No. 2 Purdue takes down Florida State
No. 2 Purdue 93, Florida State 65: Jaden Ivey scored 18 points and matched his career high with four 3pointers, Brandon Newman added 13 points, and host Purdue pulled away from Florida State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Tuesday night.
The Boilermakers have won seven straight home games in the annual clash between the conferences. They’re also 7-0 for the first time since 2015-16 and the seventh time since 1940.
Florida State (5-2) was led by Caleb Mills with 22 points and John Butler with 10 as its four-game winning streak ended. The Seminoles had won four of their previous five in the Challenge.
One day after earning their highest ranking since March 1988, the Boilermakers played like they weren’t satisfied with being considered the secondbest team in the nation. They believe they’re the best.
It was hard to argue against them on Tuesday.
Purdue took control with an early 6-0 run, later scored eight straight to make it 27-14 midway through the first half and headed to the locker room with a 48-32 advantage.
Florida State slashed the deficit to 59-51 with 11:43 left, but the Boilermakers answered with 12 straight points to make it 71-51 and continued pulling away over the final 81⁄2 minutes.
No. 13 Tennessee 86, Presbyterian 44: Kennedy Chandler and Justin Powell scored 15 points apiece to lead host Tennessee to a victory over Presbyterian.
Chandler, a freshman guard, had seven assists and seven steals. Powell, a transfer from Auburn, came off the bench to hit all five of his 3-point attempts.
Victor Bailey added 14 points and Santiago Vescovi had 13 for the Volunteers (5-1).
Kobe Stewart and Winston Hill led Presbyterian (5-3) with nine points each.
Tennessee held Presbyterian scoreless for the final 4:53 of the first half. During that stretch, the Vols scored 17 straight points, leading 45-21 at the break. Tennessee went 9 for 14 (64.3%) on 3-pointers in the first half.
No. 17 UConn 72, Maryalnd-Eastern Shore 63: R.J. Cole scored 25 points and host UConn survived a challenge from Maryland-Eastern Shore.
Tyler Polley added 14 points for the Huskies (7-1), who jumped five spots in the AP Top 25 after a third-place showing over the holiday weekend in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
UConn was sluggish for much of the night against UMES, which entered as a 33-point underdog, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
The Huskies led 39-31 at halftime, but didn’t score for the first 4 minutes of the second half and saw their lead cut to 42-41 on a 3-pointer by Da’Shawn Phillip.
That was as close as the Hawks (2-5) got.