PROVIDENCE, R.I. - After three Saturday games on the American Athletic Conference schedule, the men's basketball standings stayed in place as three teams put up double-digit point victories. USF used a strong second half to win at ECU while UConn matched the Bulls with a 20-point victory at home over Wichita State. SMU rallied to defeat Tulane behind 29 points from Jahmal McMurray.
Saturday, January 26
USF 77, ECU 57
Alexis Yetna scored a career-high 28 points and added 13 rebounds for his league-leading 10th double-double to lead USF to a 77-57 victory over ECU Saturday afternoon at Minges Coliseum. The Bulls now have the most wins overall in seven years and already have more conference wins than they did last season.
Justin Brown added 14 points and made four three-pointers and Laquincy Rideau finished with 10 points, 10 assists and four steals for his second double-double of the season. He is just three steals away from setting the all-time record at USF.
Jayden Gardner led ECU with 15 points and 15 rebounds and Shawn Williams added 12 points on four three-pointers.
ECU (8-11, 1-6) built an 11-point lead six minutes into play before Yetna and Michael Durr reeled off nine straight points for USF to cut the deficit to two. Back-to-back three-pointers from Williams and a bucket from Gardner pushed the lead back to 10 with 7:33 before halftime.
Brown answered with three consecutive 3-pointers and Rideau capped an 11-0 run with a layup to give USF its first lead at 28-27. Brown struck again with another trey just before halftime to put USF ahead 36-34.
Dimitri Spasojevic gave ECU its final lead with a basket three minutes into the second half. USF answered with a 20-8 run to take a 61-48 lead with 9:27 remaining. USF would lead by double digits the rest of the game and go on to win by 20.
USF committed just six turnovers and forced ECU into 16 miscues. The Bulls also finished with 41 rebounds to mark the 10th game this season in which USF had at least 40 rebounds.
UConn 80, Wichita State 60
UConn used a balanced attack en route to an 80-60 victory over the Wichita State Shockers Saturday night at a sold out Gampel Pavilion. The Huskies improve to 12-8 (3-4) while Wichita State drops to 8-11 (1-6 AAC).
Junior guard Christian Vital steadied UConn with 21 points while backcourt mate Jalen Adams ended the night with 19 points and a team-high 12 rebounds for his seventh career double-double. Sophomores Tyler Polley and Josh Carlton led the charge inside for the Huskies as the two combined for 23 points and 10 boards.
UConn jumped out to an early 14-4 lead behind a tenacious defense that held Wichita State to one made field goal through the first seven minutes of play. Leading 25-12, the Huskies ballooned their lead to 18 points, 30-12, following back-to-back buckets from Adams. Wichita State drew within 40-28 after an Erik Stevenson layup that appeared to swing the momentum into the Shocker's favor, but Vital buried a deep triple just before the buzzer which electrified the crowd, snatched the momentum right back and gave the Huskies a 15 point lead at the break.
Carlton completed a three-point play, Adams buried a triple and on the next trip down, found Vital inside for the reverse as UConn saw its lead grow to 21 points, 54-33, less than four minutes into the second half.
Wichita State wouldn't go quietly, using a 13-4 run to close the gap to 12, but that was as close as the road team would get. Jalen Adams sunk two mid-range buckets and then Tarin Smith, Polley and Vital each knocked down a trey as the Huskies cruised to the twenty-point triumph.
The Shockers were led by freshman Jamarious Burton with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Classmate Erik Stevenson was the only other Shocker in double-digit points with 12.
Four UConn players ended the game in double figures - Vital (21), J. Adams (19), Polley (12) and Carlton (11). Redshirt sophomore Mamadou Diarra made his season debut for the Huskies, tallying two points on a layup after slipping the screen.
SMU 85, Tulane 75
Jahmal McMurray and Isiaha Mike combined to score 49 points and SMU snapped a two-game losing streak by beating Tulane, 85-75 on Saturday night in Dallas.
The Mustangs swept the season series with the Green Wave.
Tulane never led in the first meeting in New Orleans, but the Green Wave held a 35-32 advantage at the break after Kevin Zhang hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer and was up by five, 53-48 with 11:09 to play.
Nat Dixon hit a trey to tie it at 54-54 and spark a 9-0 run that put the Mustangs up, but Tulane came back to tie at 60-60 with under seven minutes to go.
McMurray hit two free throws and Dixon added two more to put the Mustangs in front for good.
McMurray hit 5-of-9 from distance and finished with 29 points to lead SMU (12-7, 4-3 American). Mike hit all five of his 3-point attempts and added 20 points.
Jordan Cornish had 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for Tulane (4-15, 0-7).
SMU improved to 8-1 this season when four players score in the double digits.
UPCOMING GAMES