Xavier Castaneda scored 33 points as Akron opened an early lead and rolled to an 87-55 win over Maine on Monday in Akron, Ohio.
Castaneda hit 11 of 15 shots, including 7 of 8 from three-point range, for Akron (7-4), which led 44-23 at the half. Enrique Freeman added 14 points for the Zips and Trendon Hankerson added 12.
Kellen Tynes and Kristians Feierbergs each scored 10 points for the Black Bears (6-5).
AP POLL: Purdue maintained its grasp on No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday with 40 of the 60 first-place votes from a national media panel after knocking off Davidson in its only game last week, allowing the Boilermakers to hold the top spot for a second consecutive week.
Connecticut leaped into second place , it’s the highest the Huskies, unranked in the preseason, have been in the AP poll since they were No. 1 on March 2, 2009.
Houston’s 69-61 road win over the Virginia, along with an earlier win over North Carolina A&T, allowed it to climb two spots to No. 3. Kansas moved up four spots after blowing out then-No. 14 Indiana at Allen Fieldhouse, while Arizona rounded out the top five after knocking off then-No. 6 Tennessee.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
AP POLL: St. John’s (11-0) earned its first ranking in seven years after matching the best start in school history, entering The Associated Press women’s basketball poll at No. 25 on Monday.
South Carolina remained the top team in the poll, receiving all 28 first-place votes from a national media panel. The top five was unchanged with Stanford, Ohio State, Indiana and Notre Dame following the Gamecocks. The Irish won a showdown with then-No. 6 Virginia Tech 63-52 on Sunday. The Hokies fell to eighth. North Carolina and North Carolina State were sixth and seventh. UConn and LSU rounded out the top 10.
FOOTBALL
AP COACH OF THE YEAR: TCU’s Sonny Dykes was named The Associated Press Coach of the Year on Monday after leading the No. 3 Horned Frogs to the College Football Playoff in his first season with the school.
Dykes received 37 of 46 first-place votes and 120 points from AP Top 25 voters to become the second TCU to win the award, which is presented by Regions Bank. The first two were won by Gary Patterson (2009, 2014), the coach Dykes replaced after last season.
“It’s the ultimate team award,” Dykes told AP. “It’s indicative of literally everybody in our office, coaches, players, everybody, because more so than ever in college football it is truly a team effort.”
TCU (12-1) faces No. 2 Michigan (13-0) on Dec. 31 in the Fiesta Bowl for a berth in the national championship game.
Tulane Coach Willie Fritz was second with 40 points and two first-place votes, followed by Tennessee’s John Heupel (38 points, one) and last year’s winner, Jim Harbaugh of Michigan (28 points, five). Georgia’s Kirby Smart (15 points) also received a first-place vote.
Dykes, 53, is in his fourth stop after stints with Louisiana Tech, California and SMU. The Texan and son of longtime Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes, Sonny Dykes is 83-64 in 13 seasons as a head coach.
• TCU quarterback and Heisman Trophy runner-up Max Duggan will skip his available extra season with the third-ranked Horned Frogs and make himself eligible for the NFL draft after the College Football Playoff.
The Frogs (12-1), who play Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal on Dec. 31, were undefeated until their overtime loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 championship game. Duggan has started 41 games during his four seasons at TCU, though the senior could have returned for another season because all players were granted an extra year of eligibility after the 2020 season was altered by the pandemic.
When announcing his decision on social media that he was declaring for the NFL draft, Duggan wrote, “But first, we still have business to take care of.”
ALABAMA: Bryce Young and Will Anderson Jr. decided they had unfinished business at Alabama, even if it isn’t another shot at a national championship.
The fifth-ranked Crimson Tide stars are sticking around for the Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31 against No. 11 Kansas State instead of joining other high-profile NFL prospects — like Texas All-American running back Bijan Robinson – who are skipping bowl games to get a head start on preparing for the draft and minimize their risk of getting injured.
NAVY: Defensive coordinator Brian Newberry was promoted to head coach on Monday, replacing Ken Niumatalolo, the winningest coach in school history who was fired a week ago. Newberry, 51, has been leading the Midshipmen defense since 2019. His college coaching career dates back 2000, but this will be his first head coaching job.
“It is a great honor and privilege to lead this program,” Newberry said in a statement.
Navy moved on from Niumatalolo after going 11-23 over the past three seasons, but the defense didn’t draw much of the blame for that. Gladchuk has received some criticism for firing Niumatalolo after 16 seasons with the school and 109 victories, but Gladcuk also places a premium on beating fellow military academies Air Force and Army — which Navy has done only four times in the past 14 matchups.
TEXAS: Running back Bijan Robinson is skipping his final two seasons of eligibility to enter the NFL draft and won’t play in the Alamo Bowl.
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