Top 25 roundup: No. 17 FAU a big winner in AAC debut

 

[January 03, 2024]  Johnell Davis and Alijah Martin each netted 20 points, Vladislav Goldin added 11 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 17 Florida Atlantic debuted in the American Athletic Conference with a 79-64 win over East Carolina on Tuesday night in Boca Raton, Fla.

Davis and Martin each made 7 of 13 shots for the Owls (11-3, 1-0 AAC). Davis also had six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Martin sank 4 of 8 shots from long range and had five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

For the Pirates (7-7, 0-1), Brandon Johnson had 15 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Quentin Diboundje scored 13 points, and RJ Felton had 12 points and five rebounds.

After trailing by as many as eight in the first half, Florida Atlantic outscored the visitors 44-28 in the second, officially putting the game away with a 14-0 run that started with 4:23 left in the game.

No. 1 Purdue 67, Maryland 53

Zach Edey scored 23 points and collected 12 rebounds as the Boilermakers snapped the Terrapins' 19-game home winning streak with a victory in College Park, Md.

Edey finished 8 of 13 from the floor, while Lance Jones added 11 points and made three 3-pointers for the Boilermakers (13-1, 2-1 Big Ten), who never trailed en route to their first win at Maryland since Dec. 1, 2017. Braden Smith scored 14 points and added seven rebounds and six assists. Purdue shot 46.3 percent from the floor (25 of 54) and made 45 percent of its 3-pointers (9 of 20).

Jahmir Young scored 26 points to lead the Terrapins (9-5, 1-2) in their first home loss since an 87-60 defeat against UCLA on Dec. 14, 2022. Jordan Geronimo tallied nine points and six rebounds, while Donta Scott added eight points and seven boards.

No. 4 UConn 85, DePaul 56

Cam Spencer scored 20 points and Alex Karaban had 17 points and seven rebounds to help the Huskies rout the Blue Demons in Storrs, Conn.

UConn (12-2, 2-1 Big East) led by as many as 32 points while shooting 58.2 percent compared to 35.7 percent for DePaul. Stephon Castle added 14 points for the Huskies and dished out seven assists to match Tristen Newton for the game high.

Da'Sean Nelson paced the Blue Demons with 19 points. Elijah Fisher scored 17 points to go with five rebounds. DePaul (3-10, 0-2) lost its 14th straight regular-season conference game.

No. 5 Tennessee 87, Norfolk State 50

Zakai Zeigler scored 17 points and hit five of the Volunteers' 12 3-pointers as the hosts returned from a lengthy holiday break to rout the Spartans in Knoxville, Tenn.

Dalton Knecht added 15, 13 of those in the first half, and Tobe Awaka came off the bench to chip in 10 points for the Volunteers (10-3). Twelve players scored for Tennessee, which moved the ball well, drawing 23 assists on 30 made buckets. The Vols sank 45.5 percent from the field and came up with 14 steals, four from Zeigler.

Jamarii Thomas scored 15 points for the Spartans (9-7) but also committed six of their 22 turnovers. Christian Ings added 10 points. Norfolk State couldn't crack the Volunteers' tough, physical defense, canning just 16 of 47 shots from the field (34 percent) and collecting only one assist.

No. 8 North Carolina 70, Pittsburgh 57

Armando Bacot had 16 points and 10 rebounds to help the Tar Heels turn back the host Panthers.

RJ Davis added 15 points and four assists for the Tar Heels while Carlton Carrington led Pitt (9-5, 0-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) with 20 points.

Pittsburgh held North Carolina (10-3, 2-0) scoreless for the first 6:20 of the game but less than eight minutes later the Tar Heels took the lead and never trailed again.

No. 9 Illinois 96, Northwestern 66

Marcus Domask piled up 32 points, six assists and five rebounds to lead the Fighting Illini to a victory over the Wildcats in Champaign, Ill.

Domask hit 11 of 15 field-goal attempts to finish one point from his career high for Illinois (11-2, 2-0 Big Ten). Justin Harmon added 20 points off the bench while Quincy Guerrier (14 points, 10 rebounds) posted his second consecutive double-double.

Point guard Boo Buie paced Northwestern (10-3, 1-1) with 20 points, but he finished with four turnovers and no assists. Ty Berry added 14 points while Luke Hunger notched a career-high 10 points.

No. 13 Colorado State 76, New Mexico 68

Patrick Cartier scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting to lead the Rams past the Lobos in the Mountain West opener for both teams at Fort Collins, Colo.

Fifth-year senior Isaiah Stevens finished with 18 points and eight assists for the Rams, giving him 2,017 career points. Nique Clifford had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Colorado State (13-1, 1-0).

JT Toppin led New Mexico with 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Lobos (12-2, 0-1) saw their 11-game winning streak.

No. 14 Duke 86, Syracuse 66

Mark Mitchell scored a career-high 21 points and Jared McCain heated up from the perimeter to score 18 points to lift the Blue Devils past the Orange in Durham, N.C.

The Blue Devils (10-3, 1-1 ACC) won their fifth game in a row since an ACC-opening defeat at Georgia Tech. Jeremy Roach racked up 17 points, Tyrese Proctor notched 14 points and Kyle Filipowski, who was scoreless in the first half, finished with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Maliq Brown was a force in the lane for Syracuse, producing 26 points and seven rebounds, and Judah Mintz had 18 points. But the Orange (10-4, 1-2) had a five-game winning streak snapped while losing for the ninth straight time to Duke.

No. 18 Baylor 98, Cornell 79

Ja'Kobe Walter poured in four 3-pointers as part of his 23 points to help the Bears run away from the upset-minded Big Red in Waco, Texas, in the first game played in the new Foster Pavilion.

The Bears (11-2) finished their nonconference schedule unbeaten at home, building a 16-point lead at halftime that whittled to just seven midway through the second half. Baylor then ran away with the game in the final minutes. RayJ Dennis added 18 points, with Yves Missi hitting for 16 on 8-of-8 shooting and Jayden Nunn scoring 10.

Nazir Williams led the Big Red (10-3) with 17 points while Chris Manon and Isaiah Gray added 12 points each for Cornell, which plays in the Ivy League.

No. 21 Wisconsin 83, Iowa 72

Tyler Wahl had 19 points and AJ Storr added 16 as the Badgers pulled away in the second half to beat the Hawkeyes in Madison, Wis., and remain unbeaten in Big Ten play.

Max Klesmit added 15 points and Steven Crowl had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Badgers (10-3, 2-0), who were tied 32-32 with the Hawkeyes the break.

Tony Perkins had 25 points and Owen Freeman had 14 points and 13 boards for Iowa (8-6, 0-3). Ben Krikke, the Hawkeyes leading scorer at 17 points per game, had 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting, but was limited to 20 minutes with foul trouble.

No. 25 Auburn 88, Penn 68

Johni Broome recorded 24 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots to help the Tigers notch a nonconference victory over the visiting Quakers.

Chad Baker-Mazara added 16 points as the Tigers (11-2) won their sixth consecutive game. Auburn has won those games by an average of 24 points. Denver Jones scored 12 points and K.D. Johnson had 11 for the Tigers in the wire-to-wire triumph.

Sam Brown scored 20 points and Tyler Perkins added 13 points and eight rebounds for Penn (8-7). The Quakers were without leading scorer Clark Slajchert (ankle).

--Field Level Media

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