UMass rolls in Vegas
UMass drilled a seasonhigh 15 3-pointers, one shy of a school record, during a fast start and hot shooting performance in an 84-62 win over Southern Illinois yesterday in the Las Vegas Holiday Invitational. “I thought we had tremendous energy to start the game. Yesterday I thought we had our best practice of the year and that carried over — our guys were fired up from the beginning,” UMass coach Matt McCall said. “Our energy level was great to start the game and a lot of that came from our defense. UMass (4-2) will play No. 6 Nevada in tonight’s championship game. While Luwane Pipkins (15 points), Carl Pierre (14 points) and Curtis Cobb (11 points) did their damage from outside the arc, Rashaan Holloway controlled the interior for much of the game. Holloway was 7-for-7 from the field for 16 points while adding five rebounds. Pipkins also had five rebounds and six assists. Jonathan Laurent notched a team-high eight rebounds while scoring nine points. “We made a lot of 3s, which this team is capable of, but it started on the defensive end of the floor,” McCall said. “Rashaan’s defensive presence today was the best I’ve seen in the last two years. He was unbelievable and I was really proud of him.” The Minutemen opened the game with a 16-2 run by way of 4-of-7 shooting from downtown. That lead grew as large as 39-19 with 3:11 in the first half and UMass closed out the strong opening stanza with 10 total 3-pointers. Following the intermission, UMass grew its lead to 35 points with 12:46 to go and cruised down the stretch.
Nevada still perfect
Jordan Caroline had 25 points and 11 rebounds and Nevada beat Tulsa, 96-86. Caleb Martin added 21 points for the Wolf Pack (5-0), making all 10 of his free throws. Jazz Johnson had 20 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range . ... Kerwin Roach II had a career-high 32 points with seven assists and six steals to lead Texas (5-0) over No. 7 North Carolina, 92-89, in the Las Vegas Invitational. Roach also had six rebounds and was 12-of-15 from the field, including 3 of 3 from deep. The senior topped his previous best of 26 points with an emphatic dunk with 8:27 left for a 7365 lead. De’Andre Hunter matched his career high with 23 points to help fourth-ranked Virginia hold off Dayton, 6659, in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals in Paradise Island, Bahamas . ... Emmitt Williams had 14 points and nine rebounds, and No. 19 LSU beat College of Charleston, 67-55, to reach the AdvoCare Invitational semifinals in lake Buena Vista, Fla . ... D’Mitrik Trice hit seven 3-pointers in Wisconsin’s 7858 victory over Oklahoma. That broke the previous single-game record of six, first set by UConn’s Shabazz Napier in the inaugural event in November 2011.
Tee off in Hong Kong
The 2019 European Tour got under way with Aaron Rai, Jason Scrivener and Yusaku Miyazato shooting 5-under 65s to share the lead after the first round of the Hong Kong Open. They already were 10 strokes ahead of Masters champion Patrick Reed, who made four bogeys and a double bogey in a 75 — a week after contending at the World Tour Championship in Dubai. Tommy Fleetwood missed out on a second straight Race to Dubai title last week and he began his latest bid to become Europe’s No. 1 by shooting 69. Sergio Garcia shot 70.
Shootout proposal
World soccer’s rule-making panel wants to give goalkeepers more freedom to move when facing a penalty. Currently, the Laws of the Game state goalkeepers “must remain on the goal line ... until the ball has been kicked.” The panel, known as IFAB, proposed that goalkeepers should need “only one foot on the goal line when a penalty is taken.” This would allow ‘keepers to begin moving forward earlier without risking referees ordering the kick to be retaken if they make a save . ... Senegal forward Sadio Mane agreed a new long-term contract with Liverpool.