Trailing by 19 points after nine minutes, the 11th-ranked Michigan State Spartans settled down and then roared from behind to beat the Texas Longhorns 78-68 Friday to win the championship in the Las Vegas Invitational.
Guards Joshua Langford and Cassius Winston led the comeback with a remarkable perimeter shooting display.
Langford scored 29 points and Winston added 20 points and 10 assists.
Combined, the two hit nine three-point baskets. The Spartans (5-1) erased what had been a 25-6 deficit.
The Longhorns (5-1) shot 34.4 percent from the field a night after they hit 52 percent in upsetting the seventh-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels.
UT guard Kerwin Roach II, who scored 32 on North Carolina, was held to 15 and 4 of 14 shooting. Forward Dylan Osetkowski and point guard Matt Coleman III had 13 points.
Guard Kerwin Roach soared for slams. He glided inside for floaters. He sank rainbow jumpers.
He did a little bit of everything in scoring a career-high 32 points as the unranked Texas Longhorns stunned No. 7 North Carolina, 92-89, Thursday night in Las Vegas.
“Happy Thanksgiving, Longhorn nation,” Roach told the FoxSports1 television audience. “This is for ya’ll.”
In defeating one of the blue-blood programs in college basketball, the Longhorns offset a team rebounding disadvantage (43-32) with season-high shooting of 52.5 percent from the field.
Texas also forced 17 North Carolina turnovers and turned them into 31 points.
Several players had key roles, including Matt Coleman III, Dylan Osetkowski and Jaxson Hayes, but Roach served as the maestro in orchestrating the Longhorns’ biggest victory of the season.
Roach filled up the boxscore with seven assists, six rebounds and four steals.
Furthermore, he shot 12 of 15 from the field to meet the challenge of negating a standout performance by North Carolina freshman guard Coby White, who scored 33.
North Carolina charged to a 17-4 lead, but Texas would not back down.
“We just stayed resilient,” Roach said on the FS1 broadcast. “We stayed within each other. We just played our game, and it came to us. We didn’t force anything. We played great defense and we played great offense.”
As a result, the Longhorns rallied to take a one-point lead at halftime and then extended it to 11 points in the second half.
The Tar Heels rallied to within two twice down the stretch, the last time when Nassir Little hit a three-pointer with four seconds left.
On the next possession, Longhorns guard Jase Febres was fouled and hit one of two free throws to account for the final score.
Texas deflected the ensuing inbounds pass on the last play, denying North Carolina a shot as the clocked ticked to 0:00.
Records
Texas 5-0
North Carolina 5-1
Coming up
Texas vs. Michigan State, at Las Vegas, 5:30 p.m.
Quotable
“(Roach) gave us everything he had tonight. At the four-minute media (timeout) I turned to our strength coach and said, ‘I hope he’s got four minutes left.’ Because he did look winded. But he’s really fought, battled, got himself in unbelievable shape. Obviously he was everything for us in terms of creating offense.” — Texas coach Shaka Smart. (Interview with FS1)
Notable
In the past 15 seasons under coach Roy Williams, North Carolina has won three national titles. The Tar Heels’ last championship came in 2017. They were knocked out in the round of 32 last year by Texas A&M. In three seasons under Smart, Texas has reached the NCAA tournament twice but hasn’t won an NCAA game. The Longhorns, despite what was then a career-best 26 points from Roach, were ousted by Nevada in the first round last year.
Northern Colorado guard Jordan Davis arrived at the McDermott Center Wednesday night billed as one of the top offensive threats in the Big Sky Conference.
Davis more than lived up to the hype with an all-around performance that lifted the Bears to a 90-64 victory over the Incarnate Word Cardinals.
With a quick first step, the nation’s 10th leading scorer made it tough on the Cardinals all night.
Not only did he produce 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting, he also grabbed five rebounds, passed for five assists and made four steals.
His drive and dunk over UIW’s Augustine Ene with four minutes remaining left a bystander behind the basket aghast, as he exclaimed, “Man, that was sick.”
(See video above).
Another Bears’ guard, Jonah Radebaugh, also hurt UIW with 20 points. Radebaugh nailed 5 of 6 three-point baskets.
Davis, 6-2, from Las Vegas, came in averaging 24.5 points.
“He’s really, really tough, really physical,” UIW coach Carson Cunningham said. “We knew he was a lot to deal with. I think he had 32 (points) on Pepperdine. We felt like he was going to present a major challenge for us. So we’re just going to keep battling.”
