PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The American Athletic Conference battled to its first nationally-ranked win of the year as UConn went into Madison Square Garden and defeated No. 15 Syracuse, 83-76, in the first game of the 2K Sports Empire Classic. The Huskies are now a perfect 3-0 under first-year head coach Dan Hurley.
RESULTS
UConn 83, No. 15 Syracuse 76
Jalen Adams and Alterique Gilbert scored 16 points each to lead UConn to a 83-76 upset of No. 15 Syracuse in the first game of the 2K Classic Thursday night.
In its first season under Dan Hurley, UConn improved to 3-0. The Huskies took the 95th all-time meeting between the schools, and are 39-56 against UConn.
Tarin Smith added 14 for the Huskies. Eric Cobb finished with 13, and Christian Vital had 11.
Syracuse dropped to 2-1 with its first loss of the season.
Jalen Carey led all scorers with 26. Tyus Battle had 16, and Elijah Hughes chipped in with 15.
Leading by four with 3:38 left, UConn outscored Syracuse 13-10 to end the game.
UCF 68, Cal-State Fullerton 52
UCF defense bounced back to form on Thursday, as the Knights defeated Cal State Fullerton by a score of 68-52 in the first round of the Myrtle Beach Invitational.
The Titans (1-2) came into the tournament averaging 100 points per game, which included a double-overtime loss at Arizona State. On Thursday, however, the Titans were barely able to score half of that total against the Knights, as UCF (2-1) held Cal State Fullerton to just 35 percent shooting from the floor.
The Knights, who have been one of the best defenses in the nation the last two years under head coach Johnny Dawkins, held the Titans to just 4-of-17 from beyond the arc and outrebounded them 45-33 in the game.
The Knights scored the first seven points and took an 11-3 lead before going scoreless for over seven minutes of game time, allowing Fullerton to take a 13-11 lead with 7:43 to play in the half. A jumper by Terrell Allen finally got UCF on the board again and the two teams traded blows until late in the first frame.
A 15-4 run, ignited by an Allen three-pointer, and capped by seven straight points from B.J. Taylor gave the Knights a 32-22 lead at the break. UCF connected on four of its last five field goals of the half to gain the advantage.
The start of the second half was much of the same, as a 17-4 Knights run ballooned UCF's lead to 61-35 with just 8:17 to play in the game. Collin Smith scored the final five points of the run, and was one of four Knights to score in double digits in the game, totaling 12.
UCF withstood a mini-run late by Cal State Fullerton and cruised to the 16-point victory in Myrtle Beach.
Taylor led the way with 14 points, Aubrey Dawkins added 13, while Tacko Fall and Smith each had 12. Fall recorded his first double-double of the season, finishing with 10 rebounds and adding three blocks in the victory.
With the win, the Knights advance to the semifinals of the Myrtle Beach Invitational and will take on Saint Joseph's Friday at 1:30 p.m. There will be coverage on ESPN2 and FM 96.9 The Game.
Wichita State 53, Davidson 57
Jon Axel Gudmundsson scored 33 points including Davidson's final 12 to lift the Wildcats to a 57-53 victory over Wichita State to cap the opening round of the Charleston Classic on Thursday night.
Gudmundsson tied the game at 50-all on a three-point play with 2:34 to go. He put Davidson up for good on a 3-pointer with 51.2 seconds left.
Wichita State (1-2) could not recover.
Davidson (3-0) will take on No. 23 Purdue in Friday's semifinals. The Shockers play Appalachian State.
Markis McDuffie had 18 points to lead the Shockers, who held a 10-point lead early in the second half.
The loss spoiled the return to the College of Charleston campus of Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall. Marshall was a former assistant who accepted the Cougars head coaching job in 2007 before returning to his old job at Winthrop a day later.
SMU 98, Western Carolina 65
SMU men's basketball bounced back from their first loss of the season in an emphatic way, bouncing Western Carolina by a score of 98-65 Wednesday night at Moody Coliseum.
The Mustangs set the tone early with a 13-0 run to start the game. Before the Catamounts were able to get a shot off, SMU was off to a 7-0 lead highlighted by two steals and two fast-break lay-ups from junior guard Jimmy Whitt Jr.
SMU was tenacious on defense, forcing 23 WCU turnovers, including 11 steals. Senior guard Nat Dixon had three takeaways of his own.
