Gonzaga remains No. 1 in men’s hoops
A light holiday schedule led to a quiet week atop the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.
Gonzaga remained at No. 1 for a second straight week, receiving 63 firstplace votes from a 65member panel in the poll released Monday. No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Kansas each had one firstplace vote, with Oregon and Ohio State rounding out the top five.
The AP Top 25 had been filled with tumult in a 201920 season of parity, with six teams moving to No. 1 before Christmas. That’s one short of the record of seven, set in 198283.
In its home game Monday, Gonzaga got 22 points from Filip Petrusev to beat Detroit Mercy 9372 to finish the nonconference season. Ryan Woolridge added 21 points and eight assists for Gonzaga (141).
» In other Top 25 games, Jared Butler scored 18 points and sixthranked Baylor (101) beat Jackson State 8357 for its ninth straight win before the start of Big 12 play. After Jackson State (310) took its only lead at 87 on a 3pointer by Miles Daniels, Baylor went on a gamedeciding 326 run in less than seven minutes . ... Lester Quinones scored 16 points, Damion
Baugh finished with 15 and No. 9 Memphis weathered a secondhalf rally and beat visiting Tulane 8473 in the teams’ American Athletic Conference opener . ... Collin Gillespie scored 16 of his gamehigh 24 points in the second half to lead No. 10 Villanova to a 6862 victory over visiting Xavier in the Big East opener for both teams. Naji Marshall had 19 points to pace Xavier (93), which was just outside of the Top 25 this week, getting 58 votes. ... Obi Toppin scored 31 points as No. 20 Dayton (112) used its frontline advantage and pulled away from North Florida (78) to win 7759.
» Christian Juzang scored five of his 17 points in overtime, including a goahead jumper, and visiting Harvard (104) beat USF 8481. Charles Minlend scored 19 points and Jimbo Lull had 17 with nine rebounds for the Dons (114).
» In the women’s basketball poll,
UConn finished off the decade where it began — No. 1 in the AP poll. The Huskies received 19 firstplace votes; No. 2 Oregon and No. 3 Oregon State each got five firstplace votes. South Carolina and Stanford round out the top five.
In the lone Top 25 game of the night, Lauren Cox had 10 points and six rebounds in her return for No. 6 Baylor, in a 9447 win over Morehead State in Waco, Texas. The preseason AP AllAmerican had missed more than seven weeks with a foot injury.
NHL: Evgeni Malkin had two goals, Jake Guentzel was hurt after scoring his 20th goal of the season and the host Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 52.
Guentzel had a threepoint night but left after scoring 6:55 into the third period. Guentzel tapped one into a partly empty net off Malkin’s feed but crashed into the wall after.
Baseball: The Diamondbacks signed outfielder Kole Calhoun to a twoyear contract worth $16 million with a club option for 2022.
Obituary: Former Utah State basketball coach and athletic director LaDell Andersen has died at 90, the school said. He also coached at BYU. He led Utah State to two Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight.