Friday presented a slate of three college basketball exhibitions, featuring several notable head coaches in the sport. The headliner was North Carolina vs USC, the debut for first-year head coach and former NBA champion, Michael Malone with the Tar Heels.
The results included a blowout, a team running away at the end, as well as an “upset” road decision. Here’s a look at the results and some key takeaways.
North Carolina 88, USC 70
After trailing by two at the half, it was all UNC in the final 20 minutes, scoring 51 points to coast to an easy win. Senior forward Jarin Stevenson was the star of the night, scoring a game-high 25 points and 10 rebounds. VT transfer guard Neo Avdalas produced 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Sophomore guard Isaiah Denis chipped in with 14 points off the bench, making up for key guards Terrence Brown and Matthew Able combining for just one point in the first 39 minutes of the game. International bigs Sayon Keita and Alex Samodurov combined for 11 points and 11 rebounds at the five-spot.
USC looked good in the first half but its spotty shooting gave way in the second half. Rodney Rice had 22 points and five assists, while Elijah Arenas chipped in with 17. The Trojans were without a few projected rotation pieces as well, including UConn transfer Eric Reibe and former Georgetown transfer guard, KJ Lewis. One bright spot was the Ratliff brothers (Adonis and Darius), combining for 19 points and eight rebounds in their USC debuts in the frontcourt.
Saint Louis 79, Nebraska 74
Even without star big man Robbie Avila (eligibility), the Billikens showed why it's an Atlantic 10 contender for next season. It was a true balanced effort, with 12 different players scoring. Amari McCottry and Kellen Thames each had 11 points for Saint Louis, shooting 12/35 from deep as a team.
There’s nothing negative to take from the game for the Cornhuskers, as they also played 13 different players. Freshman guard Jacob Lanier was a nice surprise for the team, leading them with 15 points in 18 minutes off the bench. We’ll see if this performance gets him a shot at making the rotation for Nebraska when the games start to count.
Virginia 96, Richmond 53
Richmond led 20-12 midway through a half, before the Cavaliers took over the rest of the way. Including a 26-0 run at one point, UVA took care of business, with five different double-digit scorers. Breakout candidate Chance Mallory scored all of his 12 points in the first half when the team made its big run to take over.
Penn State transfer guard Dominick Stewart had 15 points for the Spiders, along with 13 from Aiden Argabright. They showed fight early on but the blowout fashion in which the game took for the final 30 minutes could cause concern for a program looking to get out of the bottom-tier of the A-10.
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