Gabe Madsen scored 15 points and Branden Carlson had 14 to lift Utah to a 95-66 home win over St. Thomas (Minn.) on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.

Madsen hit a jumper 16 seconds into the contest, and the Utes (5-2) never lost the lead after that to pick up a victory in their final nonconference tune-up ahead of Pac-12 play.

The Utes outshot the Tommies 59 percent to 41.1 percent, including hitting 10 of 16 from 3-point range. Utah also scored 21 points off St. Thomas’s 13 turnovers and held a 44-28 scoring advantage in the paint in the dominating performance.

Will Engels scored 16, Andrew Rohde had 14 and Ben Nau 13 for the Tommies (5-3), who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.

This was the first meeting between the two programs.

The Tommies were within one point several minutes in after a Rohde 3-pointer when Madsen sparked a Ute surge with a pair of free throws.

By the time St. Thomas scored again four minutes and 20 seconds later, Utah had reeled off 10 straight points for an 18-7 lead.

Utah took its biggest lead in the first half of 14, 30-16, on a Marco Anthony 3 with five minutes to go.

St. Thomas cut the deficit to eight with a pair of triples, but the Utes took a 12-point halftime lead late in the half.

Carlson made it 36-24 by first blocking a shot and then taking the inbound pass from Rollie Worster for an alley-oop layup.

Worster finished with 10 points and seven assists, while Anthony totaled 13 points, five rebounds and four assists. Carlson grabbed the most rebounds for Utah, with seven.

The Utes stepped on the gas in the second half, scoring the first five points to go up 41-24 and then not allowing the Tommies to get any closer than 15. Utah eventually went ahead by 32 points.

–Field Level Media

Third-ranked Kansas had its 17-game winning streak halted in its last outing and now looks to begin a new streak when it faces Texas Southern in nonconference play on Monday night at Lawrence, Kan.

The Jayhawks (6-1) saw the impressive streak end against Tennessee with Friday’s 64-50 loss in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game in the Bahamas.

“We played a team that was older and more mature and obviously played stronger and tougher,” Kansas coach Bill Self said afterward. “We didn’t handle the situation near as well as what I would hope a poised team would.”

The Jayhawks’ streak included its six-game run to last season’s national championship. Coincidentally, the first March Madness opponent was Texas Southern, and Kansas rolled to an 83-56 victory.

Now the Jayhawks will be looking to rebound from a season-worst point total while counting on Jalen Wilson to continue his strong season and Gradey Dick to break out of a two-game slump.

Wilson has topped 20 points four times and has four double-doubles while leading Kansas in both scoring (22.9 points per game) and rebounding (9.4).

Dick is averaging 15.4 points but has scored just 16 points combined on 5-of-16 shooting over the past two games.

The Jayhawks will also be without reserve guard Bobby Pettiford Jr., who strained a hamstring during the loss to Tennessee.

“He’ll be out for a while. I don’t know how long,” Self said. “He’s got a hamstring strain. So those you can’t really mess with, I don’t think. So whether he’d be back in a week or two weeks or whatever, I have no idea. But certainly he won’t be available to us, I don’t think in the immediate future.”

Joseph Yesufu received 27 minutes off the bench due to Pettiford’s injury and contributed a season-high 14 points.

Dajuan Harris Jr. is the lone starter back from the Kansas squad that routed Texas Southern in last season’s NCAA tourney. The Jayhawks led 47-19 at halftime.

This season, Texas Southern (1-6) has lost four straight games entering the rematch as it continues its tradition of playing a plethora of major colleges in the first two months of the season.

The Tigers’ lone win was a 67-66 home decision in overtime over Arizona State in the Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series. The losses include visits to then-No. 25 Texas Tech (78-54), then-No. 3 Houston (83-48) and then-No. 13 Auburn (72-56).

“One of the reasons we take on these type of challenges early in the season is to utilize a measuring stick of where we are and how our guys can compete,” Texas Southern coach Johnny Jones said after the loss to Houston on Nov. 16.

Texas Southern last played on Nov. 20 when it fell 78-63 to host Samford.

Davon Barnes broke out with a career-best 30 points on 10-of-18 shooting. Barnes leads the Tigers with a 14.1 scoring average.

PJ Henry (13.2) and John Walker III (12.1) also average in double digits.

Texas Southern is 0-5 all-time against Kansas. Three of the meetings came in the 1980s.

–Field Level Media

Micah Peavy scored a season-high 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds Saturday as TCU knocked off No. 25 Iowa 79-66 in the Emerald Coast Classic title game in Niceville, Fla.

Mike Miles supplied 15 points and five assists for the Horned Frogs (5-1), who shot 54.8 percent from the field and scored 58 points in the paint. Xavier Cork contributed 10 points, while Eddie Lampkin added eight points and nine rebounds.

Tony Perkins and Ahron Ulis paced the Hawkeyes (5-1) with 15 points apiece, while Kris Murray chipped in 11 points and 10 rebounds. Iowa shot 42.6 percent from the field — including just 34.3 percent in the second half — and finished 3 of 17 from 3-point range.

Both teams shot just over 53 percent from the field in the first half, although the halftime scoreboard displayed a modest 36-34 lead for TCU, as the teams combined for 20 first-half turnovers and only four 3-pointers (two apiece).

The Horned Frogs led 9-0 early before the Hawkeyes caught up at 11-11. TCU held a 36-29 lead late in the first half, but Perkins’ three-point play and Payton Sandfort’s layup brought Iowa within 36-34 at the break.

Peavy led all scorers with 10 points in the first half, while Ulis paced Iowa with nine first-half points on 4-of-4 shooting.

The key stretch of the second half came when TCU went on a 13-2 run to turn a 45-41 lead into a commanding 15-point advantage.

Shahada Wells began the surge with a 3-pointer and later added a layup before Miles scored two straight baskets. Peavy’s transition layup expanded the lead to 58-43 with 12:20 remaining.

Wells’ layup with 8:13 left gave TCU a 70-49 advantage and Chuck O’Bannon followed with a layup to create the Horned Frogs’ biggest lead at 23.

Iowa scored 12 of the final 14 points to make the final margin a bit more respectable.

–Field Level Media

The last time UConn opposed Iowa State, one team was going to see its season end.

This time, neither team’s season will end but the 20th-ranked Huskies are seeking to continue their unbeaten start while undefeated Iowa State is hoping to get another resume-building victory Sunday night in the championship game of the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore.

UConn (7-0) is off to its best start since winning its first nine games of the 2013-14 season when it beat Iowa State in the Sweet Sixteen at Madison Square Garden en route to its fourth national championship.

After beating Stonehill, Boston University, Buffalo, UNC-Wilmington and Delaware State by an average of 30.2 points, the Huskies advanced to the title game by getting double-digit victories over Oregon and No. 18 Alabama.

The Huskies followed up their impressive 83-59 rout of Oregon on Thursday with an 82-67 victory over Alabama in Friday’s semifinals. Adama Sanogo, who is averaging 20.6 points, scored 25, including seven in a decisive run midway through the second.

“We’re used to having success in these MTEs (multi-team events),” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “The whole mindset of the program this year is, we’ve been contending the last couple of years, contending in the Big East, contending in tournaments. But we’re trying to go from contenders to champions. Now, we have a chance to do that on Sunday.”

Besides Sanogo reaching 20 points for the fourth time in seven games, UConn forced 21 turnovers, including 16 in the opening 20 minutes.

UConn heads into Sunday averaging 85.9 points but is encountering a defense that gives up just 55.8 points and forces 21.4 turnovers per game.

Iowa State (5-0) entered this event after allowing 45 points per game in double-digit wins over IUPUI, North Carolina A&T and Milwaukee. The Cyclones advanced to the championship game after holding off Villanova 81-79 in overtime Thursday and edging top-ranked North Carolina 70-65 on Friday.

