MILTON, Mass. — Alex Kravchuk scored 28 points and had 12 rebounds to help the University of New England break a seven-game losing streak with an 80-72 win over Curry on Monday in men’s basketball.
Drake Gavin posted 16 points, five rebounds and three assists for UNE (2-10, 1-4 CCC).
Curry (2-11, 1-5) was led by Angelo Sardegna with 21 points, including five 3-pointers. JayQuan Leonard had 18 points.
AP POLL: Reigning national champion Baylor remained the unanimous No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll for the fourth time in five weeks. That came after Baylor (15-0) beat Oklahoma and TCU last week to push its winning streak to 21 games dating to last year’s title run in the Indianapolis bubble.
That streak is the third longest in the Big 12’s 26-year history, trailing Baylor’s 23-game run in 2019-20 and Kansas’ 22-game stretch in 1996-97.
No. 2 Gonzaga and No. 3 UCLA each climbed two spots after losses by Duke and Purdue, and Auburn and Southern California were new additions to the top five.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
U. OF NEW ENGLAND 87, CURRY 56: Allie Goodman had 25 points and Jordyn Franzen had 22 to lead the Nor’easters (7-4, 5-0 CCC) to a win over the Colonels (3-10, 0-6) in Milton, Massachusetts.
UNE’s Kayle Beyor had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the double-double. Abby Cavallaro added 12 points and five assists.
Kathryn Dunn led Curry with 17 points. Emerson Cherry chipped in with 14 points and Kylie McCarthy put up 11 with six rebounds.
AP POLL: South Carolina beat two more ranked opponents to strengthen its grip on the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll.
The Gamecocks topped then-No. 13 LSU and No. 21 Kentucky this past week to raise their record to 8-0 against Top 25 teams this season. South Carolina remained the No. 1 team, garnering 26 of the 30 first-place votes from a national media panel.
Stanford and Louisville were the next two teams in the poll. The Cardinals received the other four No. 1 votes. N.C. State moved up to fourth while Tennessee was fifth. It’s the Lady Vols’ highest ranking since Nov. 23, 2015.
Indiana remained sixth.
BENTLEY: Sophomore guard Maggie Whitmore of South Portland was named the Northeast-10 Conference Women’s Basketball Rookie of the Week following her outstanding performance Saturday against Southern Connecticut State.
In an 80-70 road win over the Owls, Whitmore grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds, scored eight points and delivered three assists. She made three of her four shots from the field and was 2 of 4 at the free-throw line.
Whitmore is averaging 7.5 points and 6.7 rebounds with a .451 field-goal percentage.
MEN’S HOCKEY
BOWDOIN 3, CONN. COLLEGE 2: Ethan Kimball connected with Luke Wheeler in overtime to give the Polar Bears (3-4-2, 3-2-1 NESCAC) a win against the Camels (1-5-0, 0-3-0) in New London, Connecticut.
Ean Small scored two goals for Bowdoin, one each in the second and third periods. Alex Kozic made 21 saves.
Jake Vaughn and Choi Younghoon scored for Connecticut College, and Cam Fernandez made 24 saves.
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
MAINE 2, HOLY CROSS 1: Maddie Giordano and Ida Kuoppala scored to lift the Black Bears (7-13-1, 5-8-1 HE) over the Crusaders (3-15-0, 1-12-0) in Orono.
Maine goalie Loryn Porter made 16 saves.
Carlier Magier scored for Holy Cross in the first period. Jada Brennon turned away 44 shots in goal.
FOOTBALL
WEST VIRGINIA: West Virginia has hired Graham Harrell as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach to try to bolster a unit that ranked near the bottom of the Big 12 in 2021.
The Mountaineers are hoping the addition of Harrell can give them a spark after going 17-18 in Coach Neal Brown’s first three seasons.
Harrell, 36, spent the past three seasons in the same role at Southern Cal, which hired Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma as its head coach in late November. The Trojans led the Pac-12 in passing this season at 298 yards per game and were 24th nationally in total offense at 444 yards per game.
USC: Coach Lincoln Riley confirmed his full coaching staff for his debut season with the Trojans.
Riley formally named a 10-man staff that includes Donte Williams. He will be Riley’s defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator after going 3-7 while serving as USC’s interim head coach following the firing of Clay Helton in September.
Riley’s new staff is headlined by Alex Grinch, his defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Grinch followed Riley from Oklahoma last month, taking the same private plane to Los Angeles after three seasons together with the Sooners.
Josh Henson is the Trojans’ new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, leaving Texas A&M. Dennis Simmons is Riley’s assistant head coach and outside wide receivers coach, while Dave Nichol is the inside wide receivers coach.
Kiel McDonald left Utah to become USC’s running backs coach. Tight ends coach Zach Hanson was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma in 2019 before spending the past two seasons at Tulsa.
USC defensive line coach Shaun Nua spent the past three seasons in the same job at Michigan, while outside linebackers coach Roy Manning was on Riley’s staff at Oklahoma. Brian Odom is the Trojans’ new inside linebackers coach.
NEBRASKA: Bill Busch has been promoted from defensive analyst to special teams coordinator, Coach Scott Frost announced.
Frost also said assistant Mike Dawson will have additional duties. Dawson will now coach the interior linemen as well as the edge rushers following defensive line coach Tony Tuioti’s departure for Oregon.
HALL OF FAME: Late Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam of Colorado and two-time Heisman runner-up Andrew Luck of Stanford headline a list of 21 former players and coaches in this year’s College Football Hall of Fame class. The ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 6.
Salaam starred at Colorado and won college football’s most prestigious award in 1994 after rushing for a school-record 2,055 yards and 24 touchdowns. He played six NFL seasons and finished with 1,625 yards and 13 scores.
He died Dec. 5, 2016, in what was ruled a suicide. He was 42.
Luck finished second in the Heisman voting 2010 and 2011 before the Indianapolis Colts selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft. Luck and Chuck Ealey of Toledo are the only quarterbacks in this year’s class.
They will be joined by Penn State linebacker LaVar Arrington, who won the Butkus and Bednarik awards in 1999, and Georgia defensive back Champ Bailey, who was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019.
There also was a heavy emphasis on offensive and defensive linemen. Alabama center Sylvester Croom, who later became the Southeastern Conference’s first Black head football coach, led the list.
Illinois defensive tackle Moe Gardner, Illinois State linebacker Boomer Grigsby, Michigan defensive tackle Mark Messner, Alcorn State center Dennis Thomas and Nebraska offensive lineman Zach Wiegert also were selected for induction.
Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree, Ohio State safety Mike Doss, LSU running back Kevin Faulk, Oregon State receiver Mike Hass, Florida State linebacker Marvin Jones, Oklahoma State running back Terry Miller and Oklahoma defensive back Roy Williams round out the list of players.
Three coaches – John Luckhardt of Washington & Jefferson (Pennsylvania), Billy Jack Murphy of Memphis and Gary Pinkel, who coached at Toledo and Missouri – also will be honored in December.
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