Top 25 roundup: No. 1 Villanova rallies to beat Irish

Newark, N.J. — Jay Wright doesn’t follow who is in the running for national player of the year. However, the Villanova coach thinks he has the best player in the country in senior guard Josh Hart.

After Saturday’s career-best performance, it would be hard to argue.

“He’s as good as any player in the country is and he’s so complete. He will do whatever it takes to win a game and he has the ability to do it and at the right time,” Wright said. “He got big rebounds at the end of the game. He got offensive rebounds, he scored, he made passes, he made free throws, he defended. He did everything. He’s as complete a player as we’ve ever had.”

Hart scored a career-high 37 points and No. 1 Villanova rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat No. 23 Notre Dame 74-66 on Saturday at the Prudential Center.

“I honestly didn’t know how many points I had. I was just trying to make the right play,” Hart said, later adding, “I want to be great. I want to be as good as Josh Hart can be, and I have no idea how good that is, but I’m going to try and figure out.”

Hart was the only Villanova (10-0) player to score in double figures. He was 10 of 14 from the field, including 3 of 4 from behind the arc, and he made all 14 of his free throw attempts.

Matt Farrell and Steve Vasturia had 18 points each for Notre Dame (9-1), which entered the game as one of eight remaining unbeaten Division I teams.

Villanova took its first lead of the game at 57-56 after Eric Paschall blocked Vasturia’s 3-pointer with 9:15 left. Hart assisted on a layup by Jalen Brunson at 9:09 to give the Wildcats the lead.

The teams exchanged the lead from there until Villanova pulled away in the final minute.

Farrell, a Bridgewater, New Jersey native, made his first six shots including a driving layup at the halftime buzzer that gave Notre Dame a 41-36 lead.

“It was a blast playing here. I think last year I wasn’t able to play that much, so I wasn’t able to play my game,” Farrell said. “I was playing a different kind of role.”

Which includes being a leader on the team, both vocally and statistically.

“He’s a fighter,” coach Mike Brey said. “He’s one tough Jersey guy.”

No. 5 Duke 94, (at) UNLV 45: Grayson Allen shot 75 percent from the field — including a perfect 7 of 7 in the second half — en route to a career-high 34 points to lead Duke in the first college basketball game ever played at T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Luke Kennard had 16 points and five rebounds for the Blue Devils (10-1), while Jayson Tatum had 13 points and five rebounds, and Amile Jefferson contributed with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Duke, which is 4-1 on a neutral court, jumped out to a 20-3 lead in the first 7 minutes and never looked back, as it outscored the Runnin’ Rebels 52-19 in the second half.

(At) No. 8 Gonzaga 61, Akron 43: Przemek Karnowski scored 14 points and Gonzaga beat Akron in a defensive battle, lifting the Zags to the best start in program history.

Nigel Williams-Goss added 11 points for Gonzaga (10-0), which has won 10 straight to open the season for the first time since joining Division I in 1958.

Isaiah Johnson scored 11 points, and Jimond Ivey had 10 for Akron (7-3).

(At) No. 11 Louisville 102, Texas Southern 71: Rick Pitino graciously acknowledged the latest milestone in his Hall of Fame career with the hope his Cardinals grow from the tougher-than-expected win that required overcoming some deficiencies.

Quentin Snider scored 15 points, V.J. King added 13 and No. 11 Louisville overcame a cold shooting start to beat Texas Southern 102-71 on Saturday and give Pitino his 400th victory as the Cardinals’ coach.

Pitino, who last month earned his 750th career college victory, improved to 400-163 in his 16th season with Louisville. His Cardinals (9-1) first had to shake off early sluggishness and a 4-for-21 start from the field to pull away from the scrappy, athletic Tigers and win their fourth in a row.

(At) No. 13 Xavier 77, Utah 69: J.P. Macura emerged from his shooting slump by scoring 18 points, and RaShid Gaston helped Xavier get the edge up front against the nation’s top rebounding team.

The Musketeers (8-2) were coming off back-to-back road losses that featured long scoring droughts. Xavier’s balanced offense built a 15-point lead in the first half, and the Musketeers stayed ahead the rest of the way.

Gaston had 11 points and 14 rebounds, helping Xavier to a 33-28 edge on the boards. The Utes (6-2) came in averaging 47.7 rebounds per game. Gaston had nine points and 10 rebounds — one less than Utah’s total — in the first half.

(At) No. 15 West Virginia 90, VMI 55: It took nine games for West Virginia’s Daxter Miles Jr. to start to find a rhythm.

Miles scored a season-high 20 points and the 15th-ranked Mountaineers overcame an early lull to beat VMI on Saturday in Morgantown, W.,Va., and give coach Bob Huggins his 799th career win.

Miles missed the first three games with an unspecified illness and was ejected for throwing an elbow in the first half of a close win over Virginia last Saturday. The lack of court time set him back on a team where a dozen players are getting extensive minutes.

“It feels good,” Miles said. “I just had to get back into the basic of things, and just whatever it takes me to do. Did I feel like it was my time? No. Everybody has roles and we all kind of know what each other likes to do.”

(At) No. 16 Butler 75, Cincinnati 65: Kelan Martin scored 20 points and was the catalyst in two key second-half runs for Butler.

The Bulldogs (9-1) rebounded from their first loss of the season by extending their home winning streak against non-conference opponents to 34 games.

Troy Caupain scored a season-high 22 points to lead the Bearcats (7-2) and Gary Clark added 16, also a season high.

Martin’s three-point play spurred a 14-4 run that gave Butler a 51-43 lead with 11:51 left. Martin followed that with six points in a 12-5 spurt, sealing the win.

No. 20 Arizona 79, (at) Missouri 60: It’s an old cliche; winning on the road in college basketball is no easy task.

It didn’t seem to faze No. 20 Arizona, which looked polished and poised as it defeated Missouri for the third consecutive season, cruising to a 79-60 victory Saturday in its first true road game of the season in Columbia, Mo.

Rawle Alkins led the way for the Wildcats with 19 points and nine rebounds. Kobi Simmons had 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting, and Kadeem Allen added 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists.