Texas Tech 81, Minnesota 68

“I’m grateful we’re where we are, but we need to finish games out better than we have been”, Dunphy said.

“We’re not going to win a tournament, go home and lose a couple games”, Rodriguez said.

And if this group is to have a chance of reaching the heights last seen by Shane Larkin and company, that will have to be the case during ACC play as well. After that, a proverbial trap game at home against a Charlotte team it beat twice in last year’s Charleston Classic before an early December mid-week showdown at The BUC against the hated Florida Gators. The Canes are also now the only team in the league to notch wins against ranked competition, and the tip-off tourney win should be a solid resumé point when it comes time for NCAA tournament selection.

Lewis went to the bench with 11 minutes left and didn’t return until the final 85 seconds. Bond picked up his third and fourth fouls about 32 seconds apart from each other with 16 minutes remaining in the second half. Quenton DeCosey poured in 24 points in the semifinals and leads the team at 15.7 per game while fellow senior guard Devin Coleman (14.7) has been productive in an expanded role. King 5-12 4-4 15, N.Mason 2-9 2-2 6, C.Morris 5-12 4-5 15, Diedhiou 0-1 0-0 0, McBrayer 2-5 2-3 6, J. Murphy 2-3 2-2 6, K.Dorsey 3-7 2-2 8.

Dorsey had nine points and two blocks off the bench.

“A couple opportunities we had, we got a couple stops but couldn’t get the rebound – that was crucial”, coach Richard Pitino said. They’ve kind of been in foul trouble. I can assuredly tell you all now that the analysts in the beginning of the season were right that the Hurricanes could be a risky team, as shown by their already very impressive resume. A big part of these preseason tournaments is learning where you are as a team and what your weaknesses are.

And backup center Gaston Diedhiou had three fouls by halftime. Forward Zack Smith scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds, guards Keenan Evans and Toddrick Gotcher added 12 and 11 points, respectively, with Evans adding five assists.

A 3-point play by Ware pushed the lead to 68-64 but the Bulldogs could not close out the win. Miami took out all of their anger and animosity towards their opponents in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. In that game, the Gophers blew a double-digit second-half lead to trail by a point in the final six minutes before pulling out the victory.

After Texas Tech outrebounded Utah 25-18 in the first half, the Utes sure reversed those struggles after the break.

It was 61-58 before Rider’s Kahlil Thomas misfired on the front end of a 1-and-1. Tyler Wideman (3-for-6 shooting day) was the only player to make at least half his shots. So did freshman Jordan Murphy, another post presence offensively. That group supplied “the competitive approach that we thought we needed to have”, Holtmann said. “We should’ve spaced them out a little bit better and gotten into it. That’s something obviously we have to work on”.

“We wanted to do it for them, ” Williams said.

Missouri State outrebounded Minnesota 40-34 and made 26 of 37 free throws.