College basketball: No. 1 Duke has less-than-impressive victory over Southern

No. 1 Duke proved this week it’s talented enough to beat the best team on its schedule — but not so dominant that it can take one of the worst for granted.

The Blue Devils beat visiting Southern 78-61 on Friday night behind 20 points and 11 rebounds from Wendell Carter Jr.

“We just didn’t come ready to play,” Carter said.

Marvin Bagley III contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds while Grayson Allen and Trevon Duval finished with 10 points apiece for the Blue Devils (4-0).

Coming off a victory over No. 2 Michigan State, Duke had a season-high 15 turnovers and shot just four of 20 from three-point range.

Gary Trent Jr. had 10 rebounds but made only three of 11 shots for Duke.

at No. 4 Kansas 98, South Dakota State 64: Svi Mykhailiuk scored a career-high 27 points, Lagerald Vick had 22 and the Jayhawks routed the Summit League favorite. Mike Daum led the Jackrabbits with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

at No. 5 Villanova 104, Lafayette 57: Mikal Bridges set a school record by hitting all six of his three-pointers and had a career-high 24 points. Matt Klinewski had 16 points for the winless Leopards.

at No. 7 Kentucky 78, East Tennessee State 61: Quade Green scored a career-high 21 points, Kevin Knox had 17 points with 10 rebounds and Kentucky overcame a 10-point deficit, 22 turnovers and three-of-15 free-throw shooting. “I knew we’d have a letdown after Kansas,” coach John Calipari said. “It just shows they’re not mature enough to figure all this out.”

at No. 18 Louisville 87, Omaha 78: Ray Spalding had a career-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, Deng Adel had a game-high 21 points and Anas Mahmoud had eight of his team’s 15 blocks for Louisville.Daniel Norl led the Mavericks with 16 points.

at No. 25 Baylor 78, Alcorn State 61: Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. had 16 points and 12 rebounds as the Bears gave coach Scott Drew his 300th victory. Reginal Johnson, the SWAC preseason player of the year, scored 14 points for the winless Braves.

SOUTHLAND

MEN

at No. 16 Texas A&M 84, UC Santa Barbara 65: DJ Hogg scored 19 of his 24 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half as the Aggies won their home opener. Max Heidigger scored 24 points for the Gauchos.

at Kansas State 71, UC Irvine 49: The Wildcats used a balanced scoring attack to rout the Anteaters, who were plagued by poor shooting and turnovers. Kamau Stokes led the Wildcats with 14 points and Xavier Sneed added 12.

Northern Colorado 84, at Pepperdine 82: Andre Spight scored 23 points and Anthony Johnson came off the bench to score 15 for the Bears. Johnson made four clutch free throws in the final 15 seconds to help fend off the Waves.

WOMEN

USC 64, at Santa Clara 43: Kristen Simon had a game-high 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting and Minyon Moore added 12 points and nine assists for the Trojans (3-0). Santa Clara was held to 32% shooting.

SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE

MEN

Bethesda at Cal State Fullerton 2 p.m.

Cal State Northridge at George Mason 4 p.m.

Portland State at UC Riverside 4 p.m.

Long Beach State at Oregon State 8 p.m.

WOMEN

Baylor at UCLA 1 p.m.