Sluggish Duke regroups, tops Southern

DURHAM, N.C. — No. 1 Duke proved this week it’s talented enough to beat the best team on its schedule — but not so dominant that it can take one of the worst for granted.

The Blue Devils beat Southern 78-61 on Friday night behind 20 points and 11 rebounds from Wendell Carter Jr.

“We just didn’t come ready to play,” Carter said. “I can’t really speak for everybody, I don’t know if everybody was energized or not or if people were hurt or not. Just as a team, we didn’t play as a unit. We starters had an opportunity just to be selfish, and that’s not the way to go. We’ve got to take every game seriously, and we did not do that tonight.”

Marvin Bagley III added 19 points and 11 rebounds and Grayson Allen and Trevon Duval finished with 10 points apiece for the Blue Devils (4-0).

Coming off a victory over No. 2 Michigan State three nights earlier, Duke showed several classic symptoms of a letdown — in part, Coach Mike Krzyzewski explained, because the Blue Devils didn’t practice the previous two days due to NCAA time-management rules.

The Blue Devils finished with a season-high 15 turnovers, shot just 4 of 20 from 3-point range and for a while struggled to keep Southern off the offensive glass before regrouping to finish with a 51-34 rebounding advantage.

“There was something missing tonight,” Krzyzewski said.

Gary Trent Jr. had 10 rebounds but was 3-of-11 shooting for Duke, which never led by fewer than 10 points in the second half, but also had trouble putting Southern away, not pushing its lead into the 20s until the final 5 minutes.

Jamar Sandifer had 14 points and Torrey Mayo added 11 to lead the Jaguars (0-4) — whose resume included a 102-55 loss to Illinois, an 86-58 loss at Missouri State and the No. 319 spot in an unofficial replication of the RPI formula.

They gave the Blue Devils about 15 minutes’ worth of serious headaches before Trent hit 2 three-pointers during a 15-3 run late in the first half that pushed Duke’s lead into double figures to stay.

In other Top 25/SEC games Friday, Svi Mykhailiuk scored a career-high 27 points, Lagerald Vick finished with 22 and No. 4 Kansas routed Summit League favorite South Dakota State 98-64. Udoka Azubuike added 17 points and Malik Newman had 13 for the Jayhawks (3-0), who shot 60 percent from the field and didn’t commit a turnover until midway through the second half. By that point, the Jackrabbits (3-1) were staring at a 30-point deficit. Mike Daum led South Dakota State with 21 points and 11 rebounds. … Mikal Bridges set a school record by hitting all 6 of his three-point shots and scored a career-high 24 points in No. 5 Villanova’s 104-57 rout of Louisiana-Lafayette. Villanova hit 11 of its first 14 threes in racing to a 39-16 lead. The Wildcats (3-0) had a stretch of nine consecutive baskets being threes en route to a 56-23 halftime lead. Matt Klinewski had 16 points and six rebounds for Lafayette (0-3), which was 7 of 29 from three-point range. … Quade Green scored a career-high 21 points, Kevin Knox had 17 points with 10 rebounds and No. 7 Kentucky overcame an early deficit to run away from East Tennessee State 78-61. The Wildcats (3-1) had to overcome an 18-8 first-half hole. The Wildcats kept rolling behind defense that held the Buccaneers (1-2) to 32 percent shooting, including just 10 of 36 (28 percent) in the second half. They also owned the paint (38-22), fast break points (14-2) and registered eight blocks to win their first game of the Adolph Rupp Classic. … DJ Hogg scored 19 of his 24 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half, and No. 16 Texas A&M won its home opener going away 84-65 over California-Santa Barbara. Max Heidigger scored 24 points as the Gauchos (1-2) stuck around after the Aggies (2-0) built an early 16-point lead. But Hogg’s strong second-half kept UCSB from mounting a challenge. Hogg led four starters in double figures as Tyler Davis had 14 points, all in the first half, Admon Gilder had 13 and Tonny Trocha-Morelos scored 10 … Ray Spalding had a career-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, Deng Adel had a game-high 21 points and Anas Mahmoud had 8 of his team’s 15 blocked shots as No. 18 Louisville outlasted Nebraska-Omaha 87-78. The Cardinals (2-0) led by 20 early in the second half but didn’t make a field for the last 4:36 of the game. Omaha (0-4) hung around with a 12-0 second-half run and got within 71-64 on KJ Robinson’s three-pointer with 5:45 left, but Louisville answered with seven consecutive points to keep the lead large enough to stay unbeaten under interim coach David Padgett. … Jaylen Hands scored 22 points to lead three freshmen in double figures, and No. 23 UCLA defeated South Carolina State 96-68 for its third consecutive victory despite a depleted roster. Hands and fellow freshman Kris Wilkes broke the game open to start the second half for the Bruins (3-0). They scored 17 of the team’s first 19 points to extend a six-point lead to 59-44. Donte Wright scored 23 points, hitting 6 three-pointers, to lead the Bulldogs (0-4), who kept it close in the game’s first 9 minutes. … Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. had 16 points and 12 rebounds as No. 25 Baylor beat Alcorn State 78-61, giving Coach Scott Drew his 300th career victory. Manu Lecomte had 17 points for the Bears, who are 3-0 for the 10th time in 11 seasons. Reginal Johnson, the SWAC preseason player of the year, scored 14 points for Alcorn (0-4). Dante Stewart added 12 points. … Chris Silva scored 15 points and South Carolina had a dominating first-half performance to beat Texas-El Paso 80-56 in the consolation bracket of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Conway, S.C. The Gamecocks (3-1) struggled in Thursday’s loss to Illinois State, but they were much sharper against the Miners (1-2). They built a double-digit lead in the first 6 minutes and shot 55 percent in the first half, leading 50-24 by the break and by 32 after halftime. … Obi Enechionyia had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead Temple past Auburn and into the finals of the Charleston Classic with an 88-74 victory. The Owls (2-0) reached the championship game of this eight-team event for the second time. Temple trailed the Tigers (2-1) on Jared Harper’s basket with 10:17 to go. Then Shizz Alston Jr. hit a three-pointer to put the Owls back in front and Enechionyia gave them the lead for good with a pair of foul shots moments later. … John Petty knocked down 10 of 13 beyond the arc to finish with a game-high 30 points and Alabama beat Alabama A&M 104-67. Alex Reese and Herb Jones each grabbed a game-high eight rebounds as Alabama (3-0) outrebounded the Bulldogs 47-23. Amari Goulbourne finished with 17 points for Alabama A&M (0-3). … Terence Davis scored 24 points and Markel Crawford added 15 points and Mississippi rallied to defeat Georgia State 77-72. The Rebels (3-0) had three scoring surges in the second half 10-0, 12-1, 8-1 and finished by connecting on six consecutive free throws in the final 40 seconds. D’Marcus Simonds led Georgia State (2-1) with a career-high 29 points with 5 assists and 4 rebounds. …. Jeff Roberson had 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead Vanderbilt to a 79-76 victory over North Carolina-Asheville in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Matthew Fisher-Davis and Riley LaChance each added 17 points for Vanderbilt (2-1). Djery Baptiste chipped in 13 points. Alec Wnuk led UNC Asheville (1-2) with 19 points and MaCio Teague added 18.

Sports on 11/18/2017

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