Caleb Grill scored a career-high 31 points and hit seven 3-pointers in the North Carolina win. He entered Friday averaging 7.3 points and missed 20 of his first 24 3-point attempts.

Aside from Grill, St. Bonaventure transfer Jaren Holmes added 22 points. Holmes’ best showing this season helped Iowa State get its third win in program history against a top-ranked team, while Gabe Kalscheur struggled after scoring 23 off the bench against Villanova.

Iowa State’s defense also fared well, especially at the perimeter and in the turnover battle. The Cyclones held the Tar Heels to 3 of 18 from behind the arc and forced Villanova into 14 giveaways.

“We certainly encountered our share of adversity tonight with fouls and swings in the game,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said.

“We talked a lot about it leading into this game that the full 40 minutes was going to be so important. Our guys have tremendous confidence in our ability to get stops based on the work that they do every day, and then the game comes around offensively, and different guys certainly stepped up.”

–Field Level Media

Well, this isn’t what anyone wanted.

Not only were Oregon State and Portland State not interested in losing their first two games in the Phil Knight Legacy tournament in Portland, Ore., to fall into Sunday night’s seventh-place game at the Chiles Center, they didn’t want to face each other just eight days after their last meeting.

Yet here are the Beavers (3-3) and the Vikings (2-4) — required to tangle again even though Portland State handed Oregon State a 79-66 home loss on Nov. 19. It marked the Vikings’ first win in the intrastate series as the Beavers claimed the first 16 games dating back to Dec. 11, 1974.

In the first meeting, Portland State broke out to an 11-point lead midway through the first half only to have Oregon State claim a six-point edge with 13:17 to go. The Vikings seized the lead for good on Isiah Kirby’s 3-pointer with 6:44 to play, though their official 13-point victory margin was a little deceptive as they scored the game’s final nine points over the last 1:35.

UTEP transfer Jorell Saterfield paced Portland State with a career-high 26 points. Oregon State transfer Isaiah Johnson chipped in six points and five rebounds during a season-high 21 minutes off the bench. The Beavers were led by sophomore Glenn Taylor Jr.’s career-high 25 points.

So, what has changed in the eight days since their last meeting? For Oregon State, there might be some increased self-confidence after taking No. 8 Duke to the limit in Thursday’s 54-51 quarterfinal loss. In the waning moments, the Beavers missed two 3-point attempts to tie. They limited Duke to 26.7 percent shooting for the day.

“This young group, we challenged them,” Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle said after the game. “We told them it was going to be a fight and they were willing to accept it and, I thought, battled their tails off.”

Portland State, meanwhile, played 80 valuable minutes against No. 6 Gonzaga and West Virginia in the first two rounds of the Phil Knight Legacy. The Vikings dropped those games by a combined 42 points, yet head coach Jase Coburn found a silver lining.

“That’s two nights in a row we didn’t play well in the first half, then we responded and dug in,” Coburn said. “So I’m proud of the guys for continuing to fight.”

–Field Level Media

The season isn’t even three weeks old and sixth-ranked Gonzaga has dropped multiple nonconference games by double digits for the first time since the 2010-11 campaign.

The Bulldogs will try to restore order on Sunday evening when they face Xavier in the third-place game of the Phil Knight Legacy at Portland, Ore.

Gonzaga (4-2) had no answer for Purdue big man Zach Edey (23 points) in Friday’s semifinal matchup and the No. 24 Boilermakers cruised to an 84-66 victory. The loss came just nine days after Texas rolled to a 93-74 victory over the Bulldogs.

The beatings are stunning, as Gonzaga went 192-18 over the previous six seasons and still has All-American Drew Timme leading the way.

Against Purdue, the Bulldogs were outrebounded 46-31, shot just four free throws to the Boilermakers’ 22 and made just 40.3 percent of their field-goal attempts.

