Self bests Pitino in first meeting as Kansas tops Iona
Christian Braun had 20 points and seven rebounds, Ochai Agbaji added 17 points, and No. 4 Kansas beat Iona 96-83 in the first meeting between Hall of Fame coaches Bill Self and Rick Pitino in Lake Buena Vista.
David McCormack scored 13 points for Kansas (5-1). The Jayhawks were was coming off their first loss of the season, 74-73 to Dayton on a buzzer-beater in an ESPN Events Invitational semifinal on Friday.
Beating Pitino’s Iona team, which opened the tournament with a win over No. 10 Alabama, was enough to salvage third place in the tournament for Self’s Jayhawks.
Iona (6-2) got 14 points apiece from Tyson Jolly and Ryan Myers. The Gaels also lost for the first time Friday, dropping a 72-65 decision to Belmont.
Both teams had five players score in double figures.
Unlike its first two games in the invitational, Kansas built a double-digit first-half advantage and held onto it, taking a 4631 lead at the break behind 13 points from Braun.
Agbaji had a dunk and Braun made a three during an 8-0 surge that made it 64-43 with 11 minutes left.
Another long-range jumper by Braun gave Kansas a 75-52 lead 3 1⁄2 minutes later.
Myers, who came off the bench, had a pair of three-pointers that helped Iona get within 80-68 with 5 minutes remaining, but the Gaels got no closer.
The Jayhawks put together first-half runs of 12-0, 10-0 and 8-0, and shot 58.8% (20 of 34). They shot 54.9% (39 of
71) overall and had 22 assists.
Iona had a pair of 4 1⁄2-minute scoring droughts, and turned the ball over 10 times during the opening 20 minutes.
No. 7 Villanova 72, La Salle 46: Collin Gillespie scored 13 points in a balanced team effort, and the host Wildcats beat the Explorers.
Brandon Slater added 12 points and Caleb Daniels and Eric Dixon each had 11 for the Wildcats (4-2), who played for the first time since a Nov. 21 loss to No. 3 Purdue.
Khalil Brantley scored 17 points and Jhamir Brickus had 13 for La Salle (2-3), which had just one assist on 14 field goals.
No. 13 Arkansas 76, Penn 60: JD Notae scored 28 points and the host Razorbacks (6-0) handled the Quakers (3-6).
TOP 25 WOMEN
No. 10 Louisville 71, Colorado State 56: Ahlana and Kianna Smith both finished with 11 points as the Cardinals (5-1) won their fifth straight by beating the host Rams (5-1).
No. 19 UCLA 73, St. John’s 65: Iimar’i Thomas scored eight of her 19 points in the last six-plus minutes, Charisma Osborne added her seventh career double-double and the Bruins (4-2) broke away late to defeat the Red Storm (3-4) at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero.