NCAA News Wire
Top 25 roundup: Kentucky pulls away from Mizzou
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Oft the bearers of the guillotine this season, top-ranked Kentucky instead relied on a slow bleed to beat Missouri 69-53 Thursday.
The Wildcats (20-0, 7-0 Southeastern Conference) extended their perfect start, while the Tigers (7-13, 1-6) absorbed their sixth SEC defeat.
Sophomore guard Andrew Harrison led Kentucky with 15 points. He attempted four field goals — making all of them — and converted on nine of his 11 free-throw attempts. After leading 34-25 at halftime, Kentucky made seven of 19 field-goal attempts in the second half but pushed the lead to as many as 20 points thanks to a 20-of-27 performance at the free-throw line.
Guard Wes Clark led Missouri with 19 points. He added four assists, four rebounds and three steals in 35 minutes.
Gonzaga 64, Portland 46
Forward Donatas Sabonis and center Przemek Karnowski posted double-doubles, and the third-ranked Bulldogs pulled away for a West Coast Conference win over the Pilots in Spokane, Wash.
Sabonis led Gonzaga (21-1, 10-0 WCC) with 13 points, while Karnowski scored 10 points. They each pulled down 11 boards. Bulldogs guard Kevin Pangos added 10 points.
Guards Bryce Pressley and Bobby Sharp topped Portland (12-10, 3-7) with nine points apiece. The Pilots trailed just 31-25 at halftime before the Bulldogs opened the margin.
UCLA 69, Utah 59
LOS ANGELES — Guard Norman Powell scored a game-high 23 points, and guard Isaac Hamilton added eight consecutive points during a key stretch of the second half as the Bruins defeated the 11th-ranked Utes.
Powell made nine of 16 shot attempts, the great majority of those coming on drives to the basket out of the half-court offense. Guard Bryce Alford added 14 points and seven assists for UCLA (12-9, 4-4 Pac-12), and Hamilton finished with 11 points.
Utah (16-4, 6-2) rarely attacked the UCLA interior defense and never seemed to work up much of a sweat throughout the game. Utes guard Delon Wright scored 15 points, and guard Brandon Taylor added 14 points and five assists.
Ohio State 80, Maryland 56
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Freshman guard D’Angelo Russell compiled 18 points, 14 rebounds and six assists to help the Buckeyes defeat the 16th-ranked Terrapins.
Ohio State (17-5, 6-3 Big Ten) was led by sophomore guard Marc Loving’s 19 points off the bench. Loving hit all five of his attempts from 3-point range. Freshman forward Jae’Sean Tate added 16 points.
Guard Dez Wells had 12 points and guard Jake Layman 10 for Maryland (18-4, 6-3).
