Duke rebounds and survives scare
Tre Jones scored a career-high 31 points and No. 2 Duke pulled away to beat pesky Georgia State 74-63 on Friday night.
Freshman Vernon Carey Jr. added season highs of 20 points and 14 rebounds and Jack White finished with 10 rebounds.
Duke (4-0) overcame its season-worst 34.2% shooting by outrebounding the Panthers 58-32, and the school says its 30 offensive rebounds were the most in coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 40 seasons.
“I feel like if I rebound, the points will just come,” Carey said.
And yet, three nights after top-ranked Kentucky was upset at home by Evansville, the Blue Devils were on upset alert against an unintimidated mid-major for longer than expected before they scratched out a sloppy victory, their 150th in a row at Cameron Indoor Stadium against nonconference opponents.
“Probably at halftime, I feel like maybe we were just like, ‘What if that happens to us?’ ” Carey said.
It was tied at 40 with less than 17 minutes to play, before Jones scored 10 points during a 13-0 run.
at No. 21 Xavier 59, Missouri State 56: Paul Scruggs scored 14 points and made a layup with 11.6 seconds left, helping the Musketeers (4-0) hold off the Bears, who are picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference.
at No. 5 Kansas 112, Monmouth 57: Isaiah Moss had 21 points to lead six Jayhawks in double figures against an undersized and outclassed MEAC opponent.
at No. 6 North Carolina 77, Gardner-Webb 61: Freshman Cole Anthony had 28 points to help the Tar Heels pull away after leading by only three at halftime.
No. 8 Gonzaga 79, at Texas A&M 49: After missing 12 of their first 15 shots, the Bulldogs scored 20 straight points from about 11 minutes remaining in the first half until a little more than two minutes before halftime.
at No. 17 Utah State 81, North Carolina A&T 54: Alphonso Anderson had 21 points, and Justin Bean added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Aggies.
at No. 24 Baylor 72, Texas State 63: The Bears began the second half on a 20-4 run.