Xavier University continues its season-opening four-game homestand on Friday night when it welcomes the Montana Grizzlies in the first meeting between the two schools.

Xavier, which will enjoy a sold-out crowd for the second straight game, is looking for its sixth win in a row at Cintas Center.

Souley Boum made an impressive Xavier debut in Xavier’s season-opening win over Morgan State on Monday night, scoring a game-high 23 points. Colby Jones added a career-high nine assists to go with 15 points, six rebounds, three steals and three blocks.

In the first game of his second stint as Xavier head coach, Sean Miller watched his Musketeers use a 31-5 run to close out the first half and coast to a 96-73 win.

“The crowd was incredible. Maybe it’s because I’ve been gone for so long, but I can’t imagine in college basketball (anyplace better) than what we have here at the Cintas Center. It has everything, and when you have the home court we have, you feel responsible for having a good team,” Miller said.

Montana opened the season with a 91-63 loss to Duquesne in Pittsburgh. The Dukes used hot shooting and full-court pressure defense to disrupt Montana and end the first half on a 31-7 run.

Trailing 45-19 at the half, Montana had little hope of getting back in the game as Duquesne shot a blistering 64.4 percent from the floor.

The Grizzlies were cold offensively, going the final 13 minutes of the opening half without a field goal. Montana improved offensively in the second half, scoring 44 points, but it could not make a threat down the stretch.

“You don’t know where you’re at until you compete and get after it. You don’t know how tough you are until you’ve been in a fight,” Montana head coach Travis DeCuire said.

“For us, I thought we got off to a decent start offensively. I don’t know that we were ever defending very well. Game was close and then the pressure came. Pressure busts pipes. They forced a couple of turnovers for easy baskets, momentum, and we never really snapped out of it,” DeCuire said.

–Field Level Media

DJ Horne scored 18 of his 25 points in the first half to lead Arizona State to an 84-68 victory over Northern Arizona on Thursday night at Tempe, Ariz.

Devan Cambridge added 16 points and Marcus Bagley and Warren Washington each had 12 for the Sun Devils (2-0). Frankie Collins contributed eight assists for Arizona State, which never trailed in the contest.

Jalen Cone scored 17 points for the Lumberjacks (0-2), who trailed by as many as 35 points before cutting the deficit to 11 in the final minutes. Liam Lloyd and Ezekiel Richards added 11 points apiece before fouling out for Northern Arizona.

Arizona State shot 54.2 percent from the field, including 9 of 17 from 3-point range. Horne sank four 3-pointers and Cambridge made three.

The Sun Devils had a 40-23 rebounding advantage and a 22-8 edge in fastbreak points.

Northern Arizona made 12 of its last 15 shots to finish at 42.1 percent from the field. The Lumberjacks were just 7 of 28 from behind the arc. Cone made three treys.

Horne scored 18 first-half points as the Sun Devils held a 47-22 advantage.

Horne scored six straight points as Arizona State began to separate from the Lumberjacks at 15-7 with 11:31 left in the first half.

Cambridge hit two 3-pointers in 57 seconds and Horne added one 18 seconds later as the Sun Devils held a 35-17 lead with 4:22 remaining.

Northern Arizona’s Keith Haymon made two free throws with 2:49 left before Arizona State erupted with 20 straight points — the final 10 of the first half and the first 10 of the second half.

Horne capped the big burst with a trey to make it 57-22 with 17:25 left in the contest.

Northern Arizona trailed by 27 with just over six minutes remaining before rattling off 12 consecutive points to move within 73-58 with 4:22 left. A three-point play by Richards trimmed the deficit to 76-65 with 1:58 remaining before Arizona State scored the next eight points.

–Field Level Media

Marcus Carr and Sir’Jabari Rice scored 11 apiece to lead six Texas players in double figures as the 12th-ranked Longhorns swamped visiting Houston Christian 82-31 on Thursday in Austin, Texas.

Texas (2-0) was up by 27 points at the half and then really turned it on, leading by as many 59 points late in the game despite going just 3 of 22 from beyond the arc for the game. Twelve players saw the court for the Longhorns and 11 of them scored.

Arterio Morris, Timmy Allen, Dillon Mitchell and Tyrese Hunter added 10 points each for Texas; Mitchell contributed 12 rebounds and Allen grabbed 10.

Things promise to get significantly tougher for the Longhorns when they host No. 2 Gonzaga on Wednesday.

Tristan Moore led the Huskies (0-2) with 8 points. Houston Christian shot only 21.7 percent from the floor.

The Longhorns dominated from the outset, reeling off the first 16 points while forcing seven Houston Christian turnovers and holding the Huskies scoreless over the first 6:43.

Texas pushed its lead 24-4 after a dunk by Mitchell with 9:18 left in the first half and by 22 points when Rice canned a free throw with 3:11 remaining.

Texas finished the half on a 7-0 run, capped by a buzzer-beating putback layup by Hunter that produced a 39-12 lead at the break.

Hunter led all scorers with eight points in the half, while no Houston Christian player scored more than three. Texas outshot the Huskies 47.2 percent to 20 percent in the half despite missing all 11 of its 3-point attempts.

The Longhorns forced 15 Houston Christian turnovers that led to 19 points and outrebounded the visitors 29-12.

If it was possible, the Longhorns turned up the heat a little more over the first 12-plus minutes of the second half, expanding their advantage to 68-19 with 7:41 left in the game via a 19-0 run. Texas finally hit a 3-pointer after missing its first 14 attempts.

–Field Level Media

Ryan Kalkbrenner collected a career-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help No. 9 Creighton coast to a 96-61 victory over North Dakota on Thursday in Omaha, Neb.

Kalkbrenner, the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year, made 10 of 11 shots from the floor and all four attempts from the free-throw line. His point total on Thursday eclipsed his previous high of 22, achieved on two occasions in 2021-22.

Creighton’s Trey Alexander sank four 3-pointers to highlight his 14-point performance. Arthur Kaluma had 12 points, Ryan Nembhard contributed nine points and Baylor Scheierman had eight points and 10 rebounds for the Bluejays, who ignited a 29-3 run en route to claiming a 53-22 lead at halftime.

Creighton shot a robust 58.3 percent from the floor in the first half. The Bluejays finished at 51.4 percent for the game, including 44.4 percent from 3-point range (12 of 27).

The Bluejays held a decisive 49-20 edge in rebounds, including a 21-2 advantage on the offensive end.

Creighton improved to 2-0 for the 12th time in 13 seasons under head coach Greg McDermott. The Bluejays looked like an entirely different team after requiring a late 14-0 surge to post a 72-60 victory over St. Thomas-Minnesota on Monday.

The Bluejays answered an early 8-5 deficit with their 29-3 run, highlighted by Kalkbrenner exploiting the interior with layups and alley-oop dunks. Scheierman, Francisco Farabello, Alexander and Mason Miller each made a 3-pointer during the surge.

Kalkbrenner converted an alley-oop in transition from Nembhard to give Creighton a 42-17 lead with 5:37 remaining in the first half. He added two more dunks and Farabello made a layup to cap the scoring over the first 20 minutes for the Bluejays.

Tsotne Tsartsidze sank three 3-pointers and a pair of free throws to score North Dakota’s first 11 points in the second half. Tsartsidze converted again from beyond the arc and finished with 16 points for the Fighting Hawks (1-1).

–Field Level Media

Trayce Jackson-Davis missed just one shot on his way to 21 points in a light workout for No. 13 Indiana, which breezed past Bethune-Cookman 101-49 on Thursday night in Bloomington, Ind.

Jackson-Davis went 9 of 10 from the field and was aided by wingman Miller Kopp, who made 4 of 7 from 3-point range to add 12 points for Indiana (2-0). Twelve players scored for the Hoosiers. Jalen Hood-Schifino kicked in eight points, eight assists and five rebounds for Indiana.

Pace favored the thoroughbred Hoosiers from the opening tip, and Indiana ended with 27 assists on 35 field goals.

Kopp and Jackson-Davis had nine points apiece at half and Indiana led 49-23.

For the second consecutive game to begin the season, the Hoosiers flexed depth and fresh legs to force turnovers (19 on Thursday) and surge into the second half.

Bethune-Cookman managed nine bench points to 51 for Indiana and trailed by 40 at the under-8 timeout in the second half.

By then, Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson made it apparent the rest of the game would belong to his reserves due to a 81-41 advantage.

A three-point play by Jackson-Davis and Kopp’s pull-up 3-pointer on a fastbreak opportunity blew the game wide open as part of an 11-0 run 2:30 into the second half.

Bethune-Cookman (0-2) was paced by Joe French with 11 points. Marcus Garrett had 10, while Zion Harmon was 2 of 11 from the field and scored six points for the Wildcats. Bethune-Cookman has one game left against Big Ten competition this season — Dec. 29 at Illinois — after losing to Iowa and Indiana to begin the season.

The Wildcats didn’t net a 3-pointer in the second half, and the comeback bid was further stunted by 14 team fouls in the final 20 minutes. Indiana was 21 of 22 from the line; Bethune-Cookman didn’t attempt a foul shot in the first half and finished 6 of 13.

–Field Level Media

C.J. Wilcher scored 21 points to lead host Nebraska to a 75-61 home win over in-state foe Omaha on Thursday in Lincoln, Neb.

Wilcher went 8-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range.

Sam Griesel had 18 points and seven rebounds, Emmanuel Bandoumel supplied 18 points and six rebounds, and Blaise Keita had nine points and 12 rebounds for Nebraska (2-0).

Jaeden Marshall scored 16 points and Marquel Sutton had 14 points for Omaha (0-2), which lost its season opener to No. 5 Kansas.

Nebraska shot 50 percent (25 of 50) from the field and 36.8 percent (7 of 19) from 3-point range, which helped the Cornhuskers overcome an 18-of-31 performance at the free-throw line.

Omaha shot 41.4 percent (24 of 58) from the field and 29.4 percent (5 of 17) from distance 3-point range. The Mavericks committed 16 turnovers to 11 for Nebraska.

The rebounding battle was even at 35.

After leading 41-31 at halftime, Nebraska opened the second half on a 10-4 run to take a 51-35 lead with 14:18 remaining.

Omaha responded, cutting Nebraska’s lead to 55-48 with 9:36 remaining, but the Cornhuskers built their lead back up to double-digits at 60-48 with 8:43 left.

Shortly thereafter, Nebraska used a 6-0 run to grab a 66-51 lead with 5:45 remaining.

The Cornhuskers led by as many as 19 points with 2:01 left.

Nebraska wasted little time establishing itself, scoring the first 11 points of the game and taking a 21-6 lead with 11:22 remaining in the first half.

The Cornhuskers were up 29-12 before Omaha went on an 11-0 run of its own to shave the deficit to 29-23 with 5:15 to go in the first half.

Nebraska later went on a 7-1 run and led 41-29 lead with 17 seconds left until halftime.

–Field Level Media

Marcus Domask canned a corner 3-pointer with 21.6 seconds left Thursday night as Southern Illinois finished the game with a 10-1 run to beat Oklahoma State 61-60 in Stillwater, Okla.

The Cowboys had two chances to win the game, and they committed a turnover on their first. After Southern Illinois’ Troy D’Amico missed the front end of a one-and-one, Bryce Thompson’s 17-footer from out top went begging just before the buzzer.

Lance Jones scored a game-high 19 points for the Salukis (2-0), including seven in a row after Oklahoma State (1-1) owned a 59-51 lead with four minutes left.

Domask finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Southern Illinois won despite making only 38.3 percent of its field-goal attempts, including 9 of 31 3-point tries (29 percent), and getting outrebounded 43-31.

Thompson and Avery Anderson III scored 14 points each for the Cowboys, while Caleb Asberry came off the bench to net 13. Moussa Cisse added 11 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, but he missed three key foul shots in the final minute.

Oklahoma State made only 8 of 16 foul shots and committed 14 turnovers, canceling out its major advantages in size and quickness.

