Self bests Pitino in 1st meeting
No. 4 Kansas 96, Iona 83: Christian Braun had 20 points and seven rebounds, Ochai Agbaji added 17 points, and Kansas (5-1) beat Iona (6-2) on Sunday in the first meeting between Hall of Fame coaches Bill Self and Rick Pitino in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
David McCormack scored 13 points for Kansas. 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 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.
No. 7 Villanova 72, La Salle 46: Collin Gillespie scored 13 points in a balanced team effort, and visiting Villanova beat La Salle.
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.
The Wildcats dominated in the first half, jumping out to a 9-0 lead as the Explorers missed their first six shots and committed a pair of turnovers.
No. 10 Alabama 96, Miami 64: Keon Ellis had 22 points, Jaden Shackelford contributed 15 and Alabama defeated Miami in the fifth-place game at the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando.
Alabama (6-1), which also got 13 points each from JD Davison and Juwan Gary, found itself in the consolation bracket after losing its tournament opener to coach Rick Pitino’s Iona team. Davison added 10 assists.
Kameron McGusty had 21 points and 10 rebounds for Miami (4-3), and Isaiah Wong scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half.
No. 13 Arkansas 76, Pennsylvania 60: JD Notae scored 28 points and host Arkansas handled Pennsylvania.
Stanley Umude had 19 points and Au’Diese Toney scored 12 for the Razorbacks (6-0). They combined with Notae to score 32 of the team’s 37 points in the first half as Arkansas built an 11-point lead.
Clark Slajchert led Penn (3-6) with 25 points and Lucas Monroe had 14. Max Martz had 13 rebounds but was held to four points on 2-of-10 shooting.
No. 21 Seton Hall 84, BethuneCookman 70: Jared Rhoden scored 18 points, Alexis Yetna had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and host Seton Hall (5-1) pulled away in the second half for a win over Bethune-Cookman (1-6).
Bethune-Cookman had a 34-33 lead
at halftime, but Rhoden’s jumper a minute into the second half gave Seton Hall the lead for good and started a 9-0 run. The Pirates stretched their advantage to as much as 23 points.
Joe French scored 28 points for the Wildcats, and Marcus Garrett and Tyrese Samuel each scored 11.
No. 23 Florida 84, Troy 45: Myreon Jones and Tyree Appleby scored 12 points apiece, and host Florida (6-0) remained unbeaten with a victory over
Troy (4-3).
Florida scored the first 13 points of the game and never relinquished its double-digit lead. Freshman Kowacie Reeves connected on a turnaround jumper at the first-half buzzer to give the Gators a 49-20 advantage, their largest of the game.
Florida leading scorer Colin Castleton finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks.