SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — Paige Bueckers scored 25 points in her second game for No. 3 UConn, and the Huskies beat Seton Hall 92-65 on Tuesday night in their return to the Big East.
UConn (2-0, 1-0) rejoined the conference on July 1 after a seven-year stint in the American Athletic Conference. As members of the Big East from 1982-2013, Connecticut won 19 regular-season and 18 tournament league titles.
Christyn Williams added 21 points for UConn. Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds.
UConn led 31-17 in the second quarter before Seton Hall (2-2, 0-1 Big East) outscored the Huskies 13-7 in the last part of the half.
Seton Hall pulled within six a couple times early in the third third quarter, but UConn pulled away from there. Bueckers took an inbounds pass coast-to-coast with 5.3 seconds left for a three-point play and a 71-47 lead for the Huskies.
UConn only played its second game of the season due to having four games canceled or postponed after a staff member in the program tested positive for the coronavirus.
(1) STANFORD 104, PACIFIC 61: Tara VanDerveer became the winningest women’s college basketball coach, passing the late Pat Summitt with her 1,099th victory as Stanford romped to a win over Pacific at Stockton, California.
Dressed casually in all black, VanDerveer received the game ball after the final buzzer. Her dancing players chanted “Tara! Tara!” and gave her a new pullover reading “T-DAWG” to celebrate the latest milestone for the Hall of Fame coach in her 35th season on The Farm and 42nd overall as a college head coach.
“It’s really sweet,” VanDerveer said.
The 67-year-old VanDerveer improved her career record to 1,099-253. The road to this historic night began with her first head coaching job at the University of Idaho from 1978-80, and then moved to Ohio State (1980-85) and Stanford, where she is 947-202. Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma is right behind at 1,093 wins.
After the history-making win in a draped-off area upstairs that served as Stanford’s locker room, VanDerveer was set to receive a plaque containing a piece of the floor from Stanford’s home court at Maples Pavilion. A framed proclamation from Palo Alto Mayor Adrian Fine was another memento. White long-sleeved shirts commemorating the night were made for the players as well as hand-held confetti poppers and individual mini cakes with an attached sticker that read, “Tara at the top.” Silver balloons with the numbers 1,099 adorned the room.
Stanford (5-0) couldn’t play a home game with the Tigers on Nov. 29 because of a positive coronavirus test in the Pacific program and then again Tuesday because of COVID-19 restrictions in Santa Clara County that sent the Cardinal on the road for three weeks. They spent much of that stretch in Las Vegas before traveling to Berkeley to play California in a Sunday night game, when VanDerveer tied Summitt’s record.
(10) TEXAS A&M 99, SAM HOUSTON STATE 69: Aaliyah Wilson scored 17 points as Texas A&M (7-0) rolled past Sam Houston State (2-2) at College Station, Texas.
The Aggies shot 59.7% from the field and had five players score in double figures. N’dea Jones had 15 points and eight rebounds, and Ciera Johnson finished with 12 points. Kayla Wells scored 11 points, and Jordan Nixon had 10.
Faith Cook scored 12 points for Sam Houston State, which hit 13 of 25 3-pointers.
MEN
(10) TENNESSEE 79, APPALACHIAN STATE 38: Victor Bailey had 13 points and Tennessee put its stifling defense on full display in beating Appalachian State at Knoxville, Tennessee.
The Volunteers held Appalachian State scoreless for the first 6:22 while jumping to a 13-0 lead. The margin was 36-8 before the Mountaineers scored the last five points of the first half.
John Fulkerson and Jaden Springer each had 12 points for Tennessee (3-0), which started fast and didn’t slow down. Josiah-Jordan James scored 11.
Appalachian State (4-2) was led by Michael Almonacy with nine points.
(12) WISCONSIN 77, LOYOLA OF CHICAGO 63: Brad Davison and D’Mitrik Trice each scored 17 points as Wisconsin capitalized on its sizzling 3-point shooting to beat Loyola of Chicago at Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin (5-1) went 10 of 18 from beyond the arc and made four of those long-range attempts during a 19-2 run that helped the Badgers build an 18-point advantage in the second half.
Cameron Krutwig scored 19 points and Lucas Williamson had 15 for Loyola (3-1).
(13) ILLINOIS 92, MINNESOTA 65: Kofi Cockburn scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in only 25 minutes to lead Illinois past visiting Minnesota in the Big Ten opener for both teams.
Freshman guard Adam Miller added 14 points, and Trent Frazier and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 10 for Illinois (5-2). Dosunmu also had seven rebounds and five assists.
Marcus Carr had 16 points for Minnesota (6-1).
(15) FLORIDA ST. 74, GEORGIA TECH 61: Freshman guard Scottie Barnes had 16 points and six rebounds, and Florida State pulled away midway through the second half to beat visiting Georgia Tech.
M.J. Walker scored 14 points and Balsa Koprivica added 10 points and eight rebounds for Florida State (4-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), which had five scorers in double figures.
Michael Devoe had 21 points for Georgia Tech (2-3, 0-1).
VIRGINIA TECH 66, (24) CLEMSON 60: Tyrece Radford scored 15 points and Virginia Tech beat Clemson at Blacksburg, Virginia.
Radford hit 5 of 11 from the floor and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line for the Hokies (5-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their conference opener for the fifth time in the past six seasons.
Al-Amir Dawes led Clemson (5-1, 0-1) with a game-high 18 points.
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