LDN - Sports

Top 25 roundup: No. 4 Duke destroys No. 2 Kentucky

[November 07, 2018] No. 4 Duke grabbed the early bragging rights for the 2018-19 basketball season, opening with a stunning 118-84 rout of No. 2 Kentucky in the Champions Classic on Tuesday in Indianapolis.

The contest, which featured 12 alumni of the McDonald's All-American Game, also was an early proving ground for some of the nation's best freshmen.

Duke had the No. 1 recruiting class last season, including No. 1-ranked RJ Barrett, No. 2 Cam Reddish and No. 5 Zion Williamson. The trio scored 33, 22 and 28, respectively, to lead the rout.

Kentucky got 23 points from Keldon Johnson, the 13th-rated freshman. Reid Travis, a graduate transfer from Stanford, added 22 points and seven rebounds.

No. 1 Kansas 92, No. 10 Michigan State 87

Freshman guards Quentin Grimes and Devon Dotson scored 21 and 16 points, respectively, as the Jayhawks outlasted the Spartans in the Champions Classic at Indianapolis.

Grimes made six 3-pointers and Dotson added three treys as they joined Memphis transfer Dedric Lawson (20 points) as new starters for Kansas following its Final Four run a year ago.

Kenny Goins (17 points, 11 rebounds) and junior Cassius Winston (13 points, 11 assists) each had double-doubles for Michigan State. Joshua Langford scored a team-high 18 points.

No. 3 Gonzaga 120, Idaho State 79

Junior Rui Hachimura poured in a career-high 33 points on 13-of-18 shooting to help the Bulldogs roll to a season-opening victory over the Bengals in Spokane, Wash.

Zach Norvell Jr. added 23 points for Gonzaga, which shot 58.6 percent from the field. Brandon Clarke recorded 15 points and nine rebounds.

Brandon Boyd scored 15 points to pace Idaho State. Chier Maker added 14 points, and Kelvin Jones had 11 for the Bengals.

No. 5 Virginia 73, Towson 42

The Cavaliers overcame a sluggish start to open their campaign with a win over the Tigers in Charlottesville, Va.

Virginia's Ty Jerome dropped in 20 points and tied a career-high with six 3-pointers. De'Andre Hunter chipped in with his second-career double-double as he recorded 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The Cavaliers suffocated Towson with their stingy defense, holding the Tigers without a field goal for more than 10 minutes in the second half. Tobias Howard led the Tigers with 10 points while Brian Fobbs added nine points.

No. 6 Tennessee 86, Lenoir-Rhyne 41

Jordan Bone scored 18 points and forward Kyle Alexander had 16 as the Volunteers had five players in double figures in coasting to a victory over the Division II Bears at Knoxville, Tenn.

Grant Williams, the 2018 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, and Admiral Schofield scored 13 each for the Vols. Jordan Bowden scored 11.

Manny Wembi led Lenoir-Rhyne with nine points.

No. 7 Nevada 86, BYU 70

Jordan Caroline's 28th career double-double gave the Wolf Pack a good start to the most anticipated season in program history, a win over the Cougars in Reno, Nev.

Caroline scored 25 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the Wolf Pack, while Caleb Martin recovered from a foul-plagued first half in which he played just four minutes. Martin added 21 points, and Jazz Johnson came off the bench to tally 12.

BYU's Yoeli Childs had 16 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with 2:35 left in the game, while Jahshire Hardnett contributed 17 points.

No. 8 North Carolina 78, Wofford 67

Luke Maye scored 24 points as the Tar Heels withstood a second-half charge from the Terriers before pulling away for a season-opening victory at Spartanburg, S.C., avenging last year's result.

North Carolina's Cameron Johnson, who finished with 17 points, hit a pair of 3-point baskets after Wofford tied the game midway through the second half. Tar Heels forward Garrison Brooks scored 13 of his career-high 20 points in the first half.

Fletcher Magee's 21 points led Wofford. Storm Murphy added 15 points, and Nathan Hoover had 12 points.

No. 9 Villanova 100, Morgan State 77

Eric Paschall scored 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lift the Wildcats past the visiting Bears in the season opener for both teams.

Phil Booth added 17 points and Saddiq Bey scored 16 for the defending national champion Wildcats. Jermaine Samuels had 12 points and Joe Cremo contributed 10 in the Wildcats' first all-time meeting against Morgan State.

Isaiah Burke led Morgan State with 17 points, while Stanley Davis added 14 and Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. contributed 13.

No. 11 Auburn 101, South Alabama 58

Jared Harper and Chuma Okeke scored 20 points each and helped lead a 3-point onslaught as the Tigers opened the season with a rout of the visiting Jaguars.

