Philadelphia — Jalen Brunson scored 26 points and Josh Hart had 21 to help No. 1 Villanova hold off La Salle 89-79 on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats (9-0) failed to dominate in their first game of the season as the top-ranked team in the country. The national champions led La Salle (4-3) by only single digits late in the game and played little like the team that had steamrolled to the top.
Coach Jay Wright had worried that Villanova’s ascension to No. 1 would give the Explorers a little more incentive to go out and knock off the champs.
No. 3 Kansas 105, UMKC 62
Kansas City, Mo. — Frank Mason scored 30 points to match his career high, Devonte Graham and Josh Jackson also had big games and Kansas rolled over Missouri-Kansas City to give coach Bill Self career win No. 600.
He became the ninth-fastest coach to reach 600 wins.
No. 14 Virginia 76E. Carolina 53
Charlottesville, Va. — Kyle Guy scored 13 points to lead five Virginia players in double figures, and the Cavaliers used strong perimeter shooting to beat East Carolina.
Virginia (8-1) had little trouble bouncing back from Saturday’s loss to then-No. 25 West Virginia. After trailing 16-15 with 9:26 remaining in the first half, the Cavaliers ended the period on a 27-4 run.
No. 18 Purdue 97, Arizona St. 64
New York — Isaac Haas and Vincent Edwards were both 6 of 9 from the field and had 16 points as Purdue dominated Arizona State in every phase in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
UNH 80, American 70
Washington — Jalen Smith led a balanced attack with 20 points and New Hampshire turned back American.
Harvard 86, Northeastern 80
Boston — Freshman Seth Towns scored a career-high 24 points and sophomore Corey Johnson added a season-high 21 as Harvard held off Northeastern.
California 62, Princeton 51
Honolulu — Charlie Moore scored 15 points to lead four players in double figures and California pulled away from Princeton in the Pearl Harbor Invitational.
WomenNo. 3 Baylor 90, Texas St. 24
Waco, Texas — Natalie Chou, Kalani Brown and Alexis Prince each scored 15 points, and Baylor routed Texas State.
No. 4 Maryland 97, Towson 63
College Park, Md. — Brionna Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough each scored 19 points before leaving early during a blowout by Maryland.
No. 14 Miami 81Loyola of Chicago 43
Coral Gables, Fla. — Nigia Greene scored 14 points and Laura Cornelius had 13, helping Miami to the runaway win.
