COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP
No. 4 Kansas 96, Iona 83: Christian Braun had 20 points and seven rebounds, Ochai Agbaji added 17 points, and Kansas (5-1) beat Iona (6-2) on Sunday in the first meeting between Hall of Fame coaches Bill Self and Rick Pitino in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
David McCormack scored 13 points for Kansas. The Jayhawks were was coming off their first loss of the season, 74-73 to Dayton on a buzzer-beater in an ESPN Events Invitational semifinal on Friday.
Beating Pitino’s Iona team, which opened the tournament with a win over No. 10 Alabama, was enough to salvage third place in the tournament for Self ’s Jayhawks.
Iona got 14 points apiece from Tyson Jolly and Ryan Myers. The Gaels also lost for the first time Friday, dropping a 72-65 decision to Belmont.
Both teams had five players score in double figures.
Unlike its first two games in the invitational, Kansas built a double-digit first-half advantage and held onto it, taking a 46-31 lead at the break behind 13 points from Braun.
Agbaji had a dunk and Braun made a 3 during an 8-0 surge that made it 64-43 with 11 minutes left. Another long-range jumper by Braun gave Kansas a 75-52 lead 31⁄2 minutes later.
No. 21 Seton Hall 84, Bethune-Cookman 70: Jared Rhoden scored 18 points, Alexis Yetna had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and host Seton Hall (5-1) pulled away in the second half for a win over Bethune-Cookman (1-6).
Bethune-Cookman had a 34-33 lead at halftime, but Rhoden’s jumper a minute into the second half gave Seton Hall the lead for good and started a 9-0 run. The Pirates stretched their advantage to as much as 23 points.
No. 23 Florida 84, Troy 45: Myreon Jones and Tyree Appleby scored 12 points apiece, and host Florida (6-0) remained unbeaten with a victory over Troy (4-3).
Florida scored the first 13 points of the game and never relinquished its double-digit lead. Freshman Kowacie Reeves connected on a turnaround jumper at the first-half buzzer to give the Gators a 49-20 advantage, their largest of the game.
Florida leading scorer (and ex-Wolverine) Colin Castleton finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks.