Ramey, No. 17 Texas take down Davidson
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Courtney Ramey and No. 17 Texas offered a glimpse Monday of the Longhorns’ potential depth to start the relocated Maui Invitational. Coach Shaka Smart wants to see the defense look a little sharper, too.
Ramey hit the go-ahead driving score with 20 seconds left and the Longhorns survived a pair of final-possession Davidson shots for the win to beat the Wildcats 78-76 in Monday’s tournament opener.
Texas (2-0) shot 48% and led nearly the entire second half, yet missed too many free throws and struggled to get stops as Davidson (1-1) shot nearly 57% for the game. “We’ve got a long way to go defensively with our guys and 1-on-1 defense,” Smart said. “I think as a team they know that. But certainly learned about our guys’ resolve. They showed good resolve.”
Ramey’s score broke a 76-all tie, then the Longhorns came up with a pair of stops. Davidson’s Sam Mennenga missed a contested 3-pointer from the wing, but the Wildcats got another shot when the ball went out of bounds with 3.8 seconds left.
The Wildcats inbounded again to Mennenga, who missed a final 3 for the win with Texas’ Andrew Jones closely defending him. Mennenga turned toward a nearby official at the horn, while Davidson coach Bob McKillop also walked onto the court with arms extended to address officials briefly.
Ramey scored 14 points to lead the Longhorns, who had six players in double figures. Mennenga, a 6-foot-9 redshirt freshman from New Zealand, had 17 points and five rebounds to lead Davidson.
No. 14 North Carolina 78, UNLV 51
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Freshman RJ Davis scored 16 points and No. 14 North Carolina overcame an ugly start to beat UNLV 78-51 on Monday night in the first round of the relocated Maui Invitational.
Garrison Brooks added 14 points and surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career in the first half for the Tar Heels (2-0), who fell behind 13-0 and didn’t score for the first 61/2 minutes. But UNC gradually closed the gap, then had a 28-4 run spanning halftime to build its own big lead on the way to a rout.
The Tar Heels got a big contribution from senior reserve Andrew Platek, who had 11 points and hit a pair of first-half 3-pointers as UNC sputtered out of the tipoff.
Bryce Hamilton scored 15 points for the Runnin’ Rebels (0-2), who went from hitting everything to missing everything as the Tar Heels took over. After that 5-for-5 start, UNLV made just 13 of 57 shots (22.8%) the rest of the way, while the Tar Heels snagged seemingly every errant shot to finish with a 54-35 rebounding advantage.
UNLV led 27-22 on Caleb Grill’s 3pointer with 4:56 left before halftime, but managed only one basket over the next 91/2 minutes – including an 0for-10 start to the second half as the Tar Heels turned a 37-30 halftime lead into a 50-31 margin on Davis’ 3 with 15:29 left.
The tournament is being played in the North Carolina mountains instead of its traditional Hawaii setting due to the coronavirus pandemic.