Davis seemed to turn up his intensity a few notches near the end of the game.
In a sequence of plays that lasted 71 seconds on clock, he drove down the lane for a layup (see video above), assisted on a layup for teammate Jalen Sanders and then threw down the dunk of the night.
“I definitely enjoy playing this pace, and making plays for my teammates,” Davis told The JB Replay. “I thought my teammates did a wonderful job of spacing the floor with screens and just getting me open.”
Records
Northern Colorado: 3-0
Incarnate Word: 4-4
UIW forward Christian Peevy drives to the basket for a field goal late in the first half Wednesday night.
Shooting a high percentage from the field, Northern Colorado surged into a 49-31 halftime lead.
The Bears opened on a 14-3 run in the first five minutes of the game. After UIW responded with a streak to trim the lead to 19-13, Northern Colorado surged again, scoring 13 of the next 16 points.
After the dust cleared, the Bears held a 32-16 lead. The visiting team didn’t look back, building the advantage to as many as 22 points. Long-distance shooting artist Bodie Hume led the way with 13 points, including three baskets from three-point territory, in the first half.
UIW enjoyed perhaps its best stretch of the game in the first four minutes after intermission. Christian Peevy scored seven points in a 14-3 run for the Cardinals that cut the lead to six points.
Notable
Peevy produced a season-high 26 points on 9 of 12 from the field and 8 of 9 at the free throw line. Guard Augustine Ene was 7 of 11 for 16 points.
Northern Colorado did a good job on two of UIW’s primary offensive weapons. Freshman guard Morgan Taylor was held to eight points on 3 of 11 shooting. Senior Charles Brown III was held scoreless on 0 for 5 from the floor.
UIW’s defense could use some work before its next game, set for Sunday at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. The Bears shot 55.6 percent from the floor for the third-highest percentage against the Cardinals this year. Previously, the Montana Grizzlies shot 62 percent on UIW. Texas Tech shot 59.6 percent.
Local connection
Johnatan Reyes, a Northern Colorado sophomomre from Clark High School, contributed a rebound and an assist in 11 minutes off the bench. His biggest impact on the game may have been a large gathering of family, friends and supporters from the local area who were wearing ‘Northern Colorado’ shirts and cheering for the Bears.
UTSA’s Jhivvan Jackson shoots around before the Roadrunners’ game against Oklahoma on Nov. 12. – photo by Joe Alexander
Sophomore Jhivvan Jackson scored 21 points Wednesday as the UTSA Roadrunners won their first game of the season, downing Florida Gulf Coast, 76-65.
In a game for seventh place at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida, Keaton Wallace produced 19 points for the Roadrunners, who improved to 1-5.
Christian Carlyle led the Eagles with 16 points as Florida Gulf Coast dropped to 2-5.
UTSA entered the tournament in Florida coming off losses to Division II St. Edward’s and to Division I powers Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
Jackson, coming off knee surgery, did not play in any of the games as he completed his rehabilitation from ACL knee surgery.
Cleared to play before the road trip to Florida, he competed in all three games, with his playing time restricted to 15 minutes.
He scored 10 points in a 65-56 loss to UC Irvine and then had another 10 (on 2 of 11 shooting) in a 99-79 loss to South Dakota State.
Against Florida Gulf Coast, Jackson scored his season high on 7 of 15 shooting from the field and 5 of 10 from three-point range.
Wallace, also a sophomore, played well with 19 points, including four three-pointers.
Last year, Jackson and Wallace emerged as two of the keys in UTSA’s resurgence as a basketball program.
The Roadrunners produced a 20-15 record for their first 20-win season in seven years.
Notable
Florida Gulf Coast center Ricky Doyle played against his father’s alma mater. Doyle had 2 points, a rebound and an assist for the Eagles. His father is Rick Doyle, who was UTSA’s first great center. Doyle played for the Roadrunners from 1982-84. He teamed with Derrick Gervin to lead UTSA to its first 20-win season in 1983-84. Doyle was a fifth-round draft pick by the Detroit Pistons and went on to play professionally in France for 11 years. Ricky Doyle was born in Pau, France, in 1996. Rick was in the stands to watch the game, an FGCU spokesman said.
Quotable
“It was a good trip for us in terms of learning. (We played) three really good teams. Those three teams we played will all be the favorites in their conference. I told our guys just now I’m happy for them. We got the win. We’re making progress. I really liked the way they responded yesterday at halftime. You know, down, and came out and fought. Some good signs there.” — UTSA coach Steve Henson, on the team’s trip to Florida. (Interview on KTKR radio).
When forward Mike Daum wasn’t hitting shots from outside the three-point arc Tuesday morning, guard Skyler Flatten was getting open and firing from some other far-away location.
Daum and Flatten combined for 11 three-pointers and 69 points as the South Dakota State Jackrabbits rolled past UTSA, 99-79, at the Gulf Coast Showcase.
Daum, a 6-9 senior forward, finished with 41 points on 14 of 25 shooting. The NBA prospect hit 5 of 12 three-point baskets. Flatten added 28 points on 10 of 11 from the floor. He was 6 of 6 from three.
Bidding for their fourth-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament this season, the Jackrabbits (4-2) of the Summit League showed that they’re warming up to meet the challenge.
They built an eight-point lead at halftime and then continued to pull away from the Roadrunners (0-5), who will close out the tournament with a third game in three days Wednesday morning.
Guard Keaton Wallace led UTSA with 21 points. Nick Allen had 12 and Atem Bior 11. Jhivvan Jackson scored 10 in his second game back to the lineup after rehabilitation from a knee injury.
Notable
With his performance against UTSA, Daum became South Dakota State’s all-time leading scorer. He has scored 2,388 points to surpass Nate Wolters’ record of 2,363, set in four seasons through 2013. Daum has scored 156 points in six games for an average of 26 per game, which likely will boost him into the national top ten.
Quotable
“The way they use him, the way they get him in different spots, it wasn’t like he was going to the same spot (on the floor). We couldn’t really double him. We tried some different people on him but … every second or third trip down the floor he was scoring again. He’s a terrific player.” — UTSA coach Steve Henson on trying to defend Mike Daum, South Dakota State’s all-time scoring leader. (Interview on KTKR radio).
As one of the darlings in the NCAA Tournament last year, the Texas Tech Red Raiders fired up their fan base with an epic run to the Elite Eight.
Given the success, you’d think that Texas Tech at least would have cracked the Top 25 in the Associated Press poll in the first few weeks of the new season.
It hasn’t happened — yet.
But, it might not be long before it does, considering the way the Red Raiders stormed from a 13-point deficit to down the Southern California Trojans 78-63 on Monday night in Kansas City.
Playing at the Sprint Center in the Hall of Fame Classic, the Red Raiders turned up the intensity in the second half, suffocating USC on defense and unleashing the likes of Matt Mooney, Davide Moretti and Tariq Owens on offense to pull away.
One highlight came with 6:20 remaining when Tech guard Jarrett Culver tossed a ball high above the rim, where Owens grabbed it with one hand and tomahawked a vicious dunk. For emphasis, Owens added two more slams late in the game.
In the first half, nobody saw the onslaught coming. It seemed, in fact, as if the Trojans would have a fairly easy night.
Fueled by Bennie Boatwright and Elijah Weaver, USC poured it on, sprinting out on a 10-0 run to take a 30-17 lead with 3:33 remaining. Boatwright and Weaver both hit long threes in the streak.
“What you try to control is what you can — which is attitude and effort … Tonight was a lot of fun. I think we’re going to get in a groove.” — Texas Tech guard Matt Mooney, in an interview with an ESPN broadcast crew.
A 10-0 run by USC ends on Jarrett Culver getting to the basket. #TexasTech down 11 with 2:25 remaining in the first half. #4To1
UTSA’s Jhivvan Jackson shoots around before the Roadrunners’ game against Oklahoma on Monday, Nov. 12, 2018. – photo by Joe Alexander
Sophomore guard Jhivvan Jackson scored 10 points in 15 minutes Monday afternoon in his return to basketball for the UTSA Roadrunners.
A good sign, indeed, for UTSA.
But with Jackson’s playing time limited, the UC Irvine Anteaters held off the Roadrunners 65-56 at the Gulf Coast Showcase.
Jackson led the Roadrunners in scoring last year with 18.4 points per game before he went down in late February with an injury to his left knee.
The injury knocked him out of tournament play, and it also kept him out of the first three games this season.
But after UTSA’s 82-60 loss at Oklahoma State last Wednesday and before the team left for Florida over the weekend, Jackson was cleared to play.
“It wasn’t a surprise that he’d be able to come in there and give us a boost,” UTSA coach Steve Henson told the UTSA radio broadcast. “He had been practicing at a high level. We’re excited to have him out there.”
