Okafor Does His Job Well

Kevin Stallings recruited Emeka Okafor for Vanderbilt and knew he lost out on a good player when the 6-foot-9 center chose Connecticut.

Okafor showed him Sunday night exactly what he’s missing.

Okafor scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 37 minutes as No. 12 Connecticut held off Vanderbilt, 76-70, Sunday night at Nashville. He also blocked three shots.

The Huskies (3-0) trailed only once as Okafor helped them control their first road game against a Vanderbilt squad that started three sophomores and got even younger when subbing in three freshmen.

The loss ended a 16-game nonconference winning streak at home for the Commodores (3-1), who were 54-2 against non-Southeastern Conference opponents.

It wasn’t easy for Connecticut, which has won nine consecutive road openers against teams outside the Big East. The Huskies’ biggest lead was 11, but the Commodores led once and tied it three other times.

No. 19 Indiana 84, North Texas 58 -- The Hoosiers, playing for the first time since winning their first Maui Invitational last week, struggled at the outset and led by only six points at halftime.

Playing their home opener, the Hoosiers (4-0) used the three-point shooting of Bracey Wright, Marshall Strickland and Tom Coverdale to break the game open in the second half.

North Texas (1-2) trailed by nine with 12 minutes left before the Hoosiers used a 17-2 run to increase their lead to 66-42.

Wake Forest 83, Temple 76 -- Eric Williams scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his second collegiate game to help the Demon Deacons (2-0) at Winston-Salem, N.C.

The 6-9, 270-pound Williams was eight for 11 from the field and Vytas Danelius added 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.

Temple (0-2) had trouble shooting for a second straight game, missing 20 of its first 29 shots after making only 35.7% in a season-opening loss against Rutgers.

College of Charleston 71, Villanova 69 -- A.J. Harris’ only basket -- a tiebreaking shot with 11 seconds left -- gave the Cougars (5-0) the Great Alaska Shootout title late Saturday night in Anchorage.

Harris’ shot came after the Wildcats’ Derrick Snowden made a three-pointer that tied the score, 69-69, with 42 seconds left.