0) as he recorded the sixth 20-point effort of his career. Silas Demary Jr. scored 16 points and dished out seven assists.
UMass Lowell, which has 12 new players this season, was overwhelmed from the jump. Jared Frey scored 12 to lead the River Hawks (1-1). Xavier Spencer added 11.
No. 9 Kentucky 107, Valparaiso 59
Six different players, led by freshman Malachi Moreno and his double-double, scored in double figures for the Wildcats in Lexington, Ky., as they blew out the Beacons.
Kentucky’s offense raced out of the starting gates, using a 13-0 run to build a lead as large as 36 points in the first half. Their largest lead ballooned to 48 points late in the second half. Moreno led the Wildcats with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Kentucky had 27 assists on the night and only turned the ball over six times. Thwarted by strong on-ball pressure from the Wildcats’ defense, the Beacons dished out just 11 assists and turned the ball over 10 times. Valparaiso shot just 28.4% from the field, including just 8-for-34 from 3-point range.
No. 10 Texas Tech 98, Sam Houston 77
Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin led the Red Raiders with 31 points and 14 rebounds as Texas Tech pulled away for a victory over the Bearkats in Lubbock, Texas.
Toppin, who missed the season-opening win over Lindenwood with a lower-body injury, added four assists and three steals. Donovan Atwell contributed 19 points and Christian Anderson chipped in 18 points and seven assists for the Red Raiders (2-0).
Justin Begg led Sam Houston (1-1) with 17 points, while Kashie Natt totaled 16 points and 11 rebounds.
No. 13 Arizona 93, Utah Tech 67
Brayden Burries, Anthony Dell’Orso and Koa Peat each scored 18 points to help the Wildcats beat the Trailblazers in Tucson, Ariz.
Tobe Awaka had 12 points and a career-best 18 rebounds off the bench for the Wildcats, who pulled away in the second half. Burries had four steals and joined Dell’Orso by sinking three 3-pointers. Arizona was playing its first game after its season-opening 93-87 victory over No. 3 Florida, the defending national champion, on Monday.
Ethan Potter scored 15 points for Utah Tech, which has lost 18 of its last 19 road games. The victory during the stretch was an 81-79 overtime win at South Dakota on Monday.
No. 12 UCLA 74, Pepperdine 63
Four of the Bruins’ five starters scored in double figures and UCLA held visiting Pepperdine to 34.4% field-goal shooting to win in Los Angeles.
Following his team’s season-opening win over Eastern Washington on Monday, UCLA coach Mick Cronin lamented the Bruins’ defensive effort in surrendering 74 points to the Eagles. The Bruins responded aggressively in Friday’s first half, effectively contesting Pepperdine both on the interior and from long range.
The Waves were held to 9-of-28 shooting from the floor through the first 20 minutes, including 3 of 15 from 3-point range. Xavier Booker keyed the Bruins interior defense with five blocked shots and also led UCLA’s balanced scoring effort with 15 points.
No. 17 Illinois 113, Florida Gulf Coast 70
Kylan Boswell pumped in a game-high 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Illini blew out the visiting Eagles in Champaign, Ill.
Boswell canned 8 of 13 shots from the field, including 4 of 7 on 3-pointers, and hit 11 of 13 at the foul line as the Fighting Illini (2-0) scored in triple figures for the second straight game. Freshman guard Keaton Wagler added 22 points on 7 of 9 shooting and collected seven rebounds. Another freshman, David Mirkovic, scored 17 points and ripped down 11 boards. Zvonimir Ivisic contributed 16 points and nine rebounds.
JR Konieczny scored 26 points, going 8 of 16 from the field, for the Eagles (1-1), but his considerable efforts weren’t enough. In a game where it committed just one turnover, FGCU hit only 26 of 79 attempts from the floor (32.9%), including a pitiful 7 of 27 on 3-pointers.
No. 24 Wisconsin 97, Northern Illinois 72
Nick Boyd scored 20 of his career-high 25 points in a white-hot first half and the Badgers made quick work of the Huskies, prevailing in Madison, Wis.
Boyd, who played for Florida Atlantic’s Final Four team in 2023 and spent last season at San Diego State, made 8 of 16 shots in his second game for Wisconsin (2-0), including five of his first seven attempts. He got plenty of help from John Blackwell (15 points, six rebounds) and Nolan Winter (12 points, seven rebounds). Wisconsin raced out to a lead of as many as 22 points during the first half.
JJ Taylor had 17 points to lead Northern Illinois but lost six turnovers. Jao Ituka scored 13 off the bench as the outmatched Huskies (1-1) committed 17 turnovers and 29 fouls on the night.
–Field Level Media
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