Whitt put an exclamation point on his 14-point night with a driving dunk in the midst of the 13-0 run, but it was senior guard Jahmal McMurray who led the Mustangs with a career-high 34 points.
McMurray had a ruthlessly efficient night, hitting 14 of his 17 field goal attempts, including five of seven 3-pointers.
The Topeka, Kansas native did a great job of creating his own shots, hitting step-back jumpers, laying it in after a euro step, and draining threes.
With a 20-point lead at halftime, it would have been easy to take the foot off the gas, but the Mustangs played hard throughout. In a one-minute span late in the second-half, McMurray hit three straight three-pointers to push the SMU lead to 32 points and put the game out of reach.
After the first three, Dixon poked a ball out of a WCU player's hands to spur the McMurray fastbreak. Then on the next defensive possession freshman forward Feron Hunt pinned a block against the backboard, and sophomore forward Ethan Chargois pushed the ball forward to McMurray who drained his fifth 3-point field goal of the night.
Houston 79, Rice 68
Houston junior guard Armoni Brooks posted his second consecutive 20-point game, leading the Cougars to a 79-68 win over Rice on Wednesday in HP&E Arena during the Men Against Breast Cancer Cougar Cup in a game presented by Maintenance Supply Headquarters.
Brooks, who tied his career high with 24 points in the season-opening win over Alabama A&M on Saturday, paced the Cougars with 20 points and five rebounds after going 8-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-5 from long range.
Houston outrebounded Rice 40-32 and attempted 12 more free throws than the Owls on the way to its 17thstraight home victory inside HP&E Arena. That ties as the nation's third-longest active home winning streak.
Rice jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first three minutes, but the Cougars responded with a 13-0 run over the next four minutes to build a lead they would never relinquish. Brooks led the Cougars during that run with eight of his 20 points.
Houston held a 40-29 lead at halftime and led by as many as 18 points before the Owls moved to within 66-60 following Robert Martin's free throw with 2:56 remaining. However, that would be as close as Rice would get.
Senior guard Corey Davis Jr. made a jumper in the lane and, following a Rice miss, freshman guard Nate Hinton buried a jumper and added a dunk after a Cedrick Alley Jr. steal for a 72-60 lead with 1:56 left in the game.
Davis finished with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting and tied with senior point guard Galen Robinson Jr. for game-high honors with six assists. Hinton finished with a career-high 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 shooting from the free throw line, while Robinson added 15 points.
Ako Adams led Rice with 19 points and five assists, while Jack Williams finished with 11 points. Drew Peterson totaled 10 points with Josh Parrish adding a team-high five rebounds.
UPCOMING GAMES
| FRIDAY 11.16.18 |
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Cal Baptist |
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Tulsa |
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1 p.m. |
Tulsa, Okla. |
Live Stats Live Video |
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Saint Joseph's |
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UCF |
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1:30 p.m. |
Conway, S.C. |
TV:ESPN2/ESPNU |
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Ohio |
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USF |
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4:30 p.m. |
Montego Bay, Jamaica |
TV:CBS Sports Network |
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Appalachian State |
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Wichita State |
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4:30 p.m. |
Charleston, S.C. |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPNU |
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Loyola (Md.) |
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Temple |
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7 p.m. |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
Live Stats Live Video |
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Milwaukee |
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Cincinnati |
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7 p.m. |
Cincinnati, Ohio |
Live Stats Live Video TV:FS Ohilo/ESPN3 |
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ECU |
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Georgia Tech |
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7:30 p.m. |
Atlanta, Ga. |
Live Video TV:ACC Network Extra/ESPN3 |
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Iowa/Oregon |
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UConn |
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TBD |
New York, N.Y. |
TV:ESPN2/ESPNU |
| SATURDAY 11.17.18 |
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Lipscomb |
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SMU |
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7 p.m. |
Dallas, Texas |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPN3 |
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Yale |
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Memphis |
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8 p.m. |
Memphis, Tenn. |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPN3 |
| SUNDAY 11.18.18 |
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Georgetown |
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USF |
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Noon |
Montego Bay, Jamaica |
TV:CBS Sports Network |
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TBD |
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UCF |
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TBD |
Conway, S.C. |
TV:ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPN3 |
|
TBD |
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Wichita State |
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TBD |
Charleston, S.C. |
Live Stats Live Video TV:ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPN3 |