Top 25 roundup: No. 6 Gonzaga bullies No. 8 Baylor in opener

Nolan Hickman led a balanced attack with 17 points as No. 6 Gonzaga trounced No. 8 Baylor 101-63 on Monday at Spokane, Wash., in the marquee game of the men’s college basketball season’s opening night.

It was the Bulldogs’ biggest margin of victory against a Top 10 team, surpassing their previous mark of 20 points.

Graham Ike added 15 points and eight rebounds for Gonzaga in a rematch of the 2021 NCAA title game that the Bears won 86-70. Braden Huff scored 14 points, Khalif Battle added 12 and Dusty Stromer had 11 for the Bulldogs. Ryan Nembhard dished out a game-high 11 assists.

Miami transfer Norchad Omier led Baylor with 15 points and nine rebounds. Prized Bears freshman VJ Edgecombe had just four points on 2-for-11 shooting from the field.

No. 1 Kansas 87, Howard 57

Zeke Mayo scored 19 points in his team debut to lead the Jayhawks to an easy victory over the Bison in Lawrence, Kan.

Mayo transferred to Kansas from South Dakota State and helped the Jayhawks win their 52nd consecutive home opener. Kansas also had Hunter Dickinson (16 points) and Flory Bidunga (13) score in double figures.

Blake Harper led Howard with 16 points. Anwar Gill and Marcus Dockery each tallied seven points for the Bison.

No. 2 Alabama 110, UNC Asheville 54

Mark Sears scored 20 points in 24 minutes to help the Crimson Tide rout the Bulldogs at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Clifford Omoruyi, a transfer from Rutgers, hit all six of his shots while recording 16 points and eight rebounds for Alabama. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. added 13 points, Mouhamed Dioubate and Aden Holloway tallied 11 apiece and Jarin Stevenson and Labaron Philon each had 10.

Jordan Marsh scored 13 points, Toyaz Solomon added 11 and Kameron Taylor had 10 for UNC Asheville.

No. 4 Houston 97, Jackson State 40

LJ Cryer scored 16 points and J’Wan Roberts added 14 points and six rebounds as the Cougars kicked off their season in style with a victory over the visiting Tigers.

Mylik Wilson turned a late scoring burst into 15 points and Milos Uzan had eight points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and four steals as the Cougars won their season opener for the 16th consecutive season.

Jalen Tatum scored 14 points and Romelle Mansel added seven points and six rebounds for the Tigers. Jackson State went 15-17 overall a season ago and was picked to finish fourth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

No. 5 Iowa State 83, Mississippi Valley State 44

Keshon Gilbert scored 17 points, Tamin Lipsey added 16 and the Cyclones cruised to an easy win in Ames, Iowa, over the Delta Devils in both teams’ season opener.

Joshua Jefferson and Milan Momcilovic each finished with 10 points for Iowa State, which led by double digits for most of the game. Dishon Jackson had nine points and six rebounds.

Donovan Sanders scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Mississippi Valley State. Greg Moore tallied 10 points, and Antonio Sisk had nine.

No. 7 Duke 96, Maine 62

Freshman Kon Knueppel scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half and Cooper Flagg poured in 18 points in his highly anticipated college debut as the Blue Devils opened the season by defeating the Black Bears in Durham, N.C.

Duke began 2024-25 with typically high expectations as it started its third season under coach Jon Scheyer. Flagg, a Maine native who was the top-rated recruit among this year’s college freshmen, was 6-for-15 from the field and had a team-high seven rebounds to go along with five assists and three steals.

Quion Burns had 15 points and Keelan Steele finished with 11 for Maine.

No. 9 North Carolina 90, Elon 76

All-American RJ Davis sank a pair of huge shots and the Tar Heels surged to a win over the Phoenix in Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Tar Heels ended the game on a 21-5 run. They scored 11 consecutive points after falling behind 71-69 with 6:48 left on a pair of free throws from TJ Simpkins.

Elon trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half and was down 69-57 with 10:58 left before ripping off a 14-0 run that included a pair of 3-pointers from Nick Dorn. Dorn finished with 17 points, going 5-for-10 from 3-point range. Simpkins led the Phoenix with 18 points off the bench.

No. 10 Arizona 93, Canisius 64

Caleb Love, Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis combined for 46 points, 14 assists and only one turnover to propel the Wildcats to a season-opening win over the Golden Griffins in Tucson, Ariz.

Love finished with 17 points, six assists, four rebounds and no turnovers for Arizona. Bradley had 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, and Lewis scored 14 points, also adding four rebounds and four assists.

Canisius played its first game under coach Jim Christian, who spent 19 years at previous stops Kent State, TCU, Ohio and Boston College. The Golden Griffins were led by Paul McMillan IV’s 20 points.

No. 12 Tennessee 80, Gardner-Webb 64

Chaz Lanier scored 18 points in his team debut to lead the Volunteers to a season-opening victory over the Runnin’ Bulldogs in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Volunteers never trailed and led by as many as 27 in the second half. Lanier, a transfer from North Florida, made seven of his 12 shot attempts.

Darryl Simmons II played well to finish with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting to lead Gardner-Webb.

UCF 64, No. 13 Texas A&M 61

Benny Williams scored his only points on a go-ahead dunk with 45 seconds left and the Knights erased a nine-point deficit in the final five minutes to upset the Aggies in Orlando.

The Knights closed the game with a 14-2 run to stun the Aggies, who led most of the contest and pushed their lead to 59-50 on Wade Taylor IV’s 3-pointer from the UCF logo with 4:52 left. UCF fans stormed the court after A&M missed three attempts at a potential game-tying 3-pointer on the game’s final possession.

UCF’s Darius Johnson scored a game-high 24 points and dished out five assists. Pharrel Payne led the Aggies with 15 points and grabbed six rebounds.

No. 14 Purdue 90, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 73

Fletcher Loyer scored 21 points and Braden Smith dished out 15 assists as the Boilermakers fended off the Islanders in the second half for a season-opening win in West Lafayette, Ind.

Trey Kaufman-Renn added 15 points for Purdue, which also got 14 off the bench from Myles Colvin. Daniel Jacobsen, a 7-foot-4 freshman center stepping in for the departed Zach Edey, contributed 13 points and seven rebounds.

Four players scored in double figures for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, led by Owen Dease’s 20 points. Garry Clark added 14, while Isaac Williams netted 12.

No. 18 Marquette 102, Stony Brook 62

Kam Jones poured in 32 points to lead the Golden Eagles to an easy victory over the Seawolves in Milwaukee.

Jones knocked down 14 of 16 shots from the field to come up two points shy of matching his career high. Marquette’s Chase Ross added a career-high 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting.

Joe Octave paced Stony Brook with 12 points, while Ben Wight logged 10 points and eight rebounds.

Ohio State 80, No. 19 Texas 72

Bruce Thornton scored 20 points as the Buckeyes upended the Longhorns in the Hall of Fame Series at Las Vegas.

Ohio State never trailed and took a seven-point lead into halftime. Texas culled the deficit to three points with 7:34 to play, after which Ohio State produced a 10-1 run capped by a 3-pointer by Devin Royal, and the Buckeyes held on.

Micah Parrish added 17 points for Ohio State, while Royal had 16 and John Mobley Jr. scored 14 off the bench. Tre Johnson poured in a game-high 29 points for the Longhorns, establishing a team mark for most points scored by a freshman in his debut.

No. 20 Cincinnati 109, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 54

Simas Lukosius led six players in double figures with 20 points while Dan Skillings Jr. added 17 points and 11 rebounds to help the host Bearcats overwhelm the Golden Lions.

Jizzle James also recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists while Texas transfer Dillon Mitchell made his Cincinnati debut with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Dante Sawyer was the only Golden Lion in double figures, finishing with 11 points.

No. 21 Florida 98, South Florida 83

Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard combined for 54 points as the Gators rallied for a win over the Bulls in an emotional season opener at the Jacksonville Sports Foundation Invitational.

Clayton had 29 points and Richard added 25 for Florida, which trailed by 13 points in the first half but outscored South Florida 59-43 after halftime.

Jamille Reynolds finished with 17 points and six rebounds for the Bulls, who played just 11 days after head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim died suddenly at age 43 while undergoing a medical procedure. The Gators wore warm-up shirts with Abdur-Rahim’s last name across the back.

No. 22 UCLA 85, Rider 50

Tyler Bilodeau scored 18 points, Kobe Johnson added 12 points and eight rebounds, and the Bruins cruised past the visiting Broncs in Los Angeles.

The Bruins never trailed, jumping out to a 6-0 lead. Their advantage never slipped to fewer than 19 points in the second half and remained at 30 or more for the final 4:19 when Dylan Andrews’ 3-pointer marked the end of a seven-point burst for the UCLA guard. He finished with 14 points.

Rider got 15 points from T.J. Weeks Jr., who shot 4-for-7 from 3-point range. The rest of the Rider lineup shot a combined 1 of 13 from beyond the arc.

No. 23 Kentucky 103, Wright State 62

Otega Oweh scored 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field and Koby Brea scored 18 points to lead the Wildcats to a comfortable win over the Raiders at Lexington, Ky., in the debut of new Kentucky head coach Mark Pope.

Lamont Butler registered a strong performance, scoring 14 points while leading the Wildcats with five assists. Amari Williams added 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Wright State had an abysmal first-half shooting performance, going 10-for-36 from the field and 3-for-17 from 3-point range. Brandon Noel paced the Raiders with 20 points and eight rebounds.

No. 24 Ole Miss 90, Long Island 60

Hot-shooting Jaylen Murray scored 24 points and the Rebels cruised past the Sharks in the season opener for both teams in Oxford, Miss.

Murray made 7 of 10 field-goal attempts, 5 of 8 3-point attempts and 5 of 5 free throws. Jaemyn Brakefield added 12 points for the Rebels.

Malachi Davis, a transfer from Arizona State who was selected to the Preseason All-Northeast Conference team, and Brent Davis each scored 19 points to lead the Sharks.

–Field Level Media