17Chicago Tribune | Monday, November 17, 2014

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Jerian Grant’s 17 pointsand 10 assists helped NotreDame rout Navy 92-53Sunday in South Bend, Ind.

Zach Auguste scored acareer-high 20 for the Irish(2-0). Pat Connaughtonadded 13 points and V.J.Beachem had 10.

“(Navy) is really toughto defend, and I’m reallyproud of our group defen-sively,” coach Mike Breysaid. “To force 20 turn-overs and really chase the(Midshipmen) around is areal workout.”

The Midshipmen, whogave No. 18 Michigan Statea scare before losing 64-59Friday, made all 15 freethrows but fell to 0-2.

Kentucky 71, Buffalo 52:Trey Lyles and Tyler Uliscame off the bench to score12 points each as the No. 1Wildcats overcame a five-point halftime deficit.

Lyles scored fivestraight points to start a9-0 run that put the Wild-cats (2-0) ahead 42-38 andhelped make up for a firsthalf in which Kentuckyshot 34.3 percent and com-mitted 10 turnovers.

Ulis’ 12 points came onfour 3-pointers to help

coach John Calipari to his499th career victory.

Holy Cross 58, Harvard57: The No. 25 Crimsoncommitted 22 turnovers inthe loss. Siyani Chamberswas held to one point andcommitted eight turn-overs. Wesley Saunderswas the only Crimson play-er in double figures, with24 points and 12 rebounds.

Other games: No. 3 Wis-consin (2-0) got 18 pointsfrom Sam Dekker and dou-ble-doubles from NigelHayes and Frank Kamin-sky in an 89-45 rout ofChattanooga. ... TerranPetteway hit a career-highsix 3-pointers and scored25 points as No. 21 Ne-braska rocked NorthernKentucky 80-61 in itsopener. ... Daishon Knightscored 17 points, but Illi-nois State dropped itsopener 60-55 to UtahState.

Layups: Forward DorianFinney-Smith has a hair-line fracture in his lefthand and is questionablefor No. 7 Florida’s gameagainst Miami on Mondaynight. ... Rick Pitino will beseeking his 697th winwhen No. 8 Louisvillehosts Jacksonville State onMonday. ... No. 22 SMU’svisit to No. 13 Gonzaga onMonday will be the firstmeeting of the programs.

ROUNDUP

Irish sink MidshipmenGrant, Auguste key41-point victory;Kentucky winsTribune news services

Radio: 6 p.m. Monday, WGN-AM 720.Records: Northwestern 1-0; Brown 1-0.Fred Mitchell’s quick look: The Wildcats opened witha 65-58 home win over Houston Baptist. Center AlexOlah had 21 points and 10 rebounds, while freshmenBryant McIntosh (12 points, six assists) and Vic Law (13points, seven rebounds) played well in their collegedebuts. The Bears, 15-14 last season, are coming off a70-58 win over Saint Peter’s, led by guard Tavon Black-mon’s 18 points. NU leads the all-time series 6-2.

Northwestern at Brown

CHAMPAIGN — Illi-nois coach John Grocewanted a team of nerds.

After slogging through avictory Friday over Geor-gia Southern, sophomoreMalcolm Hill acknowl-edged the Illini had beentoo nonchalant in theirapproach to the season.

“We had the too-coolmindset,” Hill said. “Wewere feeling ourselves alittle bit. Just walkingaround or not getting in adefensive stance or talking.

Coach Groce says talkingisn’t cool these days.”

Against Coppin State onSunday night, the Illiniwere anti-cool — whichshould make them excep-tionally popular in Cham-paign after a 114-56 victoryat the State Farm Center.

“We weren’t worriedabout being cool,” Hill said.

The Illini (2-0) shot 55.4percent, including 60 per-cent in the first half. Theymade 15 3-pointers to tiean arena record. Six play-ers scored in double fig-ures. They had 24 assistsand just nine turnovers.

None of that is whyGroce praised his players.

“The game really startedwith our defensive disposi-tion,” he said he told hisplayers. “The storylines to-

morrow are going to readpoints, assists, 3s. Thereprobably are not going tobe a lot of defensive pos-sessions on the news to-night. Don’t ever fall forthat.”

Groce especially lit intoHill after Friday night’sperformance, which evenHill deemed “soft” after heshot 2-for-6 and turned theball over three times.

Against Coppin State, hescored 13 points on 6-of-9shooting with nine re-bounds (five offensive),four assists, two steals andtwo turnovers.

“I wanted him to com-pete,” Groce said. “He’susually pretty good at that.I felt like someone jumpedinto his body (Friday).Once he saw those things

(on film), that fired him upto play with an intensitylevel tonight that weshould expect all the time.”

Illinois held CoppinState (0-2) to 29.6 percentshooting and forced 18turnovers. Guard AhmadStarks and forward LeronBlack scored 18 pointsapiece to pace the Illini.

The crowd cheeredwhen the team reached the100-point mark for the firsttime since 2004. What wasthat like for the players?

“We held them to 56,”Starks said. “Coach is waymore proud of us on thatside of the floor. It was afun game to play.”

But definitely not cool.

sryan@tribpub.comTwitter @sryantribune

Kendrick Nunn, who scored 13 points, drives in Illinois’ victory over Coppin State.

MIKE GRANSE/USA TODAY SPORTS

ILLINOIS 114, COPPIN STATE 56

Uncool but hotDespite 114-pointoutput, defensemakes Illini proud

By Shannon RyanTribune reporter

User: dlevsky Time: 11-17-2014 19:17 Product: CTTabloid PubDate: 11-17-2014 Zone: ALL Edition: DIG Page: DIGSPT-17 Color: CMYK