Irish earn first win at Kentucky
Notre Dame made history Saturday.
Nate Laszewski scored 21 points as Notre Dame put Kentucky into a historic first-half deficit, and the Irish held on for their firstever victory in Lexington, beating the Wildcats 64-63.
college basketball
“We talked about growing up and getting one of these,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “And we knew as good as we were in the first half offensively, that there was going to be a run coming. And for us to hold the run off and play enough defensive to escape, I’m really proud of our group, and I think it’s something we can build on.”
Notre Dame used a 19-0 run in the first half to open a 33-9 lead and were up 48-26 at the half. It was the largest halftime deficit in a home game in Kentucky’s history.
The Wildcats got back in it with a 16-0 run and trailed by one when Isaiah Jackson’s block of a Laszewski’s 3-pointer led to a shot-clock violation with 12 seconds left. Olivier Sarr missed an open 15-footer from the right wing with a second left and Devin Askew was too late flying in from the left for a putback.
“We fumbled the ball,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “If we didn’t fumble the ball, we would have had the weak side rebound tip-in. So, we had a guy over there for a reason. It was either, you take it, you quickly get it to him, he’s going to shoot it, one of you two shoot, we’ll have weak side rebound.”
Prentis Hubb added 18 points for Notre Dame (2-3), which gave up an eightpoint halftime on lead on Tuesday in losing to No. 22 Ohio State by five points. The Irish also lost their season opener to No. 13 Michigan State by 10.
This time, Notre Dame sealed the deal.
Sarr led Kentucky (1-4) with 22 points and seven rebounds. Brandon Boston Jr., and Terrence Clarke added 14 points apiece.
No. 12 Tennessee 65, Cincinnati 56 — When the offense struggled, No. 12 Tennessee turned to its defense and found success.
The Vols, who shot just 32 percent from the field, held Cincinnati to three points in the final six minutes to pull out a victory.
John Fulkerson had 15 points and 12 rebounds, helping Tennessee pull away late. A 3-pointer by David DeJulius put Cincinnati ahead 53-51 with 6:14 left. The 6-foot-9 Fulkerson came back with four foul shots, giving the Vols (2-0) the lead for good.
Jeremiah Davenport came off the bench to lead the Bearcats (2-2) with 14 points.
No. 16 North Carolina 73, North Carolina Central 67 —
Armando Bacot had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 16 North Carolina stopped a two-game slide.
Caleb Love and Day’Ron Sharpe scored 12 points apiece for the Tar Heels (4-2), and Andrew Platek finished with 11.
N.C. Central (1-3) scored the final nine points of the game. C.J. Keyser had 19 points for the Eagles, and Justin Whatley finished with 13.
The Tar Heels missed their first 10 3-point attempts before Platek connected from the right wing on consecutive possessions for a 55-42 lead. The reserve guard then added a fastbreak layup.
The game was added to the schedule in the middle of the week. North Carolina had an opening after a matchup with Elon was shelved when Elon’s program went on a coronavirus-related pause. N.C. Central had played only once since Nov. 26, with three games canceled.
No. 17 Texas Tech 77, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 57 — Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 15 points in his return from an ankle injury and Texas Tech coach Chris Beard earned his 100th victory with the Red Raiders.
Freshman Micah Peavy and graduate transfer Marcus Santos-Silva scored 12 points apiece for the Red Raiders (6-1), who never trailed after finding themselves behind with eight minutes to go before avoiding a major upset in their previous game against Abilene Christian.
The game at the home of the Dallas Mavericks’ G League team was the second neutral-site meeting in the Dallas area in two weeks for the Red Raiders. They lost to No. 7 Houston 64-53 in a Top 25 matchup in Fort Worth. It was Texas Tech’s final tune-up before its Big 12 opener against No. 5 Kansas on Thursday.
Nolan Bertain scored 12 points and Simeon Fryer added 10 for the Islanders (1-5), who lost their fifth straight.
No. 20 Florida State 83, Florida 71 — Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton told assistants and administrators that Florida could decide whether to continue after standout forward Keyontae Johnson collapsed and was rushed to a nearby hospital.
Coach Mike White let his players make the call — not once, but twice. With tears in their eyes and their teammate’s condition uncertain, the Gators wanted to play.
They were obviously and understandably distracted the rest of the way.
Highly touted freshman Scottie Barnes scored 17 points and Florida State extended its dominance against the Gators that came after Florida suddenly lost its best player.
Johnson, the Southeastern Conference’s preseason player of the year, was taken off the floor on a stretcher in the opening minutes and transported to Tallahassee Memorial for evaluation. Florida officials said he was in critical but stable condition and would remain there overnight.
Johnson, a junior from Norfolk, Virginia, had just dunked in transition a couple of minutes before he crumpled to the hardwood as the team broke its huddle.
The Gators were emotional wrecks as they watched the situation unfold, and a couple of them buried their faces in towels as White gathered his team in prayer.
Several Seminoles were in tears as well and took a knee to do the same.
Officials gave both teams extra time to regroup before restarting. The Gators weren’t the same afterward.
Florida (3-1) was ahead 11-3 following Johnson’s dunk. The Seminoles (3-0) scored the next seven points and pulled away from there.
Florida Gulf Coast 66, Miami 62 — Caleb Catto scored 18 points, Dakota Rivers 15 and each hit key baskets as Florida Gulf Coast upset injuryplagued Miami.
Catto and Rivers combined on nine 3-pointers as FGCU (3-1) poured in 13.
Miami (3-1) lost guard Kameron McGusty and center Rodney Miller Jr. to leg injuries early in the game, leaving the Hurricanes with six healthy scholarship players.
Pitt 67, Gardner-Webb 50 — Justin Champagnie scored 24 points and set career highs with 21 rebounds and five assists to help Pittsburgh win its fourth straight.
Champagnie is the 11th player in program history to have at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in a game for the Panthers (4-1) and the first to do it in back-to-back games. He had 20 points and 20 rebounds in a 71-70 win over Northwestern on Wednesday.
Gardner-Webb missed its first 18 shots from the field and was scoreless until Anthony Selden’s 3-pointer with 7:43 left in the half cut the Panthers’ lead to 14-3. The Bulldogs (0-2) closed within 25-18 before the end of the period but got no closer in the second half.
Women
No. 3 UConn 79, UMass Lowell 23 — Freshman Paige Bueckers scored 17 points in her UConn debut.
Bueckers, last year’s national high school player of the year, also had nine rebounds, five assists and five steals.
Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 12 points and nine rebounds for UConn. Christyn Williams added 10 points and seven boards.
Denise Solis finished with 11 points for UMass-Lowell (0-2), which was held to to just five baskets on 32 shots (16%).