Preseason All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis recorded 15 points and seven rebounds to help No. 13 Indiana cruise to an 88-53 victory over visiting Morehead State in the season opener for both teams Monday at Bloomington, Ind.

Malik Reneau also scored 15 points in his college debut as Indiana improved to 6-0 all-time against Morehead State. Jordan Geronimo added 10 points for the Hoosiers.

Mark Freeman scored 14 points in the first half for Morehead State but sat out the second with a twisted ankle. Drew Thelwell added 11 for the Eagles, who committed 21 turnovers to Indiana’s 10.

The Hoosiers shot 61 percent from the field, including 4 of 11 (36.4 percent) from 3-point range, and led by as many as 37 points.

Morehead State connected on 37 percent of its shots and 9 of 30 from behind the arc.

Jackson-Davis scored 13 first-half points to help the Hoosiers hold a 41-29 lead. Morehead State was hurt by 13 turnovers.

Indiana led 16-9 after a dunk by Jackson-Davis before Morehead State scored the next eight points. Freeman capped the run to give the Eagles a 17-16 edge with 12 minutes to go in the half.

Tamar Bates scored the next five points to give the Hoosiers a four-point edge before Freeman converted a four-point play to tie it at 21 with 9:17 remaining before the break.

But Morehead State committed seven turnovers while going scoreless for 5 1/2 minutes. Indiana cashed in with 13 consecutive points, including a layup by Jackson-Davis to take a 34-21 lead with 4:16 remaining in the half.

Tucson Redding drilled a 3-pointer with 3:47 left to end the Eagles’ drought. But the Hoosiers rattled off seven more straight points with Jackson-Davis’ three-point play pushing the lead to 41-24 with one minute left.

The Hoosiers led by 12 at the break and then tallied the first six of the second half to make it 47-29.

Miller Kopp made two 3-pointers during a span of 1:17 and the latter one pushed the lead to 20 for the first time at 59-39 with 11:28 left.

A layup by Reneau pushed the lead over 30 and made it 75-44 with 6:44 remaining.

–Field Level Media

Hartford coach John Gallagher sent his letter of resignation to the university’s president Monday, the Hartford Courant reported, just one day before the team is scheduled to play its first game of the season.

Gallagher spent the past 12 seasons as head coach of the Hawks. He guided Hartford to a surprise victory in the America East Conference tournament in 2021, earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

One month later, Hartford revealed its plans to reclassify from Division I athletics to Division III, surprising students and coaches at the time.

According to the Courant, Gallagher alleged in his resignation letter that the university did not allow him to bring an athletic trainer with the team to a closed scrimmage last week at Dartmouth, part of an ongoing cutting of resources that he claims is affecting student-athletes’ well-being. He said one of his players hurt his knee at Dartmouth and was unable to receive proper care.

“As I have communicated on numerous occasions … the University of Hartford has not only breached the material terms of my contract, but has consistently and repeatedly undermined the men’s basketball program to the point where player safety and well-being has been jeopardized,” Gallagher wrote in his letter to campus president Gregory Woodward, per the Courant. “… This is something that I, as a coach I cannot tolerate.”

Gallagher, 45, had a 169-207 record with the Hawks.

The 2022-23 season is a transitional year for Hartford’s athletic programs. It will begin playing at the Division III level in 2023-24.

Hartford had not released a statement or announced an interim coach as of Monday afternoon. The Hawks are scheduled to host Sacred Heart on Tuesday.

–Field Level Media

David Jones collected 21 points and 10 rebounds as host St. John’s took control in the opening minutes and cruised to a 97-72 victory over Merrimack on Monday night in New York.

Jones produced a standout debut for the Red Storm after transferring from DePaul. In 24 minutes, Jones made 8 of 16 shots, including five 3-pointers, after shooting 27.3 percent from behind the arc in two seasons with DePaul.

Jones led a balanced attack that saw all five Red Storm starters reach double figures and St. John’s shoot 56.9 percent to offset a whopping 29 turnovers.

Montez Mathis added 16 points for the Red Storm, who dominated their first meeting with Merrimack by leading for 37:52, scoring 46 points in the paint and converting 18 layups and dunks.

Posh Alexander added 14 points, six steals and five assists while Andre Curbelo contributed 13 points and seven assists in his debut after transferring from Illinois. The backcourt duo combined for eight of St. John’s 14 steals and 12 of its 22 assists.

Joel Soriano also produced a double-double, with 12 points and 11 rebounds, as St. John’s held a 47-26 rebounding edge.

Jordan Minor led Merrimack with 19 points while Jordan Derkack added 15. Merrimack, the preseason favorite in the Northeast Conference, shot 38.5 percent, committed 21 turnovers and missed 23 of 29 3-point tries.

Jones capped a 23-5 run by hitting a layup to give St. John’s a commanding 32-14 lead with 9:22 remaining in the opening half. Consecutive 3s by Jones and Mathis swelled the lead to 38-17 with 7:40 remaining and the Red Storm extended the lead to 51-30 by halftime.

Jones hit three 3-pointers to give St. John’s a 65-38 lead less than four minutes into the second half, but Merrimack got within 71-56 on two free throws by Derkack with 8:34 left.

St. John’s finished it off with a 16-2 run highlighted by Jones’ fifth 3-pointer to extend its lead to 87-58 with 5:02 left following a layup by Alexander.

–Field Level Media

Antonio Reeves scored 22 points off the bench and CJ Fredrick added 20 as No. 4 Kentucky opened the season with a 95-63 victory against visiting Howard — despite playing without three starters Monday night.

Fredrick, a transfer from Iowa, was making his Wildcats debut after missing all of last season due to a hamstring injury. Jacob Toppin added a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds and Cason Wallace scored 15.

Oscar Tshiebwe, the reigning National Player of the Year, and All-SEC guard Sahvir Wheeler were sidelined by injury, and Daimion Collins missed the game in wake of his father’s death last week.

Kobe Dickson scored 17 and Elijah Hawkins added 14 to lead the Bison.

The Wildcats held the Bison to 34.3 percent field-goal shooting (23 of 67), including 28 percent (7 of 25) on 3-point tries.

Kentucky shot 54.8 percent from the floor (34 of 62), including 45.8 percent (11 of 24) on 3-pointers.

Kentucky attempted 15 more free throws (28 to 13) than the Bison and made 16, compared with 10 for Howard.

Howard scored first in the second half on a layup by Jelani Williams, but Fredrick later had two baskets and a 3-pointer during a 12-0 run that gave Kentucky a 63-30 lead.

Hawkins scored five points as the Bison trimmed the lead to 65-40, but Reeves answered with a 3-pointer and the Wildcats eventually pushed the lead back to 30. Their biggest lead was 38.

Wallace had three consecutive Kentucky baskets as the Wildcats opened a 16-7 lead.

The Bison got within six points twice before Fredrick made a 3-pointer and another jumper to help Kentucky open a 31-16 lead.

The lead grew to 18 before Steve Settle III converted a three-point play to pull Howard within 15.

Fredrick made three free throws as the Wildcats opened a 21-point lead and Ugonna Onyenso converted two layups in the final minute, pushing the lead to 49-26 at halftime.

–Field Level Media

Thad Matta’s return to the college basketball sidelines was a resounding success as Butler rolled to a season-opening 89-53 victory over New Orleans Monday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Six-foot-11 North Carolina State transfer Manny Bates produced a career-high 25 points — highlighted by six dunks — along with 11 rebounds and 3 blocks in 28 minutes for Butler (1-0) as the 55-year-old Matta won his first game as a head coach since parting ways with Ohio State in June 2017.

Chuck Harris posted 17 points and Purdue transfer Eric Hunter Jr. added 14 points as all five starters hit double figures in Matta’s first game as Butler’s boss since March 18, 2001, in the NCAA Tournament’s second round.

Denver transfer Jordan Johnson paced New Orleans (0-1) with 15 points while Tyson Jackson added 14 points. Butler limited the Privateers to 41 percent shooting while forcing 30 turnovers.

