No. 3 Villanova eases by No. 18 ASU
Coming into this season, Villanova coach Jay Wright wondered who might replace Saddiq Bey as the Wildcats’ go-to player.
After two games, Wright thinks Jeremiah Robinson-Earl may have answered that question for him.
Robinson-Earl followed up an 18-point performance in the season opener with a career-high 28 points on Thursday night to lead No. 3 Villanova over No. 18 Arizona State 83-74 in the championship game of the Empire Classic.
“He wanted to be in that role last year and he just wasn’t there yet,” Wright said. “He did all the dirty work last year and he still does the dirty work. But, I think he has developed.”
The 6-foot-9 sophomore forward hit 11 of his 17 shots and pulled down eight rebounds.
Justin Moore added 16 points and 12 boards for the Wildcats (2-0), and Caleb Daniels chipped in with 14 points — 10 in the second half. Daniels spent the final eight minutes of the first half on the bench after picking up his third foul, but wasn’t whistled again. The Wildcats dictated the pace of the game and dominated on the glass, outrebounding Arizona State 43-27.
Freshman guard Josh Christopher had 28 points and Alonzo Verge Jr. scored 22 for the Sun Devils (1-1). Villanova held ASU star Remy Martin to just five first-half points on 2-of-8 shooting.
The Wildcats led by nine at halftime and took their first double-digit lead at 49-38 on a 3-pointer by Robinson-Earl that capped an 8-0 spurt in the second half.
They stretched that to 66-49 on a 3 by Daniels before ASU made a little run.
The Sun Devils cut the deficit to 70-60 on a jumper by Verge, but couldn’t come all the way back.
The game, played as part of the 11-day “Bubbleville” event in Connecticut, was close early. Villanova led just 31-29 after a 3-pointer by Martin. But the Wildcats closed the first half on a 10-3 surge over the final 51⁄ minutes to lead 41-32 at the break.
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■ Drew Timme had 28 points and 10 rebounds, Corey Kispert scored 25 points and top-ranked Gonzaga routed Auburn 90-67 on Friday in the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off. In other action from the event, Christian Braun scored 30 points and No. 6 Kansas pulled away from Saint Joseph’s, winning 94-72.
College: Ohio State football coach Ryan Day has tested positive for COVID-19 and will not coach in Saturday’s game at Illinois, according to multiple sources. Ohio State still plans to play Saturday and will fly out Saturday morning if the number of positive tests within the program does not grow. Associate head coach/defensive line coach Larry Johnson will serve as interim coach in Day’s place.
Hockey: The National Collegiate Hockey Conference has made changes to its 2020-21 schedule because of a positive COVID-19 test and quarantine requirements for the entire Colorado College team. The conference will still begin its pod season on Tuesday at the University of Nebraka Omah’s Baxter Arena. But Colorado College’s first four games have been moved. The COVID-19 case on the Colorado College team resulted in seven games being changed.
NBA: The NBA released a condensed 49-game preseason schedule Friday, with teams playing between two and four games starting on Dec. 11. Preseason contests will continue through Dec. 19. Teams begin training camps next week. The league plans to reveal the first half of the 72-game regular season schedule — meaning games to be played between Dec. 22 and March 4 — in the coming days. Games for the season’s second half, scheduled as between March 11 and May 16, will be revealed around the midpoint of the season. The Lakers will play the Clippers on the first night of the preseason.