Rhode Island Loses in NIT

No. 12-ranked Connecticut got 23 points from freshman guard Khalid El-Amin, 15 points and 14 rebounds from sophomore center Jake Voskuhl and plenty of defense, especially in the second half, to defeat No. 20 Rhode Island, 80-67, Wednesday night in a preseason National Invitation Tournament quarterfinal game at Storrs, Conn.

“We made All-Americas out of Voskuhl and Khalid,” first-year Rhode Island Coach Jim Harrick said. “It’s very difficult to bring a team in here and win.”

Connecticut (3-0) will meet Florida State next Wednesday at Madison Square Garden in the semifinals. The Seminoles (3-0) bolted to a 25-9 lead on their way to a 66-55 victory over Utah State at Tallahassee.

Other preseason NIT games:

No. 2 Kansas (3-0) roared to a 40-18 halftime and then Western Kentucky for a 75-62 victory at Lawrence, Kan. Raef LaFrentz had 24 points and nine rebounds for the Jayhawks. . . . Mike Batiste had career highs of 36 points and 20 rebounds in leading Arizona State (2-0) to a 107-88 victory over Wagner (0-2) in a first-round game at Tempe, Ariz. . . . Senior forward Bobby Brannen had career highs with 24 points and 15 rebounds to lead Cincinnati to 76-66 victory over Detroit Mercy at Cincinnati. . . . Tyrone Nesby scored 22 points as Nevada Las Vegas beat visiting Eastern Michigan, 84-66.

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Antawn Jamison scored 26 points and Shammond Williams had 21 and 13 assists as No. 4 North Carolina (2-0) rode a dominating inside game to a 84-65 victory against Richmond (1-1) at Richmond, Va. . . . No. 10 Xavier of Ohio protected its highest ranking in 39 years by wearing down Toledo with a full-court press that forced 32 turnovers and set up a 95-76 victory at Cincinnati in the season opener for both teams. James Posey scored 24 points for Xavier. . . . Kenny Thomas muscled inside for 23 points and Royce Olney had a career-high 21--most from the outside--to lead No. 11 New Mexico (2-0) to an 80-79 win over New Mexico State (1-1) at Albuquerque. . . . Hanno Mottola scored 25 points and had nine rebounds to lead No. 16 Utah (2-0) to a 87-62 victory over Weber State (0-1) at Ogden, Utah. . . . Ansu Sesay scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the season debut for No. 21 Mississippi (1-0) in an 88-56 victory over Louisiana Tech (0-2) at Oxford, Miss.

Rodrigo de la Fuente scored 24 points and Chris Crosby added 21 as Washington State (2-0) recorded a 78-49 victory over Brigham Young (1-1) at Provo, Utah. . . . Brian Ellerbe got his first win as Michigan’s interim basketball coach as the Wolverines (1-1) made the most of a considerable size advantage in a 77-59 victory over Cleveland State (0-2) at Ann Arbor, Mich. Ellerbe took charge of the Wolverines when Steve Fisher was fired last month. . . . Jason Singleton scored a career-high 23 points and freshman Michael Redd opened his career with 21 points as Ohio State (1-0) beat Kent, 73-67, at Columbus, Ohio, in Jim O’Brien’s Buckeye coaching debut.