UCLA tops Cougars behind Holiday’s 33
Aaron Holiday scored a career-high 33 points to lead host UCLA to a 96-82 victory over Washington State on Friday night in the Pac-12 opener for both teams.
Holiday made 11 of 18 shots, including all five of his threepoint attempts in recording his fifth 20-point game of the season as the Bruins won their third straight.
The junior guard surpassed the 1,000-point plateau in his career when he drilled a threepointer at the 7:45 mark of the opening half, giving the Bruins a 27-22 lead. Holiday becomes the 55th player in UCLA history to reach 1,000 points.
Teammate Thomas Welsh became the 56th after hitting a free throw with 3:16 left in the game.
Washington State sophomore Carter Skaggs drilled his fourth three-pointer of the second half to cut the lead to 64-62 with 9:34 to play. The Bruins countered by scoring on six of the next seven possessions and took an 80-68 lead on a layup by Jaylen Hands to seal the win.
Hands finished with 19 points, Kris Wilkes had 14 points, and Welsh had 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Bruins (10-3). Robert Franks scored 20 points and Skaggs finished with 17 for the Cougars (8-5).
Other Pac-12 openers: Noah Dickerson scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Washington (11-3) to its first Pac-12 road win in almost two years, an 88-81 decision over USC (9-5) . ... Justin Bibbins scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half to lead Utah (9-3) to a 66-56 victory at Oregon, snapping a nine-game losing streak against the Ducks (10-4) . ... Stephen Thompson Jr. scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half, and host Oregon State (9-4) cruised to a 76-57 win over Colorado (8-5). Tres Tinkle had 23 points, six assists and three steals, and Ethan Thompson added 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Beavers.
#2 Michigan State 111, Cleveland State 61: Nick Ward had 22 points and 14 rebounds as the host Spartans (13-1) scored more than 100 points for the third straight game. The Spartans led 63-25 at halftime after shooting 74 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
#7 West Virginia 85, Oklahoma State 79: Teddy Allen scored 15 points to lead six Mountaineers in double figures in the Big 12 opener for both teams. Visiting West Virginia (12-1) trailed by seven early in the second half, but won its 12th straight. #11 Kansas 92, Texas 86: Devonte’ Graham had 23 points and eight assists as the visiting Jayhawks (11-2) won their conference opener for the 27th consecutive season. Freshman Mohamed Bamba led the Longhorns with 22 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocks. #16 Kentucky 90, Louisville 61: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points as the host Wildcats (10-2) won the annual matchup for Bluegrass State supremacy in their biggest series win since a 76-46 rout in the 1999-2000 season. #22 Texas Tech 77, #18 Baylor 53: Keenan Evans scored 18 points, and the host Red Raiders (12-1) won the Big 12 opener for both teams. Mark Vital scored 12 points for the Bears (10-3).