Taylor Wahl had 19 points and 10 rebounds and three other Wisconsin players scored in double-figures in the Badgers’ season-opening 85-59 win Monday night over South Dakota at Madison, Wis.

Chucky Hepburn scored 14 points, Steve Crowl had 12 points and Max Klesmit 11.

Wahl, who had 17 of his points in the second half, made 5 of 11 shots from the field and 9 of 10 from the free-throw line. He also had four assists to lead the Badgers.

Kruz Perrott-Hunt was South Dakota’s leading scorer with 21 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field.

He had only four points in the second half on 2-of-7 shooting from the field.

Paul Bruns finished with 10 points for the Coyotes.

Wisconsin, which never trailed, started taking control of the game in the last 2 minutes of the first half, outscoring South Dakota 8-2 to take a 38-28 halftime lead.

Hepburn, a true freshman, made two 3-pointers in that stretch.

A 1-for-11 stretch from the field for South Dakota bridging the first and second halves allowed Wisconsin to take a 40-28 lead with 18:30 left.

Wisconsin put together a 9-2 run to increase the lead 53-36 with 14:23 remaining.

South Dakota did not come closer than 15 points afterward.

The Coyotes went 2-for-15 from 3-point range in the game. They missed their first 12 shots from beyond the arc before A.J. Plitzuweit’s triple with 9:05 left.

Wisconsin made 12 shots from 3-point range, converting 46.2 percent from there.

The Badgers made 50.9 percent of their shots overall.

They limited South Dakota to 40.4 percent shooting (23 of 57) from the field.

The Coyotes produced only seven assists with 10 turnovers.

Wisconsin doubled South Dakota’s assist total with a transition-style offense. The Badgers outscored South Dakota 13-5 in fast-break points.

The Badgers improved to 6-1 in season openers under Greg Gard.

–Field Level Media

Sam Griesel scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half as Nebraska held off Maine 79-66 on Monday night in Lincoln, Neb.

Keisei Tominaga posted 19 points and Juwan Gary had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Cornhuskers, who outrebounded the Black Bears 44-27. Eight of Gary’s boards were on the offensive glass, while Griesel added nine total rebounds.

Gedi Juozapaitis made his first six 3-pointers en route to a team-high 20 points for Maine. Kristians Feierbergs added 16 points with a team-best six rebounds.

The Black Bears went 12-for-29 from 3-point distance to keep the game close in the second half, getting as close as one point. But the Cornhuskers dominated the interior with 42 points in the paint.

Nebraska opened up a 13-2 lead by limiting Maine to 1-of-5 shooting over the first 6:23 of the game. Wilhelm Breidenbach made a dunk and a layup on consecutive possessions to give Nebraska its initial double-digit lead.

Juozapaitis went 3-for-3 from 3 in the first half to keep Maine afloat, but a late run from Tominaga pushed the Cornhuskers’ lead to as many as 15 before settling for a 40-28 halftime advantage. The Japanese native scored Nebraska’s final 10 points of the half, with two treys and two layups.

Maine scored the first seven points of the second half to cut the margin to five, and the Black Bears kept slowly chipping away. When Juozapaitis knocked down his fifth 3 of the night, it cut the deficit to 54-53 with 13 minutes to play.

Emmanuel Bandoumel blocked a shot on Maine’s next possession and turned it into a jumper at the other end, setting off a 14-1 sprint for Nebraska to grow the lead back to 68-54. Griesel hit a 3-pointer and a jumper in that span.

Maine kept at it but never got closer than nine points the rest of the way. Griesel made four free throws in the final 33 seconds.

–Field Level Media

Robbie Beran scored 14 of his career-high 20 points in the first half and Chase Audige handed out a career-high nine assists to pace Northwestern’s 85-54 victory over visiting Chicago State Monday night in Evanston, Ill.

Boo Buie added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists as the Wildcats improved to 15-0 all-time against Chicago State in the season opener for both teams.

Elijah Weaver scored 19 points and Jahsean Corbett added 14 points and eight rebounds to lead Chicago State, but the Cougars had to heat up late to shoot 25.4 percent from the field for the night.

Chicago State’s shooting issues started from the opening tip. The Cougars missed three shots on the game’s first possession and their first 11 shots overall as Northwestern bolted to a 9-0 lead, triggered by the first of Ty Berry’s four 3-pointers.

The Cougars finally got on the board with Weaver’s 3-pointer at the 13:11 mark of the first half, which sparked a 10-2 run that pulled the visitors within 11-10 on Wesley Cardet’s step-back jumper with 9:32 left in the half.

The Wildcats reasserted themselves as backup Brooks Barnhizer made a layup, Berry (14 points) canned two 3-pointers and Beran sank four free throws as the Wildcats built a 25-13 lead. Beran added a 3-pointer and a 3-point play late in the half to help push the margin to 37-21 at intermission.

Northwestern senior guards triggered a fast start in the second half. Audige cashed a 3-pointer, then his steal set up Buie’s three-point play off a layup and gave Northwestern a 43-21 lead 61 seconds into the half.

Audige, who struggled last year after dealing with an early-season injury, also delivered 13 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Seven-footer Matthew Nicholson, a potential answer in the middle after Pete Nance transferred to North Carolina and Ryan Young left for Duke, contributed nine points in 14 minutes off the bench.

–Field Level Media

Javan Johnson scored a career-high 24 points with 10 rebounds as DePaul won its fifth straight season opener, 72-66 over visiting Loyola Maryland on Monday night in Chicago.

Johnson went 9 of 13 from the floor, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range. Oklahoma transfer Umoja Gibson added 12 points and Da’Sean Nelson scored 10 for the Blue Demons, who shot 43.1 percent but finished 14 of 18 from the free-throw line.

Kenny Jones had 20 points and freshman Deon Perry scored 13 for Loyola, which outscored DePaul 41-34 in the second half. However, the Greyhounds shot 40 percent and went 8 of 17 from the free-throw line on the night.

After DePaul took a 13-point lead into halftime, Jones opened the second with a 3. However, Johnson scored the next five points.

The Greyhounds, though, scored 10 of the first 16 points of the second half and got within nine on Chris Kuzemka’s 3-pointer. Then Gibson’s 3 with 14:03 left in regulation gave DePaul back its double-digit cushion.

Loyola used a 7-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back Jones’ baskets, to get within 53-47 at 7:56 to go. But DePaul’s 6-foot-10 Yor Anei hit a hook shot, then made a steal that led to Jackson’s 3 that put the hosts up 58-47 and in control.

The Blue Demons, picked to finish last in the Big East in the league’s preseason poll, hit four of their first eight shots and used a 10-2 run to lead 12-5.

Loyola, picked to finish sixth in the Patriot League, got within 19-14, but DePaul strung together an 8-0 run — highlighted by Ahmad Bynum’s 3 and an old-fashioned three-point play from Jalen Terry.

The Greyhounds, meanwhile, went more than 5 minutes without a point before Perry’s bucket with 3:56 remaining in the opening half.

The Blue Demons shot 46.9 percent, scored 20 points in the paint and 12 off 10 Loyola turnovers to lead 38-25 at the break.

DePaul played without injured returning starter Nick Ogenda (hand) and South Florida transfer Caleb Murphy.

–Field Level Media

Mouhamed Gueye scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as Washington State defeated Texas State 83-61 in the season opener for both schools Monday in Pullman, Wash.

DJ Rodman, the son of NBA legend Dennis Rodman, added 16 points, shooting 4 of 7 on 3-pointers for the Cougars, who reached the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament in the spring.

Mason Harrell scored 17 points for the Bobcats, the defending Sun Belt Conference regular-season champions. Teammates Davion Sykes and Tyrel Morgan added 10 points apiece.

The Cougars also got key contributions from a pair of transfers, Justin Powell from Tennessee and Jabe Mullins from Saint Mary’s (Calif.).

Powell had a double-double with 14 points and 12 assists and Mullins scored 13 for WSU, which shot 52.7% from the field (29 of 55), including 9 of 20 from 3-point range.

Rodman’s biggest moment came with just more than 13 minutes remaining. He blocked a layup attempt by Sykes, then made a 3-pointer at the other end in transition atop give WSU a 58-40 lead.

The Cougars led 38-31 after a back-and-forth first half, with Rodman scoring 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc.

After WSU built an early 9-2 lead, Harrell sparked a 16-3 run for Texas State. The Bobcats led 18-12 midway through the half before WSU switched to zone defense and clamped down.

WSU had an 8-0 run in the first half to take the lead for good and an 11-0 run in the second. The Cougars’ largest lead was 83-54 with 2:01 remaining.

WSU held a 39-25 edge in rebounding thanks to Gueye, a 6-foot-11 sophomore from Senegal. The Cougars outscored Texas State 40-34 in the paint and 9-2 in fast-break points.

It was a homecoming for Texas State assistant coach Bennie Seltzer, who played for WSU from 1990-93 and remains the Cougars’ career assists leader.

–Field Level Media