“They decided not to guard some of our guys and I think that threw off some of the things we do, but then we adjusted to that and when we were patient, we got any look we wanted,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said afterward. “… We missed a lot of lay-ins around the rim. Some were Edey-influenced and some weren’t.”

Timme had 22 points and nine rebounds while matched up against the 7-foot-4 Edey. Nolan Hickman added 15 points, but Julian Strawther (four points) and Malachi Smith (three points) had poor offensive outings.

As the shots clanked off the rim and the deficit grew, Few could see the game slipping away.

“I thought we took a couple — well more than a couple, five, six, seven pull-up jumpers that we didn’t need to and that led to some frustration and carried over to the defensive end,” Few said. “We got torched on defense in the second half.”

Xavier (4-2) struggled on offense in its semifinal loss to No. 8 Duke. The Musketeers established a season-low point total in the 71-64 setback.

Souley Boum matched his season best of 23 points while making all 12 free-throw attempts, but Xavier shot just 38.5 percent from the field and committed 15 turnovers.

Coach Sean Miller, in the first season of his second stint with the Musketeers, was highly disappointed in the performance.

“There were way too many segments of the game, if not most of the game, where we were at times, in our own way,” Miller said. “Movement, cutting, unselfishness, togetherness.

“You know, when you’re behind or you’re losing, it tests your resolve. It tests your togetherness. We weren’t the cohesive group that I know we can be.”

Xavier’s Jack Nunge had a rough outing with just five points on 1-of-13 shooting. He entered the game with a 16.8 scoring average.

“Jack played (with) great effort. He really did,” Miller said. “He was ready for the game. He just had one of those nights where the ball didn’t go in the basket.”

The availability of Adam Kunkel (11.5 points per game) might not be known until close to game time. He sustained a head injury during the second half of the loss to Duke and didn’t return.

Either way, the Musketeers are focused on playing much better in the matchup with the Zags.

“We got no time,” Boum said. “We’re gonna play a really good team. … We gotta flip the page and get our energy and our togetherness right, come together and play together.”

Gonzaga has won four of the five meetings with the Musketeers, including two wins in the NCAA Tournament (2006 first round, 2017 Elite Eight).

–Field Level Media

There’s little worse than traveling for the holidays and then getting sick, but that is what has befallen the West Virginia basketball team.

The Mountaineers (5-1), who are scheduled to face Florida in the fifth-place game of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament on Sunday in Portland, Ore., have been ailing since the arrived in the Rose City.

“We’re getting better,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “We had some other guys that had the stomach flu and were throwing up and actually throwing up the night before.”

The Mountaineers, who lost to No. 24 Purdue 80-68 in their opening game of the tournament, rebounded with an 89-71 victory against Portland State on Friday as Tre Mitchell scored 16 points.

It was the 921st victory of Huggins’ career, moving him past Jim Calhoun and into third place on the NCAA Division I all-time list. Huggins trails only Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and recently retired Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Afterward, Huggins seemed more concerned about his team’s 19 turnovers than the milestone.

“I’m going to fire some guys. I’m teasing,” he said. “I mean, we’re going to continue to work at it but obviously if they continue to turn it over, we’re going to have to put somebody else in.”

The Gators (3-3) defeated Oregon State 81-68 Friday after a 90-73 loss to Xavier in the first round.

Trey Bonham scored 13 of his 19 points in the first half as Florida built a double-digit lead against the Beavers. The Gators shot 56.6 percent from the field.

“Really, all 10 guys that got in and played (Friday) played well. That was really pleasing,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “I feel like this is a game we can really build off of.”

Will Richard, a transfer from Belmont, added 13 points and five rebounds.

“If we can go 2-1 in a tournament like this,” said Richard, “that wouldn’t be bad at all.”

–Field Level Media

Division I upstart Bellarmine continues a tour through college basketball history on Sunday when it visits No. 19-ranked UCLA in Los Angeles.

