Associated Press ADVERTISING Associated Press TUCSON, Ariz. — Nick Johnson scored 24 points, Aaron Gordon had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 1 Arizona beat Washington 71-62 on Saturday. The Wildcats (15-0, 2-0 Pacific-12) are off to their best
Associated Press
TUCSON, Ariz. — Nick Johnson scored 24 points, Aaron Gordon had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 1 Arizona beat Washington 71-62 on Saturday.
The Wildcats (15-0, 2-0 Pacific-12) are off to their best start since 1931-32, when the team set a school record with 16 wins to open the season.
T.J. McConnell added six assists, five rebounds and four steals for Arizona.
C.J. Wilcox led Washington (9-6, 1-1) with 20 points while Perris Blackwell had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Arizona trailed by two points at halftime but pulled away as the Huskies shot 10 of 33 in the second half, missing all seven 3-point attempts.
No. 2 SYRACUSE 49
MIAMI 44
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — C.J. Fair scored 15 points, including the go-ahead basket with 4:16 to go, and Syracuse rallied late in its Atlantic Coast Conference debut.
Syracuse (14-0, 1-0) struggled against Miami (8-6, 0-2), the reigning conference champion.
Miami, which trailed by four points at halftime, started the second half with a 14-4 run as the Orange missed their first nine shots. Garrius Adams, who led Miami with nine points, and freshman Manu Lecomte hit 3-pointers and Rion Brown hit a jumper from deep in the right corner to stake the Hurricanes to a 35-29 lead with 12:22 left.
Two free throws by Davon Reed gave Miami a 40-35 lead with 6:11 left before Rakeem Christmas scored twice inside to start a 10-4 Orange run.
No. 3 OHIO ST. 84
NEBRASKA 53
COLUMBUS, Ohio — LaQuinton Ross scored 11 points, including two 3-pointers as Ohio State pulled away.
Amedeo Della Valle had 15 points, Marc Loving scored a career-high 13, Shannon Scott also had 13 and Amir Williams chipped in with 10 points for Ohio State, which shot 54 percent from the field (27 of 50) and 47 percent on 3-pointers (9 of 19).
Terran Petteway scored 15 points and Leslee Smith had 11 for the Cornhuskers (8-6, 0-2), who have lost 20 consecutive road games to ranked teams since beating No. 22 Texas A&M on Feb. 23, 2008.
The Buckeyes, leading the Big Ten in scoring defense at 55.1 points a game, limited the Cornhuskers to 38 percent shooting from the field (21 of 56) while forcing 17 turnovers.
No. 5 MICHIGAN ST. 73
INDIANA 56
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Gary Harris scored 26 points to lead Michigan State.
Harris had 17 points in the first half for the Spartans (13-1, 2-0 Big Ten) and he had a 5-point play midway through the second half.
Michigan State turned 13 Indiana turnovers into 20 points, capitalizing on a problem that has plagued the Hoosiers (10-5, 0-2) all season. They are averaging 16.4 turnovers a game, more than anyone else in the conference.
Branden Dawson added 13 points for the Spartans.
Yogi Ferrell led Indiana with 17 points while Will Sheehey added 13.
KANSAS ST. 74
No. 6 OKLAHOMA ST. 71
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Marcus Foster scored 17 points and Nino Williams made two free throws with 5.7 seconds left for Kansas State in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
Williams finished with 15 points, none bigger than his two free throws that gave the Wildcats (11-3, 1-0) a three-point lead. Marcus Smart of the Cowboys raced up court and threw up a running 3-point try as the final buzzer sounded, but it clanked harmlessly off the rim.
Le’Bryan Nash scored 20 points, Markel Brown finished with 16 and Smart added 15 for the Cowboys (12-2, 0-1), who were plagued by foul trouble after already missing two of their key players.
NOTRE DAME 79
No. 7 DUKE 77
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Eric Atkins scored seven of his 19 points during a decisive 20-4 run to lead Notre Dame to an upset of Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference debut for the Fighting Irish.
Two weeks after squandering an eight-point lead in the final 50 seconds against No. 3 Ohio State at Madison Square Garden, the Irish (10-4, 1-0) managed to hold on to improve to 13-6 against top 10 teams at home under Mike Brey.
The Irish were able to pull the upset despite being without leading scorer Jerian Grant, who was dismissed from school for an academic violation the day after the Ohio State loss.
It was the first loss in an ACC opener for the Blue Devils (11-3, 0-1) in seven seasons.
Rodney Hood led the Blue Devils with 27 points, including making 5 of 10 from 3-point range as Duke was 12 of 28 from beyond the arc.
No. 12 FLORIDA 67
RICHMOND 58
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Michael Frazier II scored 18 points, including three huge 3-pointers in the second half, as Florida rallied.
The Gators trailed 48-45 with about 6 minutes to play before seniors Scottie Wilbekin, Casey Prather and Pat Young took over.
Wilbekin hit a baseline floater, Prather followed with his first of two spinning layups and then Florida (11-2) went ahead for good on Young’s three-point play.
Dorian Finney-Smith’s 3-pointer gave the Gators some cushion down the stretch, and they closed it out from the free throw line — barely. Florida missed six of its final eight free throws in the final minute.
Young finished with 15 points for Florida, which won its 23rd consecutive home game. Prather had 12 and Wilbekin added 10.
Cedrick Lindsay led the Spiders (10-5) with 19 points, and Kendall Anthony added 15.
No. 13 IOWA ST. 73, TEXAS TECH 62
LUBBOCK, Texas — Georges Niang scored 17 points and Melvin Ejim added 16 to extend Iowa State’s winning streak to a school record-tying 13 games.
DeAndre Kane had 15 points for the Cyclones (13-0, 1-0) in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
Jaye Crockett had 20 points and 11 rebounds and Dusty Hannahs added 16 points to lead Texas Tech (8-6, 0-1).
The Cyclones came into the game averaging just over nine 3-pointers but managed only five against the Red Raiders. Texas Tech held Iowa State 15 points below its average.
Texas Tech tied the Cyclones at 50 on a 3-pointer by Crockett at 12:33 of the second half but the Red Raiders never took a lead.
SMU 74, No. 17 UCONN 65
DALLAS — Nic Moore had 20 points and six assists to lead SMU in the Mustangs’ first game of the season played on campus in refurbished Moody Coliseum.
Nick Russell added 14 points for SMU (11-3, 1-1) in its first conference win as a member of the American Athletic Conference.
Ryan Boatright had 15 points for the Huskies (11-3, 0-2), who lost their second straight, both in conference and both in Texas. Shabazz Napier and Lasan Kroham had 12 points and DeAndre Daniels added 11 for UConn, which lost to Houston on Tuesday.
SMU went ahead 47-41 on a bank shot by Ben Moore with 11:36 left. The Mustangs went on a 6-1 run to go up 63-51 with 4:04 left.
The victory was the Mustangs’ first against a ranked opponent since December 2003, when they beat No. 17 Purdue.
CINCINNATI 69, No. 18 MEMPHIS 53
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Sean Kilpatrick scored 11 of his 18 points down the stretch and Cincinnati won its sixth straight, while Memphis saw an end to a three-game winning streak.
Justin Jackson finished with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting, eight rebounds and a career high-matching seven blocks for Cincinnati (13-2, 2-0 American Athletic Conference), while Shaquille Thomas had 10 points.
Joe Jackson led Memphis (10-3, 1-1) with 13 points, but only had two in the second half. Michael Dixon added 12 points but was 4 of 12 from the field.
Cincinnati broke open a close game in the latter stages of the second half as Kilpatrick began scoring and Memphis was stymied with 24 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.
