Kansas guard Christian Braun lays up the ball between Iona guard Walter Clayton Jr., front left, and forward Nelly Junior Joseph during the Jayhawks’ 96-83 win on Sunday in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Jacob M. Langston/Associated Press

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Christian Braun had 20 points and seven rebounds, Ochai Agbaji added 17 points, and No. 4 Kansas beat Iona 96-83 in the first meeting between Hall of Fame coaches Bill Self and Rick Pitino.

David McCormack scored 13 points for Kansas (5-1). The Jayhawks were coming off their first loss of the season, 74-73 to Dayton on a buzzer-beater in an ESPN Events Invitational semifinal on Friday.

Beating Pitino’s Iona team, which opened the tournament with a win over No. 10 Alabama, was enough to salvage third place in the tournament for Self’s Jayhawks.

Iona (6-2) got 14 points apiece from Tyson Jolly and Ryan Myers. The Gaels also lost for the first time Friday, dropping a 72-65 decision to Belmont.

Both teams had five players score in double figures.

Unlike its first two games in the invitational, Kansas built a double-digit first-half advantage and held onto it, taking a 46-31 lead at the break behind 13 points from Braun.

Advertisement

(7) VILLANOVA 72, LA SALLE 46: Collin Gillespie scored 13 points in a balanced team effort, and the Wildcats (4-2) beat the Explorers (2-3) in Philadelphia.

Brandon Slater added 12 points and Caleb Daniels and Eric Dixon each had 11 for the Wildcats (4-2), who played for the first time since a Nov. 21 loss to No. 3 Purdue.

(10) ALABAMA 96, MIAMI 64: Keon Ellis had 22 points, Jaden Shackelford contributed 15 and the Crimson Tide (6-1) defeated the Hurricanes (4-3) in the fifth-place game at the ESPN Events Invitational in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Alabama, which also got 13 points each from JD Davison and Juwan Gary, found itself in the consolation bracket after losing its tournament opener to Iona. Davison added 10 assists.

(13) ARKANSAS 76, PENN 60: JD Notae scored 28 points and the Razorbacks (6-0) handled the Pirates (5-1) in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Stanley Umude had 19 points and Au’Diese Toney scored 12 for the Razorbacks. They combined with Notae to score 32 of the team’s 37 points in the first half as Arkansas built an 11-point lead.

Advertisement

(21) SETON HALL 84, BETHUNE-COOKMAN 70: Jared Rhoden scored 18 points, Alexis Yetna had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and the Pirates (5-1) pulled away in the second half for a win over the Wildcats (1-6) in Newark, New Jersey.

Bethune-Cookman had a 34-33 lead at halftime, but Rhoden’s jumper a minute into the second half gave Seton Hall the lead for good and started a 9-0 run. The Pirates stretched their advantage to as much as 23 points.

(23) FLORIDA 84, TROY 45: Myreon Jones and Tyree Appleby scored 12 points apiece, and the Gators (6-0) remained unbeaten with a victory over the Trojans (4-3) in Gainesville, Florida.

Florida scored the first 13 points and never relinquished its double-digit lead. Freshman Kowacie Reeves connected on a turnaround jumper at the first-half buzzer to give the Gators a 49-20 advantage, their largest of the game.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

(10) LOUISVILLE 71, COLORADO STATE 56: Ahlana Smith and Kianna Smith led hot-shooting Louisville with 11 points apiece as the Cardinals won their fifth straight by beating the Rams (5-1) in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Advertisement

The Cardinals shot 52.8% from the floor in a contest they never trailed. Emily Engstler drained a 3-pointer 1:37 into the game and the Cardinals steadily pulled away, leading by as many as 21 points.

(13) IOWA STATE 76, UMASS 71: Ashley Joens had 23 points, including a critical 3-pointer late, Lexi Donarski also scored 23 points and the Cyclones (7-0)  blew most of a 21-point lead before beating UMass (7-1) to win the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida.

Iowa State, which played its third game in as many nights and its fourth in a week, nearly ran out of gas with only seven available players – four seeing at least 39 minutes of action on Saturday and at least 106 minutes over the last three days.

(19) UCLA 73, ST. JOHN’S 65: Iimar’i Thomas scored eight of her 19 points in the last six-plus minutes, Charisma Osborne added her seventh career double-double and the Bruins (4-2) broke away late to defeat the Red Storm (3-4) at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida.

The Bruins earned seventh place at the tournament and salvaged a win after back-to-back upset losses to Kent State and South Dakota State. All eight players scored for UCLA, with four in double figures.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.