Purdue defeats UNC at HOF
Boilermakers stay hot on offense
No. 6- ranked Purdue showed that its high-scoring offense works, no matter the level of competition.
Sasha Stefanovic scored 23 points and Jaden Ivey put up 22 to go along with his 10 rebounds as the Boilermakers beat No. 18 North Carolina, 93-84, in the first round of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off in Uncasville, Conn.
Trevion Williams added 20 points for Purdue (4-0), which has scored at least 90 points in all four of its games this season.
“I don’t think we can average 90 points,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “A lot of people across the country that have players, their offense is better than their defense right now. We’re one of those teams.”
Dawson Garcia hit 10 of his 13 shots and led North Carolina (3-1) with 26 points before fouling out. R.J. Davis and Caleb Love each added 18 points for the Tar Heels.
Purdue led, 41-35, at the half and by eight points early in the second half before the Tar Heels went on a run. A 3pointer by Davis made it 6059 and Garcia gave UNC its only lead of the game with a long 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 65-64 with about nine minutes left.
But Purdue responded with 10-0 run, going up 74-65 on a 3-point play by Ivey. UNC could not catch them again.
“I think we were resilient,” Ivey said. “There were a couple of times we could have given up and we didn’t. We just kept playing, didn’t give up and just kept playing hard.”
More Top 25
Villanova 71, Tennessee 53: Jermaine Samuels scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as No. 5 Villanova (3-1) eased to a win against No. 17 Tennessee (2-1) in the opening round of the Hall of Fame TipOff tournament in Uncasville, Conn. Collin Gillespie and Brandon Slater also scored 14 points and Justin Moore added 13 for the Wildcats.
Baylor 86, Stanford 48: LJ Cryer scored 21 points and James Akinjo had 11 points with a career high-tying 11 assists, leading host No. 9 Baylor (4-0) past visiting Stanford (3-2). A game after matching a school record with 21 steals in a 92-47 win over Central Arkansas, the Bears had nine during a 26-2 run that covered nearly 10 minutes and ended with Baylor in front 60-31.
Texas 45: Timmy Allen scored 17 points as host No. 8 Texas (3-1) defeated San Jose State (1-3). The senior transferred to Texas from Utah after averaging 17.2 points and 6.4 rebounds a game last season, receiving All-Pac-12 first-team recognition. He converted 6 of 10 field goals in 24 minutes against San Jose.
Connecticut 87, Binghamton 63: Tyrese Martin had 15 points and 11 rebounds for No. 23 Connecticut (4-0), which beat visiting Binghamton (1-3). Adama Sanogo scored 12 points for the Huskies.
79, San Jose State
Top 25 women
South Carolina 88, Buffalo 60: Junior Aliyah Boston scored 23 points and Destanni Henderson added 14 to lead unbeaten No. 1 South Carolina (4-0) past Buffalo (11) at the Battle for Atlantis in the Bahamas.
Connecticut 88, Minnesota 58: Christyn Williams was nearly unstoppable in the inaugural game of the women’s Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas. Williams scored a career-high 31 points on 12-for-14 shooting, and No. 2 Connecticut (20) beat Minnesota (3-2).
Oregon 98, Oklahome 93: Nyara Sabally scored 20 of her career high 30 points after halftime to help ninthranked Oregon (3-0) rally from 11 down and beat Oklahoma (3-1) in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
Louisville 61, Washington 53: Kianna Smith and Liz Dixon each scored 13 points for visiting No. 10 Louisville (3-1), which beat Washington (2-1).
South Florida 77, Syracuse 53: Bethy Mununga had a season high 18 points with 12 rebounds to help No. 23 South Florida (3-1) beat Syracuse (2-2) in the first round in the Bahamas.