Johnson swished a 30-footer to open the season’s scoring for the Privateers, but Butler gradually took control with an aggressive man-to-man defense that forced UNO into 14 turnovers in the game’s first 15 minutes.

Harris’ unguarded 3-pointer from the corner gave Butler its first double-digit lead (20-10) with 8:12 left in the first half and forced New Orleans to use its first timeout.

Then Hunter took over by attacking the basket repeatedly. During a four-minute stretch, he drove for a left-handed layup, a resounding lefty slam and a right-handed layup to boost Butler’s margin to 32-16. Bates added back-to-back slams as the Bulldogs carried a 46-21 lead into intermission.

Butler’s lead swelled to 32 points early in the second half as Bates and reserve Pierre Thomas threw down consecutive slams to make it 59-27.

The Bulldogs played without two of their four highly touted transfers — Akron’s Ali Ali and Georgia State’s Jalen Thomas — due to injury. New Orleans big man Simeon Kirkland, who was selected to the Southland Conference’s preseason second team along with Jackson, picked up two early fouls and finished with 4 points and 3 rebounds.

–Field Level Media

Caleb Daniels hit six 3-pointers with 24 points and 10 rebounds, Eric Dixon added 20 points and three blocked shots and No. 16 Villanova defeated visiting La Salle 81-68 on Monday in the season opener for both teams.

It was the debut for Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune, who took over for Hall of Famer Jay Wright, who retired after guiding the Wildcats to two national championships in a highly-successful 21-year stint.

Jordan Longino and Brandon Slater had 12 each for Villanova against the Big 5 rival. The Wildcats won handily despite playing without Justin Moore (Achilles) and Cam Whitmore (thumb).

Josh Nickelberry led the Explorers with 22 points, while Hassan Drame added 17 and Khalil Brantley had 11.

It was the La Salle coaching debut for the 74-year-old Fran Dunphy, who previously led Pennsylvania and Temple to a combined 17 NCAA Tournaments.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 28-11 lead with eight minutes remaining in the first half after Daniels made his fourth 3-pointer. Anwar Gill then hit two free throws, Nickelberry added a jumper and La Salle cut the deficit to 28-15.

But Villanova’s Mark Armstrong came back with a 3-pointer and Dixon hit consecutive baskets in the post as the Wildcats led 35-17 with 4:36 remaining in the half. Neither team scored in the final 2:59 as Villanova led 37-23 at halftime.

Daniels hit his fifth consecutive 3-pointer and the Wildcats went ahead 43-27 just 1:45 into the second half.

Nickelberry responded with a 3-pointer and a three-point play to close La Salle within 43-33.

The Explorers went 7 of 8 from the field to open the second half but still trailed 57-42.

The Wildcats’ Chris Arcidiacono then made a 3-pointer, Slater drove to the basket and scored and the lead ballooned to 20 for Villanova.

When Gill knocked down a tough shot in the lane with 7:59 to go, La Salle cut the deficit to 65-52. Slater and Daniels scored on consecutive possessions to put the Wildcats ahead by 17.

–Field Level Media

–Field Level Media

Hunter Dickinson had 22 points and 12 rebounds, Jett Howard supplied 21 points in his debut, and host No. 22 Michigan defeated Purdue Fort Wayne 75-56 in the season opener for both teams at Ann Arbor, Mich., on Monday.

Dickinson scored his 1,000th point in the first half. Joey Baker, a Duke transfer, added nine points, and Kobe Bufkin chipped in eight points and three assists.

Michigan had a 36-20 advantage in points in the paint, committed only eight turnovers and limited Fort Wayne to 29.6 percent shooting.

Quinton Morton-Robertson led the Mastodons with 15 points and Bobby Planutis tossed in 13.

Purdue Fort Wayne’s top returning player, guard Jarred Godfrey, did not play due to a coach’s decision.

The Wolverines scored 14 points off 12 Fort Wayne turnovers to take a 40-28 halftime lead.

The Mastodons took an 8-4 lead in the first five minutes. The Wolverines then erupted for 20 unanswered points.