The Bruins (4-2) welcome the Knights to Pauley Pavilion for Sunday’s contest, the fourth leg of a five-game road trip for a Bellarmine program in its third season of Division I competition.

Three of those five games pit the Knights against three of college basketball’s seven most-winning programs, in a trio of the sport’s most venerable venues.

Bellarmine (2-4) opened its expedition at Clemson on Nov. 18, then played the first of its three scheduled dates against basketball blue-bloods on Monday at Duke. The Knights return to their home state this upcoming Tuesday to visit Kentucky at Rupp Arena.

“Only four schools in the history of college basketball have played in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Pauley Pavilion and Rupp Arena,” Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport told NCAA.com before the Knights’ journey began. “It’s North Carolina, Notre Dame, St. John’s and Louisville. Only four. The closest anyone ever did it was over two seasons, 333 days, from December to the following November. We are going to do that in nine days.”

Bellarmine’s odyssey included an interlude Friday at Loyola Marymount, where the Knights struggled in an 80-59 decision.

The Knights gave up 15 3-pointers to the Lions and failed to find consistent offense in the second half. Loyola Marymount dominated after intermission, 43-25.

Garrett Tipton led the way with 12 points in the loss, which dropped Bellarmine to 0-3 on the road trip.

UCLA, meanwhile, plays its second nonconference date at home between the challenging Main Event in Las Vegas and next Thursday’s opening of Pac-12 Conference play.

The Bruins lost competitive games with Illinois and Baylor last week at the Main Event, during which blue-chip recruit-turned-freshman starter Amari Bailey struggled. After scoring in double figures in each of his first three games, Bailey finished with one point against Illinois and five versus Baylor.

He bounced back to produce a career-high 19 points in UCLA’s return home on Wednesday, highlighting a 100-53 rout of Pepperdine.

“Amari has unbelievable mental toughness,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said. “I worry about him, because guys like him and Adem (Bona), I understand the pressures they’re under.”

Bailey and Bona arrived as five-star-rated prospects per 247Sports.com, and along with Dylan Andrews, made for the nation’s No. 13-ranked overall recruiting class. Bailey is averaging 10 points per game and cracked the starting lineup from the outset of the season.

Bona, coming off an 11-point, seven-rebound performance against Pepperdine, is averaging 7.2 points and five rebounds per game.

The freshmen have worked into a UCLA rotation built around veterans Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyger Campbell, leaders of the Bruins’ run to the 2021 Final Four and last season’s Sweet 16. The Bruins are also riding the breakout play of Jaylen Clark six games into this season.

Clark is averaging a team-leading 15.7 points per game, recorded a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double against Baylor and the meeting with Pepperdine marked his fourth game this season producing at least two steals.

–Field Level Media

A dreary showing at this week’s ESPN Events Invitational will end on a brighter note for either the Nebraska Cornhuskers or Florida State Seminoles, who meet Sunday in the seventh-place game.

That would mean salvaging one win in the tournament in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Nebraska (3-3) lost to Oklahoma and Memphis, while Florida State (1-6) fell to Siena and Stanford.

After the 73-61 loss to Memphis, Cornhuskers coach Fred Hoiberg said his team has “to go back to the drawing board on some things.”

“Obviously we’re getting crushed by pressure. It wasn’t too big of an issue early in the year and we played pretty efficiently. And now all of a sudden against longer, more athletic teams, it’s really bothering us. (When you have) 20 turnovers, 13 in the second half, you’re not going to win many games,” Hoiberg said.

One bright spot for Nebraska was the return of 6-foot-9 senior forward Derrick Walker, who missed the first five games with an undisclosed medical condition.

Walker, who was the leading scorer among returning players this season at 9.5 points per game, scored 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He added 12 rebounds but also had nine turnovers in 35 minutes.

Florida State is looking to avoid the program’s worst start since going 1-7 in 2000-01. It also happened in the 1959-60 season, according to Basketball Reference.

