Texas Southern stuns No. 20 Florida

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TEXAS SOUTHERN 69, NO. 20 FLORIDA 54

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Johnny Jones got a wet welcome in the visiting locker room at the O’Connell Center. It was a celebration decades in the making.

Previously winless Texas Southern stunned No. 20 Florida 69-54 on Monday night behind PJ Henry’s 16 points and Joirdon Karl Nicholas’ perfect shooting performance.

Texas Southern (1-7) became the first Southwestern Athletic Conference team to beat a ranked SEC program in The Associated Press poll era dating to 1936, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Ranked SEC teams had been 51- 0 against SWAC opponents.

“We were thoroughly outplayed, outcoached, out-everything,” Florida Coach Mike White said.

Jones got all the accolades. The former LSU coach who took Texas Southern to the NCAA Tournament last season was doused as he stepped into the locker room to celebrate with his team. His shirt and pants were still soaking wet during postgame interviews.

“Water bottles, everything we could throw at him,” Nicholas said.

Texas Southern had lost six consecutive against ranked opponents. The program’s last win against a Top 25 team came against then-No. 18 Oregon on Nov. 26, 2018.

The Tigers were 23 1/ 2- point underdogs in Gainesville. That was no surprise given they were coming off a 27-point loss at Louisiana Tech and catching a Florida team trying to rebound from its first setback of the season.

But the Gators (6-2), who had been ranked as high as 14th a week ago, had no answer for Texas Southern’s talent, tenacity and athleticism.

“We just did a terrible job in every aspect,” Florida big man Colin Castleton said. “Rebounding, backdoor cuts, loose balls. Everything we did bad the coaches told us to focus on.”

The Tigers continuously beat Florida’s press despite 22 turnovers and got open looks everywhere. They made most of the them, shooting 54.4% from the field and 45.5% from 3-point range. They also outrebounded Florida 46-23 and outscored the Gators 42-26 in the paint.

“It’s huge for the program and our school at the end of the day because we know how difficult it is,” Jones said. “When you have setbacks like we’ve had, you have an opportunity to either splinter or come together. These guys have done a tremendous job of staying the course and coming together.”

It was the Gators’ first loss in 27 games against teams from the SWAC.

NO. 14 HOUSTON 77, ALCORN STATE 45

HOUSTON – Tramon Mark scored 18 points off the bench, Marcus Sasser had 17 points and a career-high six steals and No. 14 Houston defeated Alcorn State.

Kyler Edwards finished with 12 points and 7 rebounds and Josh Carlton had 12 points for the Cougars (8-1), who have won four in a row. Houston shot 47% overall.

Houston forced Alcorn State (1-7) into 20 turnovers, which the Cougars turned into 30 points. During its winning streak, Houston is averaging over 30 points a game off turnovers.

The Cougars, who never trailed, won their 31st straight at home.

TOP 25 WOMEN

NO. 10 INDIANA 70, PENN STATE 40

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Nicole Cardano-Hillary’s 14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals led No. 10 Indiana over Penn State in its opening Big Ten game.

Mackenzie Holmes scored 16 points and Ali Patberg added 15 for the Hoosiers (6-2), who shot over 50% from the field and were 6 for 14 from three-point range, while the Lady Lions shot 33.9% from the field and made just two of 16 3-point attempts.

Cardano-Hillary, who missed all 10 of her shots against No. 2 N.C. State on Dec. 2, made 3 three-pointers on Monday.

Makenna Marisa led Penn State (4-5) with 21 points.

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MIAMI 78, UAPB 65

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — A cold-shooting first quarter damaged any chance the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff had of upsetting Miami at the Watsco Center.

Kelsey Marshall scored 19 points as the Hurricanes led from the opening tip to win their tournament classic. Ja’Leah Williams had 14 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds and Lola Pendande added 11 points as Miami (6-3) responded to Sunday’s win over Tulane by stopping the Golden Lions’ four-game winning streak Monday afternoon.

Sade Houston had a team-leading 13 points for UAPB (4-4), which hit 3 of 10 (30%) shots in the opening quarter and was saddled with a 23-15 deficit when the second began. Miami’s lead ballooned to as big as 42-23 in the period before it settled for a 43-26 margin at halftime.

The Golden Lions fought back to within 51-37 after a jumper from Tyeisha Juhan with 6:31 left in the third quarter, but the Pendande’s bucket on the next possession started a closing push that had the Hurricanes lead 66-47 by the end of the quarter.

Joyce Kennerson scored 12 points, and both Juhan and Zaay Green had 10 apiece for the Golden Lions, who shot 24 of 55 (43.6%), but committed 21 turnovers.

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