Duke slogs past Tennessee State

Luke Kennard scored 24 points as No. 5 Duke finally solved Tennessee State 6555 on Monday night to win its 132nd consecutive nonconference home game.

Freshman forward Jayson Tatum added 14 points and Grayson Allen finished with 12 for the Blue Devils (11-1), who plodded through 30 mostly sluggish minutes before pulling away from the pesky Tigers (8-3).

Tennessee State led 36-34 on Wayne Martin’s jumper with 15 minutes left. Duke countered with a 25-3 run highlighted by five 3-pointers — including two by Kennard on consecutive possessions after he was left completely unguarded — to take a 59-39 lead.

Florida State continues roll: Florida State will enter Atlantic Coast Conference play coming off one of the best starts in school history.

The 21st-ranked Seminoles got a career-high 19 points from Terance Mann as they took control in the second half for a 76-68 victory over visiting Samford.

Florida State has won eight straight and is 12-1 for only the third time, matching the 1988-89 and 200809 squads.

Even though the Seminoles are ranked and off to a strong start, Mann said that might not mean a lot in a couple months unless they can play well in the conference.

“You can’t make the tournament winning 12 games. We know we have to keep winning,” Mann said. “We haven’t done anything really in five years. We just got to keep getting better and prove to the world that we’re here and we’re good.”

Villanova still tops poll: Villanova held on to its impressive lead as the No. 1 team in The Associated Press poll.

The Wildcats (11-0) are on top for a third straight week, receiving 56 firstplace votes from the 65member national media panel.

UCLA remained ranked second with three No. 1 votes. Kansas, Baylor (which got the other six first-place votes), Duke and Kentucky remained third through sixth.

Butler’s 83-78 victory over Indiana on Saturday gave the Bulldogs the week’s biggest jump, from 18th to 13th.