Jalen Suggs made 7 of 10 3-point attempts while scoring a career-best 27 points to lead top-ranked Gonzaga to an impressive 99-88 victory over No. 3 Iowa on Saturday in a neutral-court nonconference showdown at Sioux Falls, S.D.
Joel Ayayi registered a career-high 18 rebounds in addition to contributing 11 points and six assists as the Bulldogs (4-0) didn’t appear the least bit rusty in their first game since Dec. 2 due to COVID-19 issues.
Drew Timme recorded 15 points and nine rebounds and Corey Kispert added 13 points and six assists for Gonzaga. Andrew Nembhard also scored 13 points while Suggs’ stat line included seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Iowa All-American Luka Garza recorded 30 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Joe Wieskamp added 20 points, nine rebounds and three steals while Joe Toussaint scored 14 points and Jack Nunge added 10 for the Hawkeyes (6-1).
No. 2 Baylor 100, Kansas State 69
MaCio Teague had 23 points and 10 rebounds as the Bears pounded the Wildcats in Manhattan, Kan.
The Bears (5-0, 1-0 Big 12), who had not played in 10 days, pulled away quickly and never were threatened. The 100 points were the most by Baylor against Kansas State in program history.
Kansas State (3-5, 1-1) played evenly with Baylor in the second half, after trailing by 29 at halftime. The Wildcats were led by Antonio Gordon with a career-high 23 points.
No. 7 Villanova 88, Saint Joseph’s 68
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had 25 points, seven rebounds and six assists to lift the Wildcats past the visiting Hawks.
Robinson-Earl was 8 of 14 from the field despite playing with a protective mask on a broken nose, which he suffered in Wednesday’s win over Butler.
Caleb Daniels added 19 points, Justin Moore contributed 18 and Jermaine Samuels had 12 for the Wildcats, who improved to 7-1 overall after their fifth straight win. They also defeated the Hawks for the ninth consecutive time.
No. 12 Wisconsin 85, No. 23 Louisville 48
Micah Potter scored 20 points and the Badgers took control early from the 3-point line while rolling to a blowout win over the Cardinals in an ACC/Big Ten Challenge game in Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin (6-1) hit a season-high 16 3-pointers, on 25 attempts, making 10 in the first half alone to match their previous high for the season. Aleem Ford scored 12 points, Trevor Anderson had 11 and Brad Davison added 10, while five Badgers players had multiple 3-pointers led by Davison, Anderson and D’Mitrik Trice with three each.
Louisville (4-1) were playing for the first time since Dec. 1 because of a COVID-19 outbreak within the program. Saturday’s game originally was scheduled for Dec. 9, but Louisville did not return to practice until Dec. 12 after pausing activities Dec. 3. David Johnson had 12 points and Quinn Slazinski added 11 for the Cardinals.
UCF 86, No. 15 Florida State 74
Senior guard Brandon Mahan scored a career-high 32 points as the visiting Knights pulled off an historic upset over the Seminoles at Tallahassee, Fla.
UCF (2-1), which hadn’t played since Dec. 6 due in part to a COVID-19 cancellation, snapped FSU’s 27-game home winning streak. UCF also broke FSU’s streak of 41 consecutive wins in home games against nonconference opponents and dealt the Seminoles (4-1) their first loss of the season. In addition, this was UCF’s first-ever win over FSU, following 11 losses.
The Knights also got 22 points and a game-high eight rebounds from freshman Isaiah Adams — who was Florida’s Mr. Basketball last season — and 20 points from Darin Green Jr. as UCF produced just its eighth win ever over a ranked team.
No. 20 Ohio State 77, UCLA 70
Eugene Brown III’s 3-pointer with 5:34 remaining in the game broke a tie and he hit another 57 seconds later to extend the lead as the Buckeyes got the better of the Bruins late for a nonconference men’s basketball victory in the nightcap of the CBS Sports Classic in Cleveland.
Seeking a sixth straight win after a season-opening loss to San Diego State, UCLA (5-2) led by as many as six points in the second half until Ohio State (6-1) forged the eighth and final tie of the game on a pair of free throws by Duane Washington Jr. with 6:02 to go.
Washington led a balanced attack with 14 points for Ohio State, which was coming off its only loss of the season at Purdue. Zed Key came off the bench for 11 points and a game-high-tying six rebounds for the Buckeyes, while Cody Riley totaled 15 points and Johnny Juzang 13 for UCLA, which was outshot 50.0 percent to 40.0 from the field.
No. 22 North Carolina 75, Kentucky 63
Armando Bacot paced the Tar Heels with 14 points in a win over the Wildcats in Cleveland.
Kerwin Walton added 13 points for North Carolina (5-2), which was playing in the CBS Sports Classic. Garrison Brooks and Caleb Love also scored 11 points apiece in the victory.
Kentucky (1-5) lost its fifth straight game. It was led by Davion Mintz, who scored a game-high 17 points. Brandon Boston Jr. chipped in with 15 and Devin Askew with 10.
–Field Level Media
