No. 22 Butler rolls by Missouri State 93-59 in Puerto Rico

The Miami Hurricanes look for their second straight victory over a ranked team.

The Hurricanes sure had their coach fooled. Temple jumped out to a 12-2 lead, as Butler didn’t score in the game’s initial 3:12 and only scored once in the first 5:35.

Dillon Brooks added 11 points for the Ducks (3-0), who led by as many as 22 after the pesky Tigers pulled within 10 midway through the second half.

The Bulldogs ran their first two games at pedal-to-the-floor pace, shooting 62 percent and following a program-record 144-point opener against The Citadel with a 93-59 rout of Missouri State on Thursday. The reigning Big 12 Player of the Year was 9 of 13 from the field, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range. But Utah lacked a heightened level of physicality on offense and defense in the post and allowed Miami to dictate the style and level of play. Totals 19-54 26-37 69.

Gavin Ware and Craig Sword led the way for Mississippi State, both with 20 points. “We felt that way a year ago as well. We just have to be much better on the defensive end”. “. … it’s not going to win championships”. Paradoxically, he reached a milestone for 3-pointers on an afternoon in which it was hard for him to make them (2-of-13). We lost to a veteran team.

The Bulldogs (1-3) had the ball last with a chance to tie, but freshman Malik Newman missed a drive, then Gavin Ware missed a putback attempt through contact in the frantic final sequence.

“The kids are down … but we’ve got to keep rolling up our sleeves and working”, USF coach Orlando Antigua said. They took it right to us. But they still managed the kind of response coach Fran Dunphy was hoping to see from a team that hadn’t played for almost a week since losing to top-ranked North Carolina.

What the Owls couldn’t account for Friday in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off semifinals was seeing so many rebounds elude them.

The Bulldogs didn’t have great statistics except for two: five turnovers and 21-of-25 shooting (84 percent) on free throws. He finished with 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting, but he had just one rebound. He has been hobbled by a toe injury in recent weeks….

Temple: The Owls shot 38 percent….

“I shared with our team that life is about 10 percent what happens to you and about 90 percent how you respond to it, and I’ve got a lot of faith in Brandon [Taylor] and Dakarai [Tucker]”, Krystkowiak said. He left for the United States as a teenager to pursue a college scholarship.

“If you’re trying to motivate yourself and your way is saying, ‘I want to help my teammate, there’s no better motivation than to do stuff for your friends”, he said.

The Bulldogs certainly got off to a fast start in San Juan, leading by 24 points by halftime in a dominating performance before easing off the gas in the final minutes with the game long since decided.