STILLWATER, Okla. — Marcus Smart looked right at home in his return to the national stage.
Smart scored a career-high 39 points and No. 7 Oklahoma State raced past No. 11 Memphis for a 101-80 win on Tuesday night in a one-sided matchup of top teams.
Smart, who bypassed the NBA draft after last season’s early exit from the NCAA tournament, had 26 points in the first half and finished with five 3-pointers.
The sophomore was 11 of 21 from the floor — easily topping his previous career high of 28 points, which he set last season against Oklahoma.
Markel Brown added 20 points and Brian Williams 15 for Oklahoma State (4-0).
Nick King had 23 points for Memphis, and Shaq Goodwin finished with 13. The Tigers (1-1) shot 41.2 percent (28 of 68).
Memphis had played just once before the trip to Stillwater, a 95-69 home win over Austin Peay. And the Tigers appeared to be ill prepared for their first hostile road environment.
More specifically, they weren’t prepared for Smart — who added five steals, four rebounds, four assists and a pair of blocks in an outstanding all-around performance.
Surprisingly, Smart didn’t even enter the game as the leading scorer for the Cowboys.
In fact, the sophomore was third on Oklahoma State — behind sixth-man Phil Forte and Brown — with an average of 13.7 points through the team’s opening three blowout victories.
NO. 2 KANSAS 86, IONA 66
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Perry Ellis scored 21 points, freshman Joel Embiid had 16 points and 13 rebounds in a breakout performance, and No. 2 Kansas used a big late run to bury Iona 86-66 on Tuesday night.
Andrew Wiggins added 13 points and Naadir Tharpe had 10 assists for the Jayhawks (3-0), who got off to a sluggish start after their high-profile triumph over Duke last week.
The Gaels (1-2), using a maddening 2-2-1 zone and pouring in 3-pointers, managed to hang within single digits until midway through the second half.
NO. 3 LOUISVILLE 87, HARTFORD 48
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Montrezl Harrell had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead Louisville to the win in the Hall of Fame Tipoff.
Russ Smith added 14 points as the Cardinals (4-0) extended their winning streak to 20 games dating to last season’s run to the national title. Chris Jones and reserve Chane Behanan added 11 points apiece.
Louisville shot 50 percent from the field, outrebounded Hartford 35-29 and forced 25 turnovers.
NO. 4 KENTUCKY 105, UT ARLINGTON 76
LEXINGTON, Ky. — James Young scored 26 points, Julius Randle had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Kentucky cruised to the victory.
Young was 5 for 10 from 3-point range and 8 for 14 from the field overall to provide Kentucky’s third different top scorer in as many games.
Andrew Harrison had 15 points and Marcus Lee scored 10 as Kentucky started an all-rookie lineup for the second consecutive game. Willie Cauley-Stein added 14 points and 10 rebounds.
NO. 5 ARIZONA 87, RHODE ISLAND 59
TUCSON, Ariz. — Nick Johnson had 20 points, a career-high 10 rebounds and six assists to help Arizona get the win and a trip to New York City for the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-off.
Brandon Ashley added 16 points, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson 13 and Aaron Gordon 12 for the Wildcats (5-0), who next play Drexel on Nov. 27 in Madison Square Garden. No. 6 Duke plays Alabama in the other semifinal.
Xavier Munford scored 20 on 6-for-16 shooting for the Rams, who never led. No other Rhode Island player reached double figures.
NO. 6 DUKE 83, EAST CAROLINA 74
DURHAM, N.C. — Rodney Hood scored a career-high 30 points to help Duke get the win in the NIT Season Tipoff.
Freshman Jabari Parker had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Blue Devils (4-1), who survived a tougher-than-expected fight from the underdog Pirates to improve to 24-2 all-time in the early season tournament.
Duke led by a single point with about 7 minutes left but stayed in front and did enough in the final 2½ minutes to turn away East Carolina (4-1).
The Blue Devils advanced to next week’s semifinals in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
NO. 12 WISCONSIN 103,
NORTH DAKOTA 85
MADISON, Wis. — Frank Kaminsky scored a school-record 43 points, and Wisconsin shot a blistering 59 percent from the field.
Kaminsky, a junior who became a starter this season, got the record with about a minute left after driving the lane and splitting two defenders for an easy layup.
Sam Dekker added 19 for the Badgers (4-0), who overcame a career-high 37 points — 26 in the first half — from athletic sharpshooter Troy Huff.
NO. 17 OREGON 69, UTAH VALLEY 54
EUGENE, Ore. — Joseph Young scored 20 points and Oregon used a strong second half to get the win.
Johnathan Loyd had 12 points for the Ducks (3-0), who scored 16 straight midway through the second half to open a 20-point lead.
One game after setting a Matthew Knight Arena record with a career-high 36 points against Western Carolina, Young went 8 for 15 from the field with a 3-pointer.
By wire sources