San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
No. 1 Gonzaga rolls over Virginia.
Corey Kispert and No. 1 Gonzaga didn’t get their 1-2 matchup on a neutral court with a national TV audience.
What amounted to the replacement against the most recent NCAA champion worked out just fine.
Kispert scored a careerhigh 32 points and tied a school record with nine 3pointers, leading the Zags to a 98-75 romp over 16th-ranked Virginia on Saturday at Fort Worth, Texas.
After the Zags’ game against No. 2 Baylor in early December was called off less than 90 minutes before tipoff because of COVID-19 issues, they ended up on national TV on CBS in Baylor’s home state in their fourth game since a five-game pause because of the coronavirus.
Kispert was 9 of 13 from long range, including one about a foot from the midcourt logo followed immediately by another from several feet behind the arc in the year-old Fort Worth arena that is supposed to host the American Athletic Conference Tournament in March.
“He’s as good a shooter as I’ve ever coached, and like I said, nobody’s worked as hard as Corey has at mastering his craft, and yet, he’s incredibly unselfish,” coach Mark Few said of his senior guard.
“I think it’s very fitting that he’s right there in the record books for that particular stat.”
Drew Timme also had a career high with 29 points and led the Zags (7-0) with eight rebounds in a homecoming game for the former Dallas-area high school player.
Gonzaga now has the nation’s longest neutral-site winning streak at seven games and has beaten four ranked opponents before the start of conference play for the first time in school history.
Kihei Clark scored 19 points and Trey Murphy added 15 for the Cavaliers (4-2), who dropped to 1-31 all time against top-ranked teams almost 35 years since their only victory.
The matchup of one of the best offenses in the country against one of the best defenses wasn’t much of a contest, with Gonzaga shooting 60 percent with superior ball movement and screening. Virginia hadn’t allowed an opponent to shoot better than 40 percent this season.
“We needed this,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said when asked if a 1,200-mile trip for an added game was worth it for the program that won the 2019 NCAA Tournament before last season’s event was canceled by the pandemic.
“We need to play against some teams that are high, major caliber. This was the first time and we weren’t ready for it. It was too much. You can’t hide forever. This was important but painful. I wish it wasn’t as poor of a showing as it was.”
No. 6 Houston 63, UCF 54: Marcus Sasser scored 19 points and Caleb Mills delivered seven of his 12 points in the closing minutes to help visiting Houston pull away to a victory over UCF.
The Cougars (7-0, 2-0 American Athletic) overcame cold shooting by holding UCF (3-2, 1-1) to one field goal over the final 8:50 to remain unbeaten and deny the Knights a second win over a Top 25 opponent in a week.
No. 18 Illinois 69, Indiana 60: Ayo Dosunmu scored 30 points, Kofi Cockburn added 15 points and 15 rebounds, and host Illinois (7-3, 3-1 Big Ten) beat the Hoosiers (5-4, 0-2 ).
The game was close until about midway through the second half, when Dosunmu hit three consecutive 3pointers to fuel Illinois’ 14-0 run.
Northwestern 71, No. 23 Ohio State 70: Miller Kopp scored 23 points, Boo Buie had 14 and the Wildcats beat visiting Ohio State. Pete Nance added 10 points for the Wildcats (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten), who won their fourth straight. E.J. Liddell led Ohio State (7-2, 1-2) with 15 points.
Elsewhere
Louisville 62, Kentucky 59: Carlik Jones made two free throws with 5.1 seconds remaining for 20 points, David Johnson added 17 as visiting Louisville (6-1) held off rival Kentucky (1-6).
Because of a positive COVID test involving the Cal Poly program, UC San Diego’s games next weekend in San Luis Obispo have been canceled. Friday’s contest was to be the Tritons’ first-ever game as a member of the Big West Conference. Per conference policy, these games will not be rescheduled.
UCSD (2-0) is now scheduled to begin Big West play on Jan. 8 against CSUN in RIMAC Arena. All UCSD home games will be streamed on ESPN3.