College basketball: No. 1 Duke opens season with rout of Elon
DURHAM, N.C. — Marvin Bagley had 25 points and 10 rebounds in his college debut, and No. 1 Duke opened another season of high expectations by routing Elon 97-68 on Friday night and moving Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski one victory from yet another career milestone.
Grayson Allen added 22 points and made six of the Blue Devils’ 12 3-pointers while Gary Trent Jr. added 17 points and four more 3s.
Duke shot 55 percent — 71 percent while pulling away in the second half — and held the Phoenix to less than 40 percent shooting while looking the part of a team beginning a second straight season atop the AP Top 25 .
One of the tallest Duke teams in school history — this is just the program’s fourth with an average height of at least 6-foot-7 — outrebounded the smaller Phoenix 48-30 while also forcing them into 11 consecutive missed shots during an early, tone-setting 17-0 run.
Coach K had no trouble earning his 999th career victory at Duke.
No. 2 Michigan St. 98, North Florida 66
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Miles Bridges started his sophomore season with 20 points and 10 rebounds, helping Michigan State in a tuneup for a highly anticipated game.
The Spartans will play No. 1 Duke on Tuesday night in Chicago.
Michigan State took control against the Ospreys with a 19-0 run midway through the first half, led by 26 at halftime and coasted to a lopsided win in the opener for both teams.
North Florida’s Ivan Gandia-Rosa had 19 points.
Freshman Jaren Jackson had 13 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks in his debut with the Spartans.
No. 3 Arizona 101, N. Arizona 67
TUCSON, Ariz. — Allonzo Trier scored a career-high 32 points for Arizona.
Deandre Ayton, Arizona’s acclaimed 7-foot-1 freshman, had 19 points and 12 rebounds in his collegiate debut. Dusan Ristic added 20 points for the Wildcats, who shot 60 percent from the field.
The Wildcats, without four players either due to discipline or injury, led by as many as 21 points in the first half. The Lumberjacks cut it to 10 in the opening minute of the second half before Arizona blew the game open.
Chris Bowling led Northern Arizona with 11 points.
No. 4 Kansas 92, Tennessee St. 56
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Lagerald Vick scored 23 points, Svi Mykhailiuk added 15 and Kansas routed Tennessee State in its lone tuneup before facing No. 5 Kentucky in the Champions Classic.
Devonte Graham added 10 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds for the short-handed Jayhawks, who played without five-star prospect Billy Preston. The touted freshman forward was suspended for the opener after he missed curfew Thursday night and failed to show up for class Friday.
Darreon Reddick had 20 points and Delano Spencer had 14 for the Tigers, who watched the longer, stronger Jayhawks use a 14-0 run in the opening minutes to build a 56-27 lead by halftime.
No. 5 Kentucky 73, Utah Valley 63
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Hamidou Diallo scored 13 second-half points, most of them during an 18-0 run, and Kentucky shot 59 percent after halftime.
One of Kentucky coach John Calipari’s youngest rosters since arriving in Lexington showed its inexperience by struggling on both ends and trailing 34-25 at halftime. The Wildcats emerged from the break more energetic to make the pivotal run over 3:22 with eight consecutive baskets, including back-to-back transition dunks by Diallo.
The redshirt freshman guard, one of eight Kentucky newcomers, finished with 18 points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 13 points, Kevin Knox 12 and Nick Richards 10.
Kenneth Ogbe had 12 points for the Wolverines.
No. 6 Villanova 75, Columbia 60
PHILADELPHIA — Eric Paschall scored 15 points and Jalen Brunson had 14 to lead Villanova.
Villanova, the 2016 national champions, won their 15th straight season opener and pulled away in the second half.
Mike Smith scored 19 points for Columbia, which hung around in the first half as they chased their second win over Villanova in five years.
No. 7 Wichita St. 109, Missouri-Kansas City 57
WICHITA, Kan. — Senior Darral Willis scored 19 points to lead Wichita State.
Landry Shamet had 17 points, Shaquille Morris scored 16 and Conner Frankamp added 11 to give the Shockers four starters in double figures.
Wichita State reserves Samaje Haynes-Jones and Rauno Nurger each scored 11 points.
Isaiah Ross led Missouri-Kansas City with 12 points.
No. 9 N. Carolina 86, Northern Iowa 69
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Luke Maye had a career-high 26 points to go with 10 rebounds for North Carolina.
Freshman Garrison Brooks added 14 points for the reigning national champions, who opened the season without Final Four Most Outstanding Player Joel Berry II and Pittsburgh graduate transfer Cameron Johnson due to injuries.
The Tar Heels shot 50 percent and blew open a 14-point halftime lead to as many as 31 points down the stretch.
Spencer Haldeman had 15 points to lead Northern Iowa, which had upset the top-ranked Tar Heels at home in November 2015.
No. 10 USC 84, Cal State Fullerton 42
LOS ANGELES — Chimezie Metu had 18 points and 10 rebounds as Southern California opened the season with its highest ranking since 1974-75.
Bennie Boatwright added 13 points and Jordan McLaughlin had 12 points for the Trojans, who opened in the shadow of the sport’s bribery scheme that has seen associate head coach Tony Bland charged, along with assistants from three other schools. He is on administrative leave.
Jackson Rowe led Fullerton with 12 points. The Titans fell to 0-6 in the teams’ first meeting since 2014.
No. 25 Texas A&M 88, No. 11 West Virginia 65
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Tyler Davis had 23 points and 13 rebounds, Admon Gilder scored 23 points and Texas A&M overcame a sluggish start to dominate the Armed Forces Classic.
D.J. Hogg added 19 points for the Aggies, who played without suspended forward Robert Williams and point guard J.J. Caldwell. Gilder also had nine rebounds and seven assists.
James “Beetle” Bolden led West Virginia with 19 points. Jevon Carter added 13 and Wes Harris scored 12.
The game was played in a hangar on the sprawling Ramstein Air Base in southwestern Germany and it marked the only matchup among ranked men’s teams on the opening day of the college basketball season.
No. 12 Cincinnati 107, Savannah St. 77
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. — Cane Broome scored 17 points during his debut as Cincinnati’s point guard, and the Bearcats pulled away.
Gary Clark — one of three returning starters — had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Bearcats.
Austin Dasent scored 14 points for Savannah State, which led the nation in 3-pointers last season but couldn’t make enough down the stretch to pull off the upset. The Tigers trailed 69-62 with 12 minutes to go, but missed 14 of their final 17 shots from beyond the arc.
No. 13 Miami 77, Gardner-Webb 45
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Sophomore Bruce Brown had his second career triple-double and the third in school history for Miami.
Brown, who is widely expected to turn pro after this season, totaled 10 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in 31 minutes.
Lonnie Walker IV, Miami’s most highly touted recruit under coach Jim Larranaga, came off the bench in his collegiate debut to total 10 points and five assists in 25 minutes.
D.J. Laster had 10 points for Gardner-Webb which extended its losing streak against ranked teams to 10 games dating to November 2007.
No. 15 Minnesota 92, S. Carolina Upstate 77
MINNEAPOLIS — Jordan Murphy scored a career-high 35 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and Reggie Lynch added 15 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota.
The Gophers owned a 54-35 rebounding advantage and outscored the Spartans 46-18 in the paint, pulling away right before halftime following a sluggish start.
Malik Moore scored 22 points for the Spartans.
No. 17 Xavier 101, Morehead St. 49
CINCINNATI — Trevon Bluiett scored 21 of his 25 points during Xavier’s blistering first half.
The Musketeers scored 62 points in the first half, their most since they had 68 during the opening half of a 117-75 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson in the 2012 season opener.
Xavier’s senior guard tandem of Bluiett and J.P. Macura had their way. Macura scored Xavier’s first eight points on a layup, a 3-pointer and a three-point play, sparking an 18-1 run. He finished with 18 points.
Jordan Walker scored 13 points for Morehead State.
No. 18 Gonzaga 97, Texas Southern 69
SPOKANE, Wash. — Josh Perkins scored 20 points, hitting six 3-pointers, for Gonzaga.
Johnathan Williams added 16 points for Gonzaga, which lost four key players from a team that last season lost to North Carolina in the NCAA championship game.
Demontrae Jefferson scored 20 points for Texas Southern, which is playing its first 13 games on the road against some of the nation’s top teams. Their first home game is Jan. 1, 2018.
No. 19 Northwestern 79, Loyola (Md.) 75
ROSEMONT, Ill. — Scottie Lindsey scored 26 points and Derek Pardon added 16 for Northwestern.
Northwestern (1-0) won despite blowing a 17-point lead in the second half.
Andrew Kostecka scored a career-high 22 points for Loyola.
No. 20 Purdue 115, SIU-Edwardsville 74
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Dakota Mathias scored 15 points in the first half for Purdue.
Purdue has won its last four season openers by 40, 41, 44 and 41 points.
The Boilermakers shot 59.3 percent in the first half (16 of 27).
SIU-Edwardsville got 17 points from guard Daniel Kinchen.
No. 21 UCLA 63, GEORGIA TECH 60
SHANGHAI — Led by freshman Kris Wilkes with 18 points, UCLA overcame the loss of three other freshmen who were held out to beat Georgia Tech.
Fellow freshman Jaylen Hands added 14 points, Aaron Holiday had 11 and Thomas Welsh had 10 for the Bruins, who used defense in the closing minutes to hold off the Yellow Jackets.
Ben Lammers scored 18 of his 24 points in the first half for Tech before the Bruins slowed him with double-teams in the second half.
UCLA played without freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley, who have been identified by the Los Angeles Times and ESPN as having been arrested on shoplifting charges during the team’s trip to China.
No. 23 Seton Hall 90, FDU 68
NEWARK, N.J. — Desi Rodriguez scored 17 points, 13 in the first half, leading Seton Hall to an easy win in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off.
No. 24 Baylor 107, Central Arkansas 66
WACO, Texas — Manu Lecomte scored 22 points, including six of Baylor’s 12 3-pointers, to lead six players in double figures.
Terry Maston had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Bears.
Jordan Howard scored 22 points for the Central Arkansas in the first meeting ever between the teams both nicknamed the Bears.