Dickinson made three layups during that stretch, while Baker knocked down a pair of 3-pointers. Howard, son of head coach Juwan Howard, also made a 3-pointer and Bufkin finished it off with a layup off a Fort Wayne turnover.

The Mastodons answered with a 9-1 run, including five points from Morton-Robertson.

A 7-0 Michigan spurt, capped by a Howard layup off another Mastodons turnover, gave the Wolverines a 35-19 lead.

After Fort Wayne cut its deficit to single digits, Howard closed out the half with a 3-pointer.

Howard opened the second half with another long ball. A pair of Dickinson dunks increased Michigan’s advantage to 49-31.

A corner 3-pointer by Baker six minutes into the half pushed the Wolverines’ lead past 20 points. Michigan led by as much as 24 but Fort Wayne cut that in half with 12 unanswered points.

A Dickinson layup halted that outburst. Howard soon gave his club more breathing room with a pair of 3-pointers and a transition layup to make it 69-49.

–Field Level Media

Michael Jones scored a career-high 31 points in his Stanford debut to lead the host Cardinal to an 88-78 victory over Pacific in the season opener for both teams on Monday afternoon.

Maxime Raynaud added a career-best 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds as the Cardinal defeated the Tigers for the 19th consecutive time and 34th in 37 all-time meetings. Brandon Angel had 10 points for Stanford, which never trailed.

The Cardinal played without Spencer Jones, who missed the game with a lower-body injury. He ranks ninth in school history with 189 career 3-pointers.

Jordan Ivy-Curry, a transfer from UTSA, paced Pacific with 23 points. Oklahoma State transfer Donovan Williams added 17 for the Tigers.

Pacific trailed by as many as 19 points but later used a 16-2 surge to move within 63-60 with 7:01 remaining.

The Cardinal held off the charge and pushed their lead to 82-70 on Michael O’Connell’s putback with 1:05 left while closing it out.

Stanford shot 60.4 percent from the field, including 8 of 22 from 3-point range.

Pacific connected on 41.8 percent of its shots and 11 of 30 from behind the arc.

Michael Jones played the past three seasons for Davidson. He is the first transfer Stanford has accepted since 2009.

Michael Jones and Raynaud each scored 13 first-half points as the Cardinal led 44-32 at the break. Raynaud made all six of his field-goal attempts as Stanford shot 60.7 percent for the half.

Ivy-Curry had 10 in the half for the Tigers, who made 37.9 percent of their shots.

Michael Jones drained three 3-pointers in the first five-plus minutes to help the Cardinal take a 14-8 lead.

The Cardinal later scored 10 straight points as Raynaud scored on a putback and Angel and Harrison Ingram connected on 3-pointers. Raynaud added a layup for a 37-25 lead with 4:47 left.

After the break, Stanford went on a 9-2 spurt with Angel’s layup making it 53-34 with 16:53 remaining in the contest.

The Cardinal were ahead by 17 with under 12 minutes left before Moe Odum scored five straight points to start an 11-0 run that saw the Tigers trim their deficit to 61-55 with 8:23 remaining. Ivy-Curry’s trey ended the 16-2 stretch that cut Stanford’s lead to three.

–Field Level Media

Adam Flagler scored 21 points to lead a balanced offensive attack as No. 5 Baylor walloped visiting Mississippi Valley State 117-53 in Waco, Texas, on Monday on college basketball’s opening day of the season.

Baylor (1-0) led by 40 points after a dominating first half and strolled through the second half, forcing Mississippi Valley State into 25 turnovers that led to 35 points. The Bears shot 51.4 percent and enjoyed a 53-29 edge in rebounding, including a 22-9 advantage on the offensive glass.

LJ Cryer added 16 points for Baylor, with Dale Bonner posting a career-high 14, and Keyonte George, Jalen Bridges and Langston Love scoring 13 points each. Flo Thamba had five points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Bears.

Alvin Stredic Jr. led the Delta Devils (0-1) with 14 points while Terry Collins added 10.

The Bears never trailed, scoring 13 of the game’s first 15 points and then using a 24-0 run over a five-minute stretch of the first half to put the contest to bed before halftime. Baylor led 40-10 at the 5:44 mark after a 3-pointer by Bonner, eventually taking a 61-21 lead to the break when Flagler hit a final-second layup.

Ten players saw the court for the Bears in the first 20 minutes of play and all scored, led by Flagler’s 12 points, 11 by Bridges and 10 from Bonner. Baylor made 19 field goals to just four for Mississippi Valley State in the half and was 7-of-16 shooting from beyond the arc despite missing its first seven attempts.

Collins paced the Delta Devils with eight points in the first half, when Mississippi Valley State shot just 19.0 percent and had 14 turnovers.

The Bears were a little ragged to start the second half, missing six of their first eight shots in a span of four minutes, 30 seconds but were still able to expand their lead to 41 points. A 16-0 spurt through the middle of the half, in which George scored eight points, pushed the Baylor lead to 98-37, after which it was just a matter of how many points the Bears wanted to win by.

–Field Level Media

Purdue and preseason all-Big Ten pick Zach Edey present a tall challenge for visiting Milwaukee in the nonconference season opener for both teams on Tuesday.

Edey, a 7-foot-4 junior center, averaged 14.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in just 19 minutes per game last season for the Boilermakers, who finished a half-game back in the Big Ten behind co-champs Illinois and Wisconsin and 29-8 overall.

Milwaukee, under first-year coach Bart Lundy and with 13 new players, was picked No. 9 in the Horizon League preseason poll. Lundy replaces Pat Baldwin, who was fired following a season-ending, first-round conference tournament loss. Baldwin was 57-92 in his five seasons, including 10-22 last season.

His son, Patrick Baldwin Jr., then also departed after an injury-plagued freshman year at Milwaukee and was the 28th overall pick in the NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors.

Purdue, which lost in the Sweet 16 last season to Saint Peter’s, must also replace leading scorer Jaden Ivey (17.3 ppg), now with the NBA’s Detroit Pistons; forward Trevion Williams (12.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg); and sharpshooting Sasha Stefanovic (10.4 ppg), who had a team-best 87 3-pointers. Guards Eric Hunter Jr. and Isaiah Thompson transferred out.

The Boilermakers trounced Truman State 102-57 in their exhibition game Wednesday. Edey had 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting, along with seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 16 minutes.

Purdue had four other players in double figures: Trey Kaufman-Renn, a 6-9 redshirt freshman forward, had 15 points; Brandon Newman had 13; Utah transfer David Jenkins Jr. had 12; and Caleb Furst had 11.

“Just trying to find the right group who can defend. I don’t think anybody really jumped off the page tonight in terms of defensive prowess,” said Boilermakers coach Matt Painter, who is 384-192 in 17 seasons at Purdue. “So that’s what we’re really kind of concerned with. How can we beat quality people without just outscoring people. So, that’s what we’re working toward.”

Milwaukee was scheduled to play an exhibition opener Monday night against Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Lundy arrives at Milwaukee following nine years at Queens University, an NCAA Division II school in Charlotte, N.C., posting a 30-4 mark last season.

Lundy prefers an up-tempo style of play and full-court man-to-man defense.

“I like to tell people that we’re going to defend every board up the floor and every bounce on every pass,” Lundy said. “We’ve got good depth and you have to have good depth for the way we play. And then when we get the ball back, we’re going to run, make or miss.”

Among the transfers on the Milwaukee roster is 6-8 senior forward Ahmad Rand, who averaged 5.3 points last season at Oregon State after previous stops at Memphis and University of South Carolina-Salkehatchie.

Forward Keon Edwards played in 19 games last season at Nebraska. Sophomore guard Kentrell Pullian, a transfer from Eastern New Mexico, was the 2022 Lone Star Conference Freshman of the Year and had a team-best 12 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

Purdue was 16-1 at home last season, but in their last meeting in 2005, Milwaukee upset the Boilermakers 73-68 in West Lafayette, Ind.

–Field Level Media