American Athletic Conference teams turned in three wins in five Saturday games, highlighted by No. 25 Cincinnati’s victory at UCLA.
No. 25/rv Cincinnati 77, No. rv/rv UCLA 63
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Kyle Washington had a rough day when Cincinnati lost to UCLA in the NCAA Tournament last season.
This time, he delivered one solid performance against the Bruins.
Washington scored 19 points, Jacob Evans III had 16 and No. 25 Cincinnati beat UCLA 77-63 on Saturday.
It was one sweet win for the Bearcats, who lost 79-67 to Lonzo Ball and UCLA in the second round in March. Washington had just four points on 2-for-10 shooting in the previous matchup, and he was determined to make amends.
"We lost last year, and I know I wasn't there for my team last year," Washington said. "I wanted to make sure that I was ... I just wanted to show I was way better than that. I didn't show what I could do on the defensive end or offensive end last year in the tournament, and I was really hurting from that."
Cincinnati (9-2) grabbed control with an 18-0 run in the first half. The Bearcats turned 18 UCLA turnovers into 23 points.
"I just thought about Cincinnati. Just being that tough dog, hungry-dog-gets-the-bone mentality," Evans said. "We knew we had to come out here and do it with our defense, and that's what we did."
Aaron Holiday scored 17 points for UCLA (7-3), and Kris Wilkes finished with 12.
The Bruins grabbed a 21-18 lead on Prince Ali's 3-pointer with 6:59 left in the first half, but they didn't score again until Alex Olesinski made two free throws with 17.7 seconds to go. Cincinnati led 36-23 at the break.
UCLA center Thomas Welsh didn't take a shot until the game was already 15 minutes old. Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said his team's game plan also involved trying to wear down Holiday with the Bruins playing with such a short bench.
"They played Tom well down low," Holiday said. "I was trying to get him involved, and that's where a lot of our turnovers came from. We just have to figure it out. That's my fault. Obviously I didn't tell him what to do. That's on me."
Cincinnati kept up the pressure in the second half, and Gary Clark's dunk ran its lead out to 17 at 45-28. Clark finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
"Really proud of our effort," UCLA coach Steve Alford said. "Obviously, that's a really good basketball team, grown men. We've got some young guys that will grow and learn from this. We just had a really tough first half handling the basketball. That's kind of what happened in the second half (in a loss) against Michigan."
Wilkes said UCLA knew what was coming in terms of pressure. Handling it was another story.
"When they started pressuring us, we just played fast tempo, and we turned it over a couple of times from that," Wilkes said. "Before the game, we talked about it, that teams are going to try to force us to turn the ball over with the pressure they put on us. We went into the game with the mindset that we weren't going to let that happen, but unfortunately it happened in the first half."
Temple 63, Drexel 60
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Shizz Alston Jr. scored 12 points and Temple got a big contribution from its bench in beating Drexel 63-60 on Saturday.
Temple reserves Damion Moore, De'Vondre Perry and Alani Moore II combined to score 19 of the Owls' 38 points in the first half. Temple (7-3) led 38-29 at halftime after Quinton Rose's 3-pointer.
The Dragons (5-6) opened the second half on a 7-0 run and Austin Williams' dunk tied it at 53 with 5:32 left. Temple regained the lead on a Rose jumper, but Sammy Mojica sank a 3-pointer and Drexel led 56-55 with 2:42 to go. It was the Dragons' first lead since 6-4.
Alston rebounded his own missed shot and scored and Rose fed Aflakpui for a layup and a 61-57 Temple lead. Kurk Lee cut the deficit to a point with a long 3-pointer with 15 seconds left, but Enechionyia hit a pair of free throws and Lee missed a 3 at the buzzer.
Demir led Drexel with 16 points, Williams scored 15 with 10 rebounds and Mojica scored 11.
Enechionyia was one of five Owls who finished with eight points and he added nine rebounds and five blocked shots.
Tulsa 80, Manhattan 66
TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Junior Etou scored 24 and missed just three of 12 shots and Corey Henderson Jr. scored 13 and Tulsa beat Manhattan 80-66 on Saturday night.
Etou scored Tulsa's first three baskets for a 6-4 lead and the Golden Hurricane never trailed from there on. Henderson later made a 3-pointer with less than five minutes before halftime and Tulsa (7-4) led 30-18. Henderson made three 3s in a five-possession span and Tulsa led 46-28 at intermission.
Tulsa finished 26-of-48 shooting (54 percent). The Golden Hurricane now own a three-game win streak and have won five of their last six. They're 5-1 at home this season.
Zane Waterman led Manhattan (4-6) with 17 points and Pauly Paulicap scored 16. The two Jaspers players combined to shoot 15 of 20 from the field and doubled up for 17 of Manhattan's 29 rebounds.