Jackson entered the game mid-way through the first half and, in a couple of three-minute stretches, he missed a couple of shots.
In the second half, the former standout for Euless Trinity High School and the Puerto Rico junior national team scored on a breakaway layup and a three-pointer to get the cold-shooting Roadrunners moving.
Trailing by 25 at one point, UTSA put together a 16-2 run fueled by Jackson and Keaton Wallace to cut the lead to 11.
The free-flowing scoring spree was a welcome sight for Henson, whose team had been struggling in losses to St. Edward’s, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State with Jackson watching from the bench.
“Scoring (those) points in 15 minutes is great,” Henson said. “But it (also) makes other guys more comfortable. It opens up things for other people. It allows us to play a little faster. It has more effect (on the team) than just him scoring.”
Wallace scored a season-high 23 points, which was likely not a coincidence.
With Jackson running the floor and the defense spread, Wallace found his shooting stroke in the second half.
“We’ve got spacing when we’ve got those two guys out there together,” Henson said on KTKR radio. “When one of those guys is not on the floor, people are (playing) them pretty tight …
“When they’re in there together, the floor spacing is better and it helps Keaton.”
Coming up
UTSA (0-4) plays South Dakota State (3-2) on Tuesday and an opponent to be determined on Wednesday, before returning home.
Notes
UC Irvine (5-0) is picked to win the Big West Conference. The Anteaters have registered wins early against Texas A&M annd Santa Clara.
Jackson initially was credited with 13 points. But the final boxscore indicated he scored 10 points on 3 of 7 shooting from the field.
He also hit 2 of 3 from three-point territory. Playing with energy, Jackson had three rebounds, one assist and a steal.
Coming into the game, Wallace had made only 14 of 47 from the floor. He was 8 of 16 against Irvine.
UTSA’s other four starters continued to struggle. Byron Frohnen, Atem Bior, Nick Allen and Giovanni De Nicolao were a combined 4 for 28 afield.
UTSA guard Jhivvan Jackson has been cleared to play and is expected to play limited minutes today in Florida against UC Irvine, a UTSA assistant coach said on the team’s radio broadcast.
Jackson led the Roadrunners in scoring last year with 18.4 points per game.
The former Puerto Rico junior national team standout is coming off a knee injury that knocked him out of tournament play last spring and kept him out of the first three games this season.
UTSA will take an 0-3 record into the Gulf Coast Showcase, which is being played in Estero, Florida. Undefefated UC Irvine has won at Texas A&M and is 4-0.
The Roadrunners lost twice last week to Big 12 opponents. They dropped an 87-67 decision at home to Oklahoma and then played Oklahoma State at Stillwater, where they fell, 82-60.
Charles Bassey and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers started fast Sunday night in the finals of the Myrtle Beach Invitational.
But they couldn’t finish, as Aubrey Dawkins and the Central Florida Knights rallied for a 78-62 victory in Conway, S.C.
Dawkins, the son of UCF coach Johnny Dawkins, hit five 3-pointers and led the Knights with 21 points, four rebounds and four assists.
The game started as a battle between preseason favorites in the American Athletic Conference (UCF) and Conference USA (the Hilltoppers).
Also, it was an ESPN2 showcase of sorts featuring Bassey, one of the nation’s most prized freshmen, and 7-foot-6 UCF center Tacko Fall.
While Bassey steamed out of the gate with 15 points in the first 13 minutes of the game, Fall controlled the paint in the second half.
Using his imposing size, Fall bulled his way to 10 of his 13 points in the second half, including several dunks.
Bassey, so hot with his shooting touch early, appeared to get winded and missed some opportunities late.
One Bassey miss on a breakaway layup led to a UCF transition basket going the other way.
But, all in all, the 6-foot-11 freshman was dynamite, finishing with 25 points and 10 rebounds in only his fifth game in college.
First half summary
After Bassey’s initial explosion, Central Florida went to a zone defense to limit his touches.
It worked, allowing the Knights to get back into the game. But Bassey adjusted, as well, going strong to the offensive glass, and running the floor to catch passes on the fast break.
By halftime, Western Kentucky held a 32-28 lead, and Bassey had 18 points and seven rebounds.
Bassey, a native of Nigeria, played two seasons of high school basketball at St. Anthony in San Antonio. UCF coach Johnny Dawkins, a Duke graduate, played three seasons in the 1980s with the Spurs.
