Kentucky froshes debut with win
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Julius Randle scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half to lead five Kentucky players in double figures and help the top-ranked Wildcats’ highly touted freshman class debut successfully with an 89-57 season-opening rout of UNC-Asheville on Friday night.
Randle, a 6-foot-9 forward considered the best of Kentucky’s six high school All-American recruits in an eight-man group some are calling the best ever, also grabbed 15 rebounds.
Reserve sophomore forward Alex Poythress added 10 points and 13 rebounds. Reserve Marcus Lee added 17 points, James Young had 11 and Aaron Harrison 10.
Will Weeks’ 19 points led UNC-Asheville.
In another SEC/Top 25 game Friday, Casey Prather scored a career-high 28 points, Michael Frazier II added 19 and No. 10 Florida opened the season with a 77-69 victory over North Florida at Gainesville.
In other Top 25 games Friday, Gary Harris scored 15 of his 20 points in the first half and finished with a career-high 10 rebounds, helping No. 2 Michigan
State build a big lead at halftime and go on to rout McNeese State 98-56. … Andrew Wiggins scored 16 points in his highly anticipated debut, leading No. 5
Kansas to a sluggish 80-63 victory over
Louisiana-Monroe at Lawrence, Kan. ... Jabari Parker scored 22 points in his debut for No. 4 Duke, and the Blue Devils routed Davidson 111-77 in their opener. … Glenn Robinson III scored 15 points and No. 7 Michigan pulled away in the second half to beat Division I newcomer
UMass-Lowell 69-42. … Trevor Cooney had seven 3-pointers and 27 points, both career highs, and No. 8 Syracuse beat pesky Cornell 82-60 in the season opener for both teams. ... Le’Bryan Nash had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead five scorers in double figures for No. 8 Oklahoma State as the Cowboys opened their season with a 117-62 rout of Mississippi
Valley State at Stillwater, Okla. ... J.P. Tokoto scored a career-high 13 points in his first start, helping No. 12 North
Carolina beat Oakland 84-61 at Chapel Hill despite missing two key players. … Juvonte Reddic had 13 points and eight rebounds and No. 14 VCU used a 33-7 first-half run to take command on its way to a 96-58 victory over Illinois State in the season opener for both teams. ... Davante Gardner scored 25 points to help No. 17 Marquette beat Southern 63-56 at Milwaukee. … Shabazz Napier scored 18 points, Niels Giffey had 13 and No. 18 Connecticut survived Maryland’s second-half surge in a 78-77 victory. ... Joseph Young had 24 points and five rebounds as No. 19 Oregon beat Georgetown 82-75 in a season opener played at Camp Humphreys, a U.S. Army base south of Seoul, South Korea. … Josh Gasser, who missed last season with a knee injury, scored 19 points and No. 20
Wisconsin opened the season with an 86-75 victory over St. John’s. … Jerian Grant scored a career-high 26 points to lead No. 21 Notre Dame to a 74-62 victory over Miami (Ohio) in the season opener for both squads. … Anthony Gill scored 13 points in his Virginia debut and the 24th-ranked Cavaliers held
James Madison scoreless for nearly 7 minutes in the first half on the way to a 61-41 victory.