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Late Night Snacks: Nova holds off Michigan, Maryland upsets Iowa State, Arkansas gets big road win

Progressive Legends Classic

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 25: Caris LeVert #23 of the Michigan Wolverines dribbles past Darryl Reynolds #14 of the Villanova Wildcats in the first half at the Barclays Center on November 25, 2014 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

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Progressive Legends Classic

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 25: Caris LeVert #23 of the Michigan Wolverines dribbles past Darryl Reynolds #14 of the Villanova Wildcats in the first half at the Barclays Center on November 25, 2014 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

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GAME OF THE NIGHT: No. 12 Villanova 60, No. 19 Michigan 55

In a tremendous back-and-forth affair over the final few minutes, Villanova held out and won the Legends Classic thanks to a game-saving block from JayVaughn Pinkston. Guard Dylan Ennis led the Wildcats with 15 points and Daniel Ochefu added 10 points while Caris LeVert led all scorers with 16 points for Michigan. Both teams really struggled to make shots from the perimeter, but made up for it with good ball movement down the stretch and big shots from a number of different players.

IMPORTANT OUTCOMES

1. No. 25 Arkansas 78, SMU 72

The Razorbacks earned a really nice non-conference road win on Tuesday night as sophomore forward Bobby Portis opened the game with a three-pointer and never slowed down on his way to a game-high 22 points. Arkansas led the entire game and led by as many as 19 points in the second half as they looked every bit like a top-25 team in a tough road environment. SMU dropped to 2-3 on the young season as the team has struggled to find consistency, especially without Markus Kennedy. Yanick Moreira stepped up with 20 points and but Ben Moore and Nic Moore combined to go 2-for-11 from the field on Tuesday.

2. No. 3 Arizona 72, Kansas State 68

This Maui Invitational semifinal went down to the wire as Sean Miller’s team found some new offense from guard Gabe York. Starting in-place of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for the second game in a row, York scored a season-high 15 points and jump-started an Arizona lineup that had four double-figure scorers. Kaleb Tarczewski added 18 points, Stanley Johnson had 14 points and Brandon Ashley added 10 points in a solid win over a good opponent for Arizona.

3. Maryland 72, No. 13 Iowa State 63

Not many people would have predicted this kind of result in the championship game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic. The Terrapins used four double-figure scorers and a big and physical defensive front to knock the high-scoring Cyclones off their game. Maryland held Iowa State to 29 percent shooting from the field and 22 percent three-point shooting as the Cyclones couldn’t get anything going on offense.

STARRED

1. Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Florida State

The redshirt freshman wing is starting to heat up after a slow start and his 26 points on Tuesday night carried a short-handed Seminole team to victory. Playing without Aaron Thomas (illness) and Devin Bookert (screw removed from foot), Rathan-Mayes went 5-for-5 from beyond the arc and 8-for-9 from the field on the night. After scoring 22 points against UMass on Sunday, it looks like the freshman is finally getting comfortable as a scorer.

2. Myles Turner, Texas

We finally got the breakout Myles Turner game we’ve been waiting for as the freshman big man went for 25 points and 10 rebounds in a 78-46 win over St. Francis (PA). Turner was 11-for-12 from the field and did all of this damage in only 25 minutes of action for his first college double-double.

3. D.J. Newbill, Penn State

With his team trailing Akron, 45-32, at the half, Newbill put Penn State on his back as he finished with 29 points, five rebounds and five assists to help the Nittany Lions to a 78-72 win. Newbill already owns a buzzer-beating layup as well this season and has come up big for Penn State on a number of occasions in the early season.

STRUGGLED

1. Missouri

The Tigers came out flat and didn’t play very hard against Purdue in an ugly, 82-61 loss a day after falling to Arizona. Missouri trailed 45-20 at the half as Purdue came out aggressive and knocked the Tigers on their back very quickly. In their first year under new head coach Kim Anderson, Missouri has dropped to 2-3 and will earn a Maui win over Chaminade if they beat them on Wednesday.

2. Rutgers

Rutgers hosted 0-4 St. Peter’s on Tuesday as the Peacocks were playing without Desi Washington, one of their most important players. But the Scarlet Knights didn’t come prepared to play as they were blown out, 68-50, on their home floor. Rutgers trailed by double-digits for the final 28 minutes of the game.

3. Pittsburgh

It was San Diego State who played a double-overtime game late the night before while Pitt opened the Maui Invitational with host Chaminade, but it was the Panthers who looked completely flat in a blowout 74-57 loss. The No. 15 Aztecs shot 58 percent from the floor for the game while Pitt was held to 37 percent shooting and 5-for-17 (29 percent) shooting from three-point range. Between the loss at Hawaii and this flat effort, this has not been the road trip that Pitt was looking for.

NOTABLES


  • BYU ran past Chaminade in the loser’s bracket at Maui as junior guard Chase Fischer tied a tournament record with 10 three-points, nine of them coming in the first half, as the Cougars won 121-85.
  • Georiga State topped Western Carolina, 85-70, as junior guard R.J. Hunter finished with 27 points.
  • No. 8 Virginia ran past Tennessee State, 79-36, as Justin Anderson was 7-for-7 from the field and 5-for-5 from three-point range for 20 points.
  • Six Kentucky players finished in double-figures, led by freshman Devin Booker’s 18 points as they cruised past UT-Arlington, 92-44.
  • Horizon League Player of the Year candidate Keifer Sykes had 20 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals to lead Green Bay in a 64-62 win over Evansville.
  • No. 23 Creighton had 15 points from junior center Geoffrey Groselle in a 75-53 home win over Eastern Illinois.
  • A night after falling to Villanova, No. 14 VCU took down Oregon with a 77-63 win as Treveon Graham led the Rams with 19 points.
  • Gary Clark had 12 points and eight rebounds to lead Cincinnati to a 59-50 win over North Carolina Central.
  • Syracuse got past Loyola (MD), 70-37, as Rakeem Christmas had 18 points, nine rebounds and six blocks.
  • A scheduling quirk meant that Miami had to play Charlotte twice in three days, but the Hurricanes were up to the challenge of winning again as Shelden McClellan had 31 points and 11 rebounds in a 77-74 win.
  • Big outing from senior Levi Randolph, as he scored 28 points and had the go-ahead bucket in the final minute to give Alabama a 76-71 consolation win over Arizona State in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic.
  • Fresh off a road win at Marquette, Omaha jumped out to a 23-7 lead at Nebraska before Shavon Shields went for a career-high 35 points to give the Huskers the 80-67 win.
  • Chris Perry hit the game-winning basket with seven seconds left to give South Florida a 71-70 win over Hofstra.
  • Harvard earned a respectable home win over Houston as Wesley Saunders (24 points, 10 rebounds) and Steve Moundou-Missi (14 points, 14 rebounds) each had double-doubles.
  • Colorado used a 25-0 run to run past Air Force as Xavier Johnson had 15 points in a 68-53 win.
  • Boise State rode a monster 31-point outing from senior guard Derrick Marks in a 86-75 win over Idaho.

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