Southern Illinois got off to a fast start in the first seven minutes, using solid defense and the 3-point arc to build a 13-4 lead when Dalton Banks scored in transition at the 13:39 mark. The Salukis made three 3-pointers and hung with their taller opponent on the boards.

Oklahoma State finally got going on offense when Asberry came off the bench and drilled consecutive 3-pointers. The treys started a 12-2 run that gave the Cowboys their first lead of the game at the 8:05 mark on a short jumper by Cisse.

Anderson contributed six straight Oklahoma State points later in the half to give the Cowboys their biggest advantage at 25-19. After Southern Illinois drew within 30-28 on an AJ Ferguson corner 3-pointer in the last minute, Asberry sank one more trey to make it 33-28 at intermission.

–Field Level Media

Kevin Obanor and Jaylon Tyson scored 13 points apiece to help No. 25 Texas Tech to an easy 78-54 victory over Texas Southern on Thursday night at Lubbock, Texas.

De’Vion Harmon added 12 points as the Red Raiders (2-0) recorded their 23rd consecutive home win. Obanor was 6-of-8 shooting and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Zytarious Morlte had 12 points and three steals and Davon Barnes added 10 points for Texas Southern (0-2). John Walker III collected 12 rebounds for the Tigers.

Texas Southern played without PJ Henry (undisclosed injury), who scored 21 points in Monday’s season-opening loss at San Francisco.

Texas Tech shot 45.9 percent from the field but made just 29.4 percent (5 of 17) from 3-point range. The Red Raiders improved to 21-0 all-time against members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

The Tigers made only 35 percent of their attempts, including 4 of 18 (22.2 percent) from behind the arc. Texas Southern committed 19 turnovers to the Red Raiders’ 12.

A basket by Obanor pushed Texas Tech’s lead above 20 points for the first time at 56-35 with 11:27 remaining.

A short time later, Tyson converted back-to-back layups to make it 65-38 with 8:16 left.

Harmon made two free throws with 5:51 left to push lead over at 71-40 and the lead topped out at 32 as Texas Tech closed out the triumph.

Texas Southern trailed 15-13 after Kolby Granger’s basket with 11:20 remaining in the first half before the Red Raiders went on a 10-1 run to open up an 11-point lead.

Texas Tech later increased its advantage to 34-20 on Elijah Fisher’s short bank shot in the lane.

Harmon scored four straight points in the final minute of the half to give the Red Raiders a 19-point lead. But Isaiah Marin closed the half with a 3-pointer as the Tigers trailed 44-28 at the break.

Texas Tech shot 58.6 percent from the field in the first half, while Texas Southern shot 42.3 percent.

–Field Level Media

Jalen Wilson scored 11 points in the first eight minutes of the game as No. 5 Kansas demolished North Dakota State 82-59 Thursday night at Allen Fieldhouse.

Wilson finished the first half with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-4 from long range. He led the Jayhawks with 21 points for the game, though he sat much of the second half.

After a sluggish start in their season opener over Omaha on Monday, the Jayhawks (2-0) showed the advantage in athleticism with five first-half alley-oop dunks.

North Dakota State (0-2) played the second half even with the Jayhawks, but Kansas never led by less than the final margin of 23 in the second half. They led by as many as 34 points at 68-34. They also got scoring from 11 different players.

Kansas was Self-less for the second straight game, as head coach Bill Self served the second game of a four-game suspension imposed by the university related to an NCAA investigation into potential violations tied to KU’s relationship with Adidas. Norm Roberts is serving as interim coach.

Besides Wilson, who finished two points shy of his career high, Kansas got 12 points from Gradey Dick and 10 from MJ Rice.

North Dakota State relied heavily on the three-point shot. They took 32 of their 58 shots (nine of 21 makes) from behind the arc, including 20 of their 28 shots (five of seven makes) in the first half.

They were led by Grant Nelson with 11 points and Boden Skunberg with 10.

The Bison didn’t hit a field goal inside the arc until the 8:11 mark of the first half. The layup by Skunberg cut the Kansas lead to 26-11.

Kansas never trailed in the game. The Jayhawks extended the lead to 10 points (16-6) at the 12:43 mark.

–Field Level Media