A bad omen for the season came when 6-11 newcomer Baba Miller, a native of Spain, was suspended by the NCAA for 16 games because the school paid for his expenses to and from the U.S. to attend a training camp.

Miller averaged 11.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists with the Spanish National Under-18 Team in the 2021 FIBA European Challengers tournament. The soonest his season could start is Jan. 11 at Wake Forest, the Seminoles’ fourth game of Atlantic Coast Conference play.

Florida State has four scorers averaging in double figures. Caleb Mills is at 13.1 points per game, followed by Cam’Ron Fletcher (12.4), Darin Green Jr. (12.1) and Matthew Cleveland (10.6). Fletcher is averaging just over seven rebounds per game.

“Cam has always played with tremendous effort and passion,” said coach Leonard Hamilton, who has 597 wins in 35 seasons, the last 21 at Florida State. “Sometimes almost to a fault. He’s really, really a competitive youngster. But he spent so much time over the summer grooving his shot. … He’s becoming more confident. He’s maintaining his poise.”

–Field Level Media

The Portland Pilots have proven in the Phil Knight Invitational tournament, being held in their home city, that they’re not overmatched against a big-name program.

The Pilots gave No. 1 North Carolina a scare on Thanksgiving before falling 89-81. On Friday, they surprised Big East powerhouse Villanova, 83-71.

They’ll get another chance to bring down an NCAA Tournament mainstay when they face No. 12 Michigan State on Sunday.

Portland may be opening some eyes around the college basketball world but its performances in the tournament hasn’t shocked second-year head coach Shantay Legans.

“There’s a lot of smart guys in that locker room who understand the scouting report on the opponent and stick to it,” Legans said. “I was expecting guys to play well (Friday).”

A balanced approach allowed the Pilots (5-3) to knock off the Wildcats.

Moses Wood had 16 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Tyler Robertson supplied 15 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, and Kristian Sjolund contributed 14 points and six rebounds.

They shot 56.3 percent and had 19 assists on 27 baskets.

“Villanova’s a storied program,” said guard Jack Perry, who added nine points, five rebounds and four assists. “We knew they wouldn’t go away, but we managed to hang on. Yeah, it feels real good.”

Portland made seven 3-pointers in the first half to gain an eight-point halftime advantage and led by as much as 18 in the second half.

Legans left Eastern Washington after taking that program to the NCAA Tournament. The Pilots finished 19-15 last season in Legans’ first year as their head coach.

Robertson and Perry followed him to Portland.

“I love these two guys, I’ve been with them a long time and (Mike Meadows) also,” Legans said. “So I knew we had a great base right from the start. When we were looking at bringing in guys, we wanted to bring in the right guys and guys that would believe we can win right away.”

The Pilots have caught the attention of longtime Spartans coach Tom Izzo.

“They run their stuff so well and they should have beat (North) Carolina and then beat a team that we barely beat; beat ‘em bad and we’re dragging a little bit right now,” he said in a radio interview.

Michigan State (4-2) bounced back from a loss to Alabama on Thursday by squeaking past Oregon 74-70 on Friday.

Tyson Walker and Joey Hauser led them with 18 points apiece. Walker also had eight assists while Hauser grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

Michigan State made six free throws in the final 37 seconds to close it out.

“We did some really great things and then we did some bonehead things,” Izzo said. “But what I did feel a little good about at the end, Tyson was a go-to guy, Joey made some big plays, and even though disappointed in A.J. (Hoggard), disappointed in Mady (Sissoko) a little bit, those guys went to the line and made six straight free throws. And that’s incredibly important.”

The Spartans are trying to get by without two key components. Starting forward Malik Hall is sidelined by a foot injury and sixth man Jaden Akins is also nursing a foot ailment.

“It’s been harder than I thought with those two guys out, because you kind of learned that those two guys helped stir the drink, especially Malik,” Izzo said.

–Field Level Media