Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek wants his players to stay positive heading into Friday night’s third-place matchup against Minnesota in the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Desert, Calif.

Sendek watched his team lose 71-70 against Saint Louis in the tournament on Thursday night. He’s well aware how closely the Broncos came to playing for the tourney title, but he also recognizes the big-picture value of the Thanksgiving weekend contests.

“We’re not focused on the one-point differential at the end,” Sendek said. “We’re focused on learning, improving and growing. I gave the guys, just like I did here, tremendous credit for their effort and their heart and their hustle.”

Santa Clara (6-1) will look to bounce back from its first loss of the season against Minnesota (4-3), which is desperate to snap an early-season skid.

The Golden Gophers are coming off a 72-68 loss against Stanford on Thursday night in the tournament’s opening round. Isaac Asuma knocked down a 3-pointer from the left corner to pull Minnesota within one point at 68-67 with 17 seconds to go, but the Cardinal held on in the final seconds.

The defeat marked the second straight loss for Minnesota, which also fell to San Francisco on Saturday. Minnesota is searching for its first win since Nov. 18 against Chicago State.

The Golden Gophers could be without Chansey Willis Jr. in Friday’s matchup. Willis sustained an injury Thursday and returned to the bench with a boot on his right foot.

Minnesota coach Niko Medved said he liked his team’s effort on defense Thursday night, and it is something he wants to see again one night later.

“I thought the guys fought hard,” Medved said. “But we just needed to find a way to come up with a few more rebounds, and a couple crucial turnovers in those situations really hurt us.”

Elijah Mahi will look to stay hot for Santa Clara after scoring 18 points and grabbing seven rebounds on Thursday.

Minnesota’s Jaylen Crocker-Johnson also will try to maintain strong play in the tournament. He scored 23 points and led the team with four blocked shots against Stanford.

–Field Level Media

Miami and Georgetown will play for third place in the ESPN Events Invitational on Friday in Kissimmee, Fla.

The Hurricanes (5-2) lost to No. 9 BYU in the first game of the event on Thursday, 72-62. As for Georgetown, the Hoyas (5-1) went on a 16-2 run in the final minutes of regulation, only to lose to Dayton 84-79 in overtime.

Miami hung tough with the Cougars in the first half to lead 33-29, but were blocked — literally — from winning in the second half.

BYU’s Keba Keita blocked seven shots, including six of the second half. Four of them came in the first 6:09, and BYU took advantage of Keita’s play to go on a 10-0 run and take control of the game.

“I haven’t seen blocked shots like that,” Miami coach Jai Lucas told the Orlando Sentinel. “He gets seven blocks in a game, that’s a big difference. That’s a separator. It changes their whole defense when he’s able to protect the rim and do that.”

The Hurricanes shot 42.4% in the first half, but with Keita clogging the key, Miami managed just 37.9% for the game.

Malik Reneau led the Hurricanes with 14 points and nine rebounds. Shelton Henderson added 13 points and Tre Donaldson had 12.

The Hoyas had an up-and-down game against the Flyers on Thursday.

The Big East team trailed by 15 in the first half and trailed by 14 with 5:46 left in regulation before their late run to force overtime.

Malik Mack, who led the Hoyas with a season-high 24 points, missed an off-balance 3-point try with five seconds left in overtime that would have tied the game.

Georgetown coach Ed Cooley did not think his team played smart and he felt they lacked emotion and toughness.

“I’m very, very disappointed,” Cooley said after the Hoyas’ first loss of the season. “We still have a long way to go.”

KJ Lewis also scored 19 for the Hoyas, but he fouled out with 44 seconds to go in overtime, taking away a huge scoring option for Georgetown in a one-possession game.

–Field Level Media

Whatever happens between Stanford and Saint Louis in the championship of the Acrisure Invitational on Friday afternoon in Palm Desert, Calif., freshman point guard Ebuka Okorie likely will make his presence known.

Okorie did so again for Stanford (5-1) on Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the two-day event, scoring 25 points to lead the Cardinal to a 72-68 win against Minnesota.

“He’s an 18-year-old freshman that’s handled a lot of attention and done a good job with it,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said. “He’s going to get in those fights. They’re coming, so he’ll learn.”

It was a welcome bounce-back game after Okorie was a bit overmatched in a 77-69 loss to visiting Seattle last Thursday.

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Okorie went up against Seattle senior point guard Maleek Arington and scored 17 points. However, he was held to 5-for-15 shooting — and 0-for-5 from 3-point range.

“Some of it was fatigue-related,” Smith said. “I think the fatigue was more just going against a grown man.”

Okorie was a bit sharper against Minnesota, shooting 9-for-21 overall and 2-for-7 from 3-point distance.

Smith is looking for more support for his freshman star. One player he hopes to get into the rotation is 6-foot-10 freshman forward Oskar Giltay.

He played a season-high 10 minutes against Seattle but was limited to two versus Minnesota.

“He’ll have his time,” Smith said. “He’s going to get better and help us.”

In a matchup of unbeaten mid-major teams, Saint Louis (6-0) beat Santa Clara 71-70 on Thursday afternoon.

Kellen Thames made a layup with eight seconds left and Brenton Knapper missed one on the other end with two seconds remaining.

Trey Green, a transfer from Xavier, scored 21 points against Santa Clara, shooting 6-for-13 from 3-point distance. Green could see a lot of time matched up against Okorie.

–Field Level Media

TCU will look to build on an impressive upset of No. 10 Florida when it squares off against powerful Wisconsin on Friday in the final of the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego.

The Horned Frogs (4-2) earned a spot in the title game with a rousing 84-80 win over the defending national champion Gators, while Wisconsin (5-1) dismantled Providence 104-83 in Thursday’s other semifinal.

For TCU, Brock Harding scored 19 points on Thursday, highlighted by a jumper that gave his team the lead and five late free throws to cement the victory. He added 12 assists to record his fourth career double-double, while Jace Posey had a career-high 21 points and David Punch added 19.

The Horned Frogs rose to the challenge of battling one of the nation’s most imposing frontcourts, ending up nearly even in rebounds (31-28) — with eight of those coming on the offensive glass and scoring 44 points in the paint.

“You can see with the ups and downs we’ve had this season,” Harding said. “We knew we could compete with anybody, and I think we showed that today, and I think we showed how many pieces we have on this team. We made it known that all five guys are gonna have to rebound it. We’re gonna have to make this a rebounding team, not just a defensive team.”

The Horned Frogs’ defense forced 19 turnovers to boot.

The Badgers bounced back from a 28-point loss at then-No. 9 BYU on Nov. 21 and swamped smaller Providence. Nick Boyd scored a career-high 36 points to lead Wisconsin on Thursday, while Austin Rapp had 20 and Nolan Winter added 19 to go with 10 rebounds.

Wisconsin led throughout and was up by 19 points at the break.

“If you have a level of toughness about you, you’re going to find a way to make shots, and you’ll find a way to get stops, and you’ll find a way to clean up the defensive glass,” Badgers coach Greg Gard said about the loss to BYU.

Wisconsin responded to Gard’s challenge and then some, earning a 43-35 edge on the glass and grabbing 14 offensive rebounds on Thursday.

–Field Level Media

Washington is listed as having two returnees on its roster. But the Huskies actually have three.

Wesley Yates III spent the 2023-24 season at Washington but never played because of a foot injury. He transferred to Southern California last season and led all Big Ten freshmen in scoring — averaging 14.1 points per game — during conference play.

Now he’s back with the Huskies and scored 25 points Thursday as they opened play in the Acrisure Holiday Classic in Palm Desert, Calif., with an 83-66 victory over Nevada.

The Huskies (5-1) will meet former Pac-12 rival Colorado (6-0) on Friday for the tournament championship. The Buffaloes defeated San Francisco 79-69 on Thursday.

Zoom Diallo and Franck Kepnang, the duo that played for the Huskies last season, also played a big part on Thursday. Diallo had 19 points, six rebounds and five assists, and Kepnang added 15 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field, along with five rebounds and four blocks. Yates finished with four 3-pointers, four rebounds, four steals and three assists.

