Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
No. 15 Florida falls to UConn 62-59 on the road
UCONN 62, NO. 15 FLORIDA 59
STORRS, Conn. — Christian Vital scored 15 points and made a key steal at the end of the game as UConn upset No. 15 Florida 62-59 on Sunday.
Tyler Polley also scored 15 points and Josh Carlton added 13 for the Huskies (21) who led by five points at halftime and never trailed after intermission.
A layup by Florida’s Keyontae Johnson with just over a minute to go cut the lead to 60-59, but those would be the last points the Gators scored.
Vital hit two free throws with 17 seconds left and Florida had a chance to tie. But Alterique Gilbert tipped the ball out of Johnson’s hands and Vital grabbed it and dribbled away, securing the win.
Kerry Blackshear Jr. had 15 points and eight rebounds for Florida (2-2), falling two boards shy of a fourth straight double-double. But he fouled out with 4:37 left in the game and his team trailing 53-49.
Andrew Nembhard scored Florida’s next four points, including a 3-pointer that brought the Gators within a point at 54-53.
Blackshear scored the game’s first two baskets, but the Gators made just four of their first 13 attempts from the floor.
But UConn had a tougher start, going without a basket for the first six minutes.
Vital got the UConn crowd into the game with a 3-pointer, a dunk and a jumper on consecutive trips down the court that gave the Huskies an 11-6 lead.
The Huskies held Florida to two Blackshear free throws over the final 4:17 of the first half and led 25-20 at halftime.
NO. 19 ARIZONA 83, NEW MEXICO STATE 53
TUCSON, Ariz. — Arizona big man Zeke Nnaji is starting to get noticed around campus, coffee shops, almost everywhere he goes in Tucson.
The rest of the college basketball world is paying attention now, too. Not bad for a player who didn’t get the same acclaim as freshman teammates Nico Mannion and Josh Green.
Zeke Nnaji did not miss a shot for the second straight game while scoring 19 points, Jemarl Baker added 16 points and No. 19 Arizona rolled over depleted New Mexico State.
“Zeke’s off to a really good start,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “You didn’t hear his name as much maybe before the year as some of the other guys we have here, but for a four-star recruit, he’s doing exceptionally well.”
Arizona (4-0) took advantage of the short-handed Aggies (2-2) from the start, scoring the game’s first 10 points and using another big run to lead by 22 at halftime.
The Wildcats were at their free-flowing offensive best, shooting 53%, and shut down a New Mexico State team missing three key players.
“Even people who are playing have injuries,” said New Mexico State’s Trevelin Queen, who had 12 points. “Even when we’re full strength, we’re still going to face adversity, but I feel like we’re stronger when everyone is healthy, but we can’t do anything about it.”
Baker provided Arizona with a nice lift off the bench with his confident shooting and Mannion added 15 points.
Nnaji dominated the first half before New Mexico State started collapsing on him in the second.
The 6-foot-11 freshman made all seven of his shots after going 8 for 8 against San Jose State and is 32 for 38 in four games this season. He’s made 17 straight shots, dating to the second half of last Sunday’s game against Illinois.
“I always have confidence whenever I shoot the ball,” Nnaji said. “I wouldn’t shoot it if I didn’t have confidence in it and it’s shot that I work on in practice.”
Outside of a Dec. 14 game against No. 8 Gonzaga, Sunday’s game against the Aggies was expected to be the Wildcats’ biggest remaining test before the Pac-12 season starts.
One problem: New Mexico State came to the desert short-handed.
The Aggies were without point guard A.J. Harris (finger), guard Clayton Henry (thumb) and big man Wilfried Lakayi (knee). Terrell Brown also has been struggling with a strained hip flexor and Rice suffered a sprained left wrist against Southern on Thursday.
NO. 4 LOUISVILLE 87, N.C. CENTRAL 58
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jordan Nwora scored 17 points and No. 4 Louisville cruised past North Carolina Central.
The Cardinals (4-0) once again had the hot hand on offense. They entered the game ninth in the country in shooting at 54.1%, and they shot 66.7% against the Eagles. It marked the fifth time in the past decade Louisville shot better than 60 percent from the floor, and was its best shooting effort since making 65.2% in an 80-68 victory at Pittsburgh on Jan. 25, 2015.
Nwora needed only 21 minutes to do his damage as coach Chris Mack had a chance to play 11 players in the blowout. Steven Enoch made 7-of-9 shots to add 15 points. Dwayne Sutton scored 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, and Darius Perry was perfect on four shots for 10 points and seven assists.
Louisville never trailed in the contest and used a 19-4 run over the last 5:41 of the first half to pull away. Enoch and Sutton both scored 10 in the half as Louisville led 43-19 at halftime.
The Eagles (1-3) shot just 28.6% in the first half, missing 10 of the final 12 shots in the half as Louisville pulled away. N.C. Central never got closer than 17 points in the second half.
Randy Miller Jr. led NCCU with 15 points
NO. 12 SETON HALL 83, SAINT LOUIS 66
ST. LOUIS — Myles Powell came out with a point to prove.
The Seton Hall guard did it in a big way.
Powell scored 26 points, Sandro Mamukelashvili added 17 and the No. 12 Pirates rolled to a victory over Saint Louis.
Quincy McKnight added 12 points to help Seton Hall (3-1) rebound from a 76-73 loss to No.3 Michigan State on Thursday night.
“We wanted to come out and send a message across the country that the team everyone saw Thursday that almost beat one of the best teams around wasn’t a fluke,” Powell said. “We felt like we should have won that game, but we didn’t. So today was time to make a statement.”
Mamukelashvili agreed, “We took that loss personally. They’re a great team, but we have so much talent too.”
Hasahn Frnech led Saint Louis with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Seton Hall scored the first 10 points and led 18-3 after 7:09. The Pirates made seven straight shots during the early blitz.
“I loved our intensity for the first eight or nine minutes of the game,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. “Every night we’re going to come in and we’re going to battle.”
Mamukelashvilli, who grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, said the Pirates were fired up after Saint Louis beat them 66-64 on their own court last season. Plus, he enjoyed the energy provided by the sell-out crowd in St. Louis.
“We didn’t want to lose to them again,” he said. “And we knew they’d be ready with a big crowd and lots of energy. We had to take it away right from the start.”
NO. 14 OREGON 67, TEXAS ARLINGTON 47
EUGENE, Ore. — Payton Pritchard scored 24 points to lead Oregon in a ragged victory.
The senior guard also led the Ducks (4-0) with eight rebounds and three assists.
Jordan Phillips led the Mavericks (2-2) with 14 points. They shot 23.4% from the field.
Oregon scored 13 consecutive points midway through the first half to take a 29-16 lead and built that margin to 37-21 before the Mavericks scored the final seven points of the half to pull to 37-28.
Pritchard had 11 of his points in the opening 20 minutes.
NO. 18 SAINT MARY’S 79, CAL POLY 48
MORAGA, Calif. — Jordan Ford scored 21 points, Malik Fitts added 12 and No. 18 Saint Mary’s beat Cal Poly 79-48 on Sunday night.
Saint Mary’s (3-1) extended its winning streak over the Mustangs to six games. They Gaels haven’t lost to Cal Poly since Nov. 26, 2006.
Tuukka Jaakkola scored 13 points to lead Cal Poly (1-3).