No. rv/rv Louisville 81, Memphis 72
NEW YORK (AP) -- David Padgett is not naive.
Louisville's interim men's basketball coach is fully cognizant that the immediate future of the Atlantic Coast Conference power is an unknown as the university's leaders decide upon who will lead the program following the ugly end of Rick Pitino's tenure at the school. Yet there is a season that must be played out.
And so he is navigating a delicate balancing act: Trying to plan for tomorrow while recognizing the importance of today.
"I don't think you're going to get a kid in the country to commit per se to Louisville until they know who the head coach is going to be moving forward," Padgett said after Louisville's 81-72 win over Memphis in the showcase game of the Gotham Classic on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. "But like I said before, that's not my concern, that's not our players' concern, that's not our staff's concern. We really are just trying to focus on winning right now."
Louisville improved to 8-2 with its fourth straight win. Quentin Snider led four players in double-figure scoring with 19 points. V.J. King finished with 17 points, Deng Adel 15 and Ray Spalding 12.
"We knew (it would take) just one game (and) everyone was going to at least hit a 3 or something," Snider said. "We were going to catch hot."
Whereas the Cardinals were hot from the field, Memphis left Madison Square Garden angry at itself after its four game-winning streak came to an end. The Tigers fell to 7-3 overall, and 36-54 all-time against Louisville. Jeremiah Martin tied a career high with 26 points, and Kyvon Davenport had 12.
"We have a chip on our (shoulders)," Martin said. "People (are) always saying we're not good enough, and they have 11 new guys; they're not going to be anything."
Tied 38-all at halftime, Louisville outscored Memphis 17-4 in the first 5:30 of the second half to take a 55-42 lead. The key to the spurt was 3-point shooting with Adel knocking down two from behind the arc and Snider one.
"(Adel) ... can shoot over people," Memphis coach Tubby Smith said. "You have to play him for the drive. We didn't make him put it on the floor like we said we should have, like we were going to do; the adjustment we had to make at halftime. That was really disappointing."
Defense aided the Cardinals' cause. Louisville entered the game second nationally in blocked shots (7.9), ninth in field goals allowed (.367), 36th in 3-point field goals allowed (.293) and 44th in points allowed (64.3) per game. Louisville forced 12 turnovers and blocked 14 shots, while limiting the Tigers to 4-of-11 shooting from 3.
"We responded in the second half," Padgett said. "Came out with more of a defensive mindset. ... Came out of the gate in the second half, took the lead and did a good job of maintaining it even when they would go on a couple of runs. (I am) really proud of our team."
As well as Louisville as played, though, the Tigers fought back, using a 13-5 spurt spanning 4:53 to cut a 58-46 deficit to 63-59. Martin scored seven of his 26 in that run.
"I'm not happy about the way I played," Martin said. "Because we didn't win."
Memphis didn't get closer as Louisville responded with a 9-0 run of its own to extend its lead to 72-59.
"The thing I was pleased with -- and I kept telling them in the timeouts -- every time they went on a run we needed to respond with a run of our own and we seemed to do that," Padgett said.
No. rv/24 Oklahoma 91, No. 3/3 Wichita State 83
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- No one had to convince Oklahoma's players that Saturday's game at No. 3 Wichita State presented a measuring stick of sorts.
Sooners star guard Trae Young believes the 91-83 victory "will open a lot of eyes in the college basketball world," and fellow freshman Brady Manek agreed.
"That's probably the biggest crowd I've ever played in front of," Manek said. "We just showed that we can play on a big stage against a great team."
Young, the nation's leading scorer, led the way. He finished with 29 points and 10 assists, but it was his 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the game's first 9 minutes that set the tone for the Sooners (8-1).
Young has scored at least 28 points in seven straight games.
Manek scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half for Oklahoma. Christian James and Kamron McGusty each had 13 points for the Sooners.
Darral Willis came off the bench to lead the Shockers (8-2) with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Landry Shamet had 17 points, Conner Frankamp scored 14 and Shaquille Morris added 10 for Wichita.
"We let them get comfortable in the first half," Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said, "and you can't do that against a team that talented and that well-coached."
Behind Young and Manek, Oklahoma stormed to a 54-39 halftime lead. The Shockers entered Saturday allowing 68.2 points a game. The Sooners were 20 of 40 from the field and 10 of 23 from the 3-point line in the half.
"That's probably our best half because Wichita State is really good," Sooners coach Lon Kruger said.
Wichita State trailed 80-63 with 7:15 remaining but held Oklahoma scoreless for nearly 6 minutes. The Shockers closed within 84-78 but got no closer.
Marshall marveled at Young.
"I haven't coached against a freshman that plays the game at that level," Marshall said. "Hedging, switching; we tried everything against him. Trae Young is not going to get rattled. He is too good."