“Wesley is a dog for real,” Kepnang said. “He does all the little things. He plays physical, which is something I like. He’s just a tough player both mentally and confidence-wise. Once he gets it going, he so strong and hard to stop.”

The Buffaloes, playing away from home for the first time this season, rallied from a two-point halftime deficit against San Francisco.

Freshman guard Isaiah Johnson scored 12 of his team-high 17 points after the intermission, Barrington Hargreaves added 15 points, and Bangot Dak had 13 points, five rebounds and a six assists.

“We’re making progress. There’s no question we are,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “I thought we were a little undisciplined in the first half. But the second half we were better. … We’re still not where we want to be or need to be. But we’re getting there.”

The Huskies will be without starting forwards Hannes Steinbach and Bryson Tucker on Thursday because of ankle injuries.

“With our depth right now, we’re going to have to play a lot better and cleaner than we did (Thursday),” Huskies coach Danny Sprinkle said.

–Field Level Media

A pair of well-traveling fan bases will hope to see their respective teams earn an early-season title on Friday night when No. 9 BYU and Dayton meet in the ESPN Events Invitational championship game in Kissimmee, Fla.

BYU (5-1) rallied past Miami 72-62 in the semifinals on Thursday after trailing by four at halftime. Despite facing the semi-hometown Hurricanes, the Cougars had an overwhelming edge of fans in the stands, with the blue and white drowning out State Farm Field House.

“It’s amazing. It’s something really unique about BYU,” coach Kevin Young said of the fan support. “Playing all over the place, our fans travel, and to see that much blue, especially on a holiday, it was really cool. I know I never take it for granted.”

Projected lottery draft pick AJ Dybantsa had 16 points and eight rebounds in the win. BYU fans waited at the tunnel for nearly an hour after the game, hoping to receive an autograph from the future NBA player. For the 18-year-old, it’s not hard to separate the attention he’s receiving from his individual goals, and his efforts will continue on Friday.

“Obviously my goal for this year is just to win games,” Dybantsa said. “For me, it’s easy to block out the noise. You see it on social media, but we constantly work and we’re constantly in the gym. It’s easy for me when you’re always with the team.”

Dybantsa leads the Cougars with an average of 19.2 points per game, while Richie Saunders adds 18.7.

Dayton (6-1), meanwhile, has won four consecutive games, including an 84-79 overtime thriller over Georgetown in the second semifinal on Thanksgiving night. The Flyers squandered a 14-point lead with just over five minutes left before an 8-0 spurt in overtime helped coach Anthony Grant’s team improve to 2-0 against the Big East in the last eight days.

Dayton won 77-71 in overtime at Marquette on Nov. 19.

“I’m just proud that we were able to find a way to win,” Grant said. “We had some tired bodies out there. … We’re excited because we have a chance to play for a championship tomorrow.”

A win on Friday night would mark the Flyers’ first non-conference tournament championship since winning the ESPN Events Invitational in 2021. Amael L’Etang paced Dayton with 18 points on Thursday, while Javon Bennett and De’Shayne Montgomery each scored 13.

“We just want to win,” Montgomery said. “We’re going to do whatever it takes to win. Whether it’s in overtime, double overtime, triple overtime. We’re going to battle it out until we’re on top.”

Bennett averages 16.1 points per game for the Flyers, followed by Montgomery’s 14.9 and L’Etang’s 13.4.

With a chance for a massive resume-boosting win, Dayton will face BYU for the first time since 2022, when the Cougars overcame a 23-point deficit for a 79-75 overtime win in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

–Field Level Media

The first half of “Feast Week” was fixated on the Players Era men’s championship in Las Vegas, but now another tournament will enjoy a high-powered matchup of unbeaten teams in its title game.

No. 24 Vanderbilt and Saint Mary’s will meet with the Battle 4 Atlantis title on the line on Friday afternoon in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

For starters, it’s a rematch of an NCAA Tournament first-round game from last March, when No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s defeated No. 10 Vanderbilt 59-56 in East Region play.

The Commodores (7-0) aren’t likely to finish a game scoring in the 50s anytime soon. They entered Thursday averaging 99.7 points per game, and they didn’t hurt that pace too much in an 89-74 victory over VCU in the semifinals.

Duke Miles led Vanderbilt with 20 points, and Tyler Tanner and Tyler Nickel each added 16. That trio was responsible for eight of the Commodores’ 11 3-pointers, made at a 50% clip.

Miles — a journeyman with previous stops at Troy, High Point and Oklahoma — is having a tournament to remember. In the first-round game Wednesday, an 83-78 win over Western Kentucky, Miles put the Commodores on his back with a season-high 28 points that included 12-of-12 free-throw shooting.

Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington was complimentary of Miles after that performance.

“I like dynamic guards that can score and make plays for others,” Byington told reporters Wednesday. “He’s an extremely important piece. I think he was the last (transfer) that we got and we knew how important he was for the team. He’s going to even get more and more comfortable with us, with the team, along the way.”

Saint Mary’s (8-0) coud have the antidote for Vanderbilt’s stellar offense. The Gaels were ranked in the top five nationally in scoring defense (58.9 points per game) before Thursday’s semifinal against Virginia Tech, and their 77-66 win fit in with their expectations.

What made this game stand out was that it represented the Gaels’ first chance to play a power-conference foe this season. They held Virginia Tech to 30.9% shooting from the field and 23.3% from 3-point range. One Hokies starter, Jailen Bedford, went 0-for-10 from the floor.

Will the Gaels have the offense to keep up with the Commodores? The Gaels shot 51.9% from the field against Virginia Tech, their fifth time in eight games shooting at least 50%. Paulius Murauskas (19 points, seven rebounds) led four scorers in double figures as Saint Mary’s racked up 38 paint points.

“The good was we were good inside,” coach Randy Bennett said. “I thought we were pretty good on shot selection … and shot it decent from three, which we didn’t the first night. Our area of concern we have to get better at, and this has been how we’ve been, is we’ve got to quit turning the ball over.”

The Gaels had 15 turnovers.

Murauskas is the only Saint Mary’s starter from last year’s NCAA game still with the team; he had just four points on 1-for-9 shooting against Vanderbilt last March. Now Murauskas is the Gaels’ leading scorer at 18.6 points per game, behind Mikey Lewis’ 17.2.

Nickel scored nine points and Devin McGlockton had seven for the Commodores that day. Nickel (13.9 ppg) and McGlockton (11.4) are two of Vanderbilt’s six double-figure scorers this season, topped by Miles and his 17.9 clip.

–Field Level Media

It’s been a dozen years since Virginia Tech played VCU.

Now they will meet on Friday morning in the third-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

The teams find themselves in the consolation game after falling by double-digit margins in second-round games on Thanksgiving Day.

After VCU lost to No. 24 Vanderbilt 89-74, Virginia Tech dropped a 77-66 decision to Saint Mary’s in a battle of unbeatens.

The losses were similar. The Rams (4-3) led for just 18 seconds, while the Hokies (6-1) followed with their wire-to-wire defeat after surrendering the game’s first eight points.

Virginia Tech was hampered by the loss of last year’s top scorer and rebounder, Tobi Lawal, who played 15 minutes in the Hokies’ 66-64 win over Colorado State in the opening round of the tournament.

On Thursday, Lawal was sidelined and in a walking boot. Coach Mike Young said Lawal likely would miss the VCU game, and his absence would be “precautionary.”

The Hokies struggled to shoot from the floor without their top inside threat, making only 30.9% of their shots against Saint Mary’s.

Jailen Bedford, who hit 7 of 9 field-goal tries on Wednesday, missed all 10 of his attempts against the Gaels. Amani Hansberry (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Jaden Schutt (17 points) stood out on Thursday for Virginia Tech, which scored just 20 points in the first half.

“We couldn’t get on track offensively in the first half, and that’s frustrating,” Young said. “We’ll go back and look at that and dissect it.”

VCU is off to an uneven start under first-year coach Phil Martelli Jr., who still is trying to figure out the Rams’ rotation. Eleven players average at least 12.0 minutes per game.

“We’re built a certain way where I can go 1 through 13 right now where anybody I’m putting in the game, I feel very confident in all of them,” Martelli said.

Charleston transfer Lazar Djokovic (12.1 points per game) gives the Rams size at 6-foot-11.

VCU’s balanced attack includes the backcourt trio of Oregon transfer Jadrian Tracey (12.1 ppg), Nyk Lewis (11 ppg) and Terrence Hill Jr. (10.7 ppg).

–Field Level Media

It will be new territory for LSU and Drake when they meet Friday night in the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Fla.

LSU (5-0) will be leaving home for the first time this season.

Half of the victories for Drake (4-2) have come against opposition from outside of Division I, and Friday will mark the first time the Bulldogs meet an opponent from a power conference this season.

LSU beat Omaha 99-73 last Friday in its most recent game, continuing a stretch of exceeding 90 points in every game this season. Max Mackinnon reversed some of the Tigers’ recent long-range shooting woes by hitting six 3-pointers.

“We only made five 3s and were 25% (on 3-pointers),” LSU coach Matt McMahon said of a recent three-game stretch. “I know we’re a much better shooting team than that. I think it was just shooting with confidence, unselfish play and good execution.”

All of LSU’s scoring might be distracting from what’s happening at the other end of the court.

“We’re definitely going to work on our defense and rebounding,” Tigers guard Dedan Thomas Jr. said.

It will be a stark change in competition levels for Drake, which defeated Division III Buena Vista 98-52 last Friday.

First-year Drake coach Eric Henderson is optimistic for the season.

“The amount of competitive spirit, the connectivity that we showed,” Henderson said. “These are things we sure are excited about.”

Sophomore Okku Federiko was the team’s top scorer in the most-recent game with 16 points and also supplied six assists. He’s a transfer from South Carolina but didn’t see any game action last season, so he didn’t face LSU in a Southeastern Conference game.

Based on Friday’s results, LSU and Drake will be matched against either DePaul or Georgia Tech on Saturday. For Drake, from the Missouri Valley Conference, the games this weekend will be the only power-conference opponents of the season.

“Those are great opportunities to play a power 4, power-5 school on a neutral site; that’s an awesome opportunity,” Henderson said. “I certainly hope we’re not a finished product when we play LSU.”

–Field Level Media

SMU has rolled through the early part of its schedule.

The Mustangs (7-0) have just one victory by less than than 11 points after playing all of their games at home.

Now they will face Mississippi State (3-3) on Friday night in Starkville, Miss.

“A road game is a road game no matter where you play,” SMU coach Andy Enfield said. “You have to prepare a little differently. You have to be able to handle the fans and the atmosphere of a road game. I think our guys are looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to it.”

This will be the first of four consecutive games away from home for the Mustangs, who will visit No. 24 Vanderbilt before having neutral-site games against Texas A&M and LSU.

“The good thing is we have six experienced players on our team that have been there,” Enfield said. “They’ve been in hostile environments. They’ve played a lot of road games in their careers. We were good on the road last year. We were 7-3 in the ACC, which was outstanding,”

Boopie Miller is averaging 20.3 points per game and Jaron Pierre Jr. is contributing 17.6 for SMU this season.

Mississippi State coach Chris Jans hopes his team’s most recent game winds up being a precursor for the entire season — featuring a slow start followed by ultimate success.

Jans said he “didn’t know exactly where we would be” after losing consecutive games to Kansas State (98-77 score) and New Mexico (80-78) in the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo.

The Bulldogs trailed visiting New Orleans by 13 points with less than six minutes remaining Monday but scrambled back to force overtime, then prevailed 81-78 on Amier Ali’s 3-pointer in the final seconds.

Jans said the start to the game was “pretty good,” but “it wasn’t so good for a long stretch of the game after that.”

“If we can hang our hat on anything,” Jans said, “it’s that there was zero quit in the players. There was zero splintering. Those kids kept fighting, and we got a little bit of momentum. At the end of the day they just scratched, clawed and just found a way to get themselves back in the game.”

–Field Level Media