No. 7 Michigan routs No. 12 Gonzaga 101-61

By Canadian Press on November 26, 2025.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Yaxel Lendeborg had 20 points and 11 rebounds as No. 7 Michigan routed No. 12 Gonzaga 101-61 on Wednesday night to win the Players Era Championship.

Trey McKenney added 17 points for the impressive Wolverines (7-0), who dominated every one of their opponents in the event. They won their three games by an average of 36.7 points, beating San Diego State by 40 and No. 21 Auburn by 30 before handing Mark Few his worst loss in 902 games as Gonzaga’s coach.

The 18-team field featured some of the top programs in the country, and Michigan served notice it’s a serious national title contender.

Nimari Burnett had 14 points, Aday Mara scored 13 and Morez Johnson Jr. finished with 11 for the Wolverines. The defense limited Gonzaga to 33.8% shooting from the floor, including 3 of 22 from 3-point range (13.6%).

NO. 3 HOUSTON 66, NOTRE DAME 56

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Emanuel Sharp scored 17 points to lead Houston to a victory over Notre Dame in the consolation game of the Players Era Championship.

Houston (7-1), which had its season-opening six-game win streak halted in the tournament’s second round against No. 17 Tennessee 76-73, opened with a 26-4 run against Notre Dame (5-3) and withstood a late comeback try by the Irish.

Milos Uzon scored 15 points and Joseph Tugler added 10 before fouling out for Houston.

Markus Burton led Notre Dame with 19 points and Jalen Haralson added 14.

Houston led by 22 points with 5:21 remaining in the first half and led 39-25 at the break. The Irish went on a 10-point run midway through the second half that cut a 14-point lead to four with 12:16 left in the game. However, Notre Dame never got closer.

Houston had been 1-1 in the first two tournament games, a two-point win over Syracuse and the loss to Tennessee. The fast start in the finale came as Joseph Tugler hit a short jumper and a layup to start the game, followed by another layup by Uzon.

Notre Dame broke the streak when Haralson scored on a fast-break layup with 15:20 left in the half. Houston then went on a 10-0 run to go up 16-2. Sharp scored five points to start the run and Uzon added a 3-pointer.

NO. 6 LOUISVILLE 104, NJIT 47

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Ryan Conwell scored 32 points and Louisville hit 20 shots from 3-point distance, its most in 18 years, while overpowering NJIT in a victory.

The former Xavier guard had his biggest scoring outburst since finishing with a career-high 38 points for the Musketeers against Marquette in a Big East Tournament quarterfinal eight months ago. It was the senior guard’s fourth 20-point performance in the last five games.

Conwell did more than just score, too, as he finished with nine rebounds and six assists to go with 9-of-17 shooting. He was 8 of 15 from beyond the arc to lead the Cardinals (7-0), who went 20 for 48 on 3-pointers.

The Cardinals never trailed as they topped the century mark for the fourth time this season and enjoyed dominant stretches on both sides of the court.

NO. 21 AUBURN 85, NO. 14 ST. JOHN’S 74

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tahaad Pettiford scored 27 points and Auburn defeated St. John’s in the consolation round of the Players Era Championship.

After falling behind by 11 points, Auburn (6-2) outscored St. John’s 55-35 in the second half — including a 30-13 run over the final nine minutes. Pettiford scored 16 points during that stretch.

Keyshawn Hall had 20 points and eight rebounds for the Tigers, and Kevin Overton scored 12. Auburn shot 55% from the field, including 6 of 14 (43%) from 3-point range.

Auburn, which went 2-1 in the tournament, improved to 1-2 against Top 25 teams this season, after losses to Houston and Michigan.

St. John’s (4-3), which finished 1-2 in the event, was led by Big East preseason player of the year Zuby Ejiofor, who had 24 points. Joson Sanon finished with 16, but Bryce Hopkins was held to nine on 2-for-11 shooting and Oziyah Sellers managed just four on 1-for-7 shooting. Those two combined to go 1 of 10 from beyond the arc.

NO. 15 IOWA STATE 95, SYRACUSE 64

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Milan Momcilovic scored 24 points to lead Iowa State to a win over Syracuse in the final day of the Players Era Championship.

The Cyclones (7-0) won all three of their games at the tournament but were playing in the consolation round because of a point differential tiebreaker.

Killyan Toure scored 19 points for Iowa State alongside three others in double-figures: Josh Jefferson (13 points), Blake Buchanan (12) and Dominic Nelson (12). Iowa State shot 59% (36-of-61) from the field while limiting Syracuse to 39.3% (22-of-56).

Sadiq White Jr. led the Orangemen (4-3) with 14 points, while J.J. Starling and Tyler Bestey each added 10.

The first half ended with Iowa State leading 35-34, but the Cyclones went on a 14-2 run early in the second half to pull away. In that run, Momcilovic made two 3-pointers and Jefferson added six points.

Syracuse led 18-16 with 8:53 remaining in the first half when Iowa State went on a 12-0 run, sparked by 3-pointers from Momcilovic and Toure. But the Orangemen went on a 10-0 run to tie the game at 28-28 with 4:22 left behind 3-pointers from Betsey, Naithan George and Nate Kingz.

KANSAS 81, NO. 17 TENNESSEE 76

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Melvin Council Jr. and Elmarko Jackson each scored 17 points and Kansas defeated previously unbeaten Tennessee in the third-place game of the Players Era Championship.

Tre White added 14 points for Kansas (6-2) before fouling out and Florey Bidunga scored 13.

Nata Ament led Tennessee (7-1) with 20 points. Jaylen Carey and Ja’Kobe Gillespie each scored 11 points and J.P. Estrella added 10.

Kansas, which trailed most of the second half, took the lead with 5:36 remaining on Paul Mbiya’s layup and extended the lead to four points at 68-64 on a driving layup by Jackson with 5:08 left.

The Jayhawks extended the lead to seven points at 75-68 with 2:02 left before Tennessee cut the lead to 75-73 with 56 seconds left. Bidunga made two free throws and stole a pass with 20 seconds left, and the Jayhawks held on for the win.

NO. 19 KENTUCKY 104, TENNESSEE TECH 54

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Denzel Aberdeen, Otega Oweh and Trent Noah each scored 16 points to lead Kentucky to a win over Tennessee Tech.

Kentucky (5-2) improved to 5-0 at home and reached the 100-point plateau for the second time this season without starters Jaland Lowe (shoulder) and Mouhamed Dioubate (ankle).

The Wildcats missed 10 of their first 11 3-point attempts, but still finished with a season-high 15 3-pointers, making 12 in the second half.

Oweh and Aderdeen each scored 12 points in the second half and led five players in double figures.

Noah came off the bench and scored 10 points in the first half. He helped the Wildcats overcome a slow start by outscoring the Golden Eagles 20-3 in the final seven minutes of the first half to put the game out of reach.

Collin Chandler added 14 points and Malachi Moreno had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds for Kentucky.

NO. 20 TEXAS TECH 82, NEW ORLEANS 50

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — JT Toppin scored 19 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as Texas Tech rebounded from a lopsided loss to beat New Orleans.

Christian Anderson added 23 points with six 3-pointers and five assists for the Red Raiders (5-2), who were coming off a 30-point loss to No. 1 Purdue five days earlier in the Bahamas. Donovan Atwell had 13 points in 23 minutes before fouling out with 8:43 left in the game, and Luke Bamgboye also scored 13 points and LeJuan Watts had 12.

The Red Raiders extended their non-conference home winning streak to 43 games in a row, the last 20 with third-year coach Grant McCasland. They haven’t lost a nonconference home game since an overtime loss to No. 15 Kentucky in January 2020.

Jakevion Buckley led New Orleans (2-5) with 16 points. The Privateers, who haven’t yet played a regular-season game at home, were coming off an overtime loss Monday night at Mississippi State.

Toppin, the preseason AP All-America junior forward, scored the Red Raiders’ first six points in a 12-2 run to start the second half that put them up by double-digits the rest of the game. Toppin finished with his third double-double this season, and 22nd in his 39 games with Texas Tech.

A 10-0 run midway through the first half put Tech ahead to stay. That spurt started with Anderson’s 3-pointer that made it 20-18, and ended with his free throw 2 1/2 minutes later.

TEXAS 102, NO. 23 NC STATE 97

MAUI, Hawaii (AP) — Jordan Pope scored 28 points and Texas held on to beat N.C. State to claim fifth place at the Maui Invitational.

The Longhorns (6-2) led by as many as 15 points late in the first half, then withstood a second-half rally by the Wolfpack (5-2).

All but one of Pope’s field goals came from 3-point distance. He made five 3-pointers and had 17 points by halftime and finished 7-for-13 shooting on 3s in the game.

Texas shot 50% (16 of 32) on 3-pointers, 55.8% (29 of 52) from the field and 84.8% (28 of 33) on free throws.

Chendall Weaver had 17 points and eight rebounds, Dailyn Swain added 14 points, six rebounds and seven assists, and Matas Vokietaitis scored 13 points. Simeon Wilcher added 12 points and Camden Heide 11 for the Longhorns.

Quadir Copeland had 28 points and six assists, Ven-Allen Lubin finished with a season-high 23 points and nine rebounds, and Paul McNeil Jr. scored 20 points for the Wolfpack. Darrion Williams finished with 10 points before fouling out late.

NO. 24 VANDERBILT 83, WESTERN KENTUCKY 78

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP ) — Duke Miles scored 28 points, including two key free throws with 1.9 seconds left, Devin McGlockton added 22 points and Vanderbilt held off Western Kentucky to begin the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Vanderbilt (6-0) was held well under its nation-leading average of 103.0 points per game after shooting just 45% from the field with 17 turnovers.

Tyler Nickel made a 3-pointer with 2:21 left to put Vanderbilt ahead 76-66, but the Commodores did not make another field goal the rest of the way.

Cam Haffner sank Western Kentucky’s eighth 3-pointer, in 25 attempts, with 1:25 remaining to pull within 78-71. After a Vanderbilt turnover, Bryant Selebangue made a fast-break layup with 54.7 seconds left to cut the deficit to five points.

McGlockton and Frankie Collins combined to go 3 for 6 on Vanderbilt’s next three trips to the free-throw line to keep Western Kentucky in it. After Armelo Boone’s three-point play to get the Hilltoppers within 81-78 with 4.8 seconds left, Moore calmly hit two free throws to finish 12 of 12 at the line.

Miles secured his 20th career 20-point game and Tyler Tanner added 11 points and for Vanderbilt.

The Associated Press