Harper made 6 of 10 3-point attempts, Okeke made 3 of 5, Bryce Brown made 4 of 9 in scoring 12 points, Samir Doughty made 2 of 3 in scoring 14 points and Malik Dunbar made 2 of 5 in scoring 16.

Rodrick Sikes made 5 of 12 3-point shots and scored 25 points to lead South Alabama, which was playing its first game under new coach Richie Riley.

No. 14 Oregon 84, Portland State 57

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Payton Pritchard scored 22 points to help the Ducks post a season-opening victory over the Vikings in Eugene, Ore.

Paul White added 15 points for the Ducks, who shot 54 percent from the field. Highly regarded Oregon freshman center Bol Bol, the son of the late NBA shot-blocker extraordinaire Manute Bol, had 12 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots in 23 minutes in his college debut.

Holland Woods scored 13 points and Jamie Orme added 11 for Portland State.

No. 16 Syracuse 66, Eastern Washington 34

Oshae Brissett tallied 20 points and eight rebounds as the Orange opened their season with a dominating defensive effort to cruise past the Eagles in an opening-round game of the 2K Empire Classic at Syracuse, N.Y.

Syracuse, which returns all five starters from a team that reached the Sweet 16 last season, used its patented 2-3 zone to smother the Eagles' offense, holding Eastern Washington to 22.4 percent from the floor.

The Orange didn't shoot well -- just 38.7 percent -- and Brissett was the only Syracuse scorer to reach double figures. Tyler Kidd led the Eagles with nine points.

No. 17 Florida State 81, Florida 60

The Seminoles extended their winning streak against the Gators to five with a victory at Tallahassee, Fla., in the season opener for both programs.

Florida State's PJ Savoy led all scorers with 20 points after going 5 of 7 from beyond the 3-point arc. Trent Forrest added 13 points and five assists.

Deaundrae Ballard led Florida with 13 points.

No. 19 Michigan 63, Norfolk State 44

The Wolverines raised two banners before winning their season opener against the Spartans in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Jon Teske had 13 points and eight rebounds for Michigan, which celebrated capturing the Big 10 tournament title and advancing to the Final Four last season.

Michigan held the Spartans to 30.5 percent shooting from the field (18 of 59) and 25 percent from 3-point range (3 of 12). Nic Thomas led Norfolk State with nine points.

No. 21 UCLA 96, Purdue Fort Wayne 71

Sophomore Kris Wilkes scored a career-high 27 points, and freshman Moses Brown had 19 points and grabbed 17 rebounds as the Bruins cruised to a victory over the Mastodons in the season opener for both teams at Los Angeles.

Jaylen Hands scored 18 points and had seven assists for the Bruins, who improved to 5-1 in season-opening games under head coach Steve Alford.

John Konchar scored 25 points for Purdue Fort Wayne, which fell to 1-17 all time against nationally ranked opponents. Matt Holba added 12 points for the Mastodons.

No. 22 Clemson 100, Citadel 80

Marcquise Reed scored 20 points to lead six players in double figures as the Tigers coasted past the Bulldogs in Clemson, S.C.

The Tigers, who begin the season ranked for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign, also got 16 points apiece from Shelton Mitchell and Aamir Simms en route to winning their season opener for a 34th consecutive year.

Lew Stallworth led The Citadel with 15 points while Matt Frierson added 12.

No. 23 LSU 94, Southeastern Louisiana 63

Naz Reid scored 15 of his team-high 17 points in the first half, and fellow freshman Emmitt Williams added 12 points and 10 rebounds to lift the Tigers to a season-opening victory over the Lions in Baton Rouge, La.

LSU led 48-18 at the half and coasted home. The Tigers held Southeastern Louisiana scoreless in the first 4:23 and without a field goal for six minutes later in the first half.

Lions freshman Parker Edwards supplied some late-game fireworks, scoring a game-high 25 points, all in the final 10 minutes of the second half.

No. 24 Purdue 90, Fairfield 57

Carsen Edwards scored 30 points to power the Boilermakers to a romp over the Stags at West Lafayette, Ind., in the season opener for both teams.

Edwards, the only returning starter from last season's 30-7 squad, sank 10 of 17 shots and hit 7 of 11 3-point attempts. Purdue's Ryan Cline scored 13 points and added a career-high eight assists with just one turnover.

Neftali Alvarez led Fairfield with 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Jonathan Kasibabu was right behind with 14 points.

No. 25 Washington 73, Western Kentucky 55

Noah Dickerson scored 16 of his 18 points after halftime as the Huskies beat the Hilltoppers at Seattle in the season opener for both programs.

Ranked in the preseason AP poll for the first time since 2010-11, the Huskies started fast but ended the first half slowly by missing their last 10 shots. The Hilltoppers were in front 36-27 at the break.

Jared Savage led Western Kentucky with 15 points.

--Field Level Media

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