No. 1 Kentucky struggles but beats Illinois State, 75-63

Isaiah Briscoe scored 18 points, Jamal Murray had 16 and No. 1 Kentucky overcame a sluggish first half to pull away from Illinois State and win, 75-63, Monday night at Lexington, Ky.

Outhustled on both ends by the athletic Redbirds through 20 minutes while adjusting to playing without injured starting point guard Tyler Ulis (elbow), the Wildcats (7-0) emerged from halftime more physical and used that energy to gain some breathing room.

Outrebounded, 20-12, in the first half, Kentucky beat Illinois State, 27-17, on the boards and held the Redbirds (3-5) to 29% shooting in the second half.

Marcus Lee had 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Alex Poythress had 11 points for Kentucky, which shot 43%. DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell scored 22 points for the Redbirds.

Kentucky plays UCLA on Thursday at Pauley Pavilion.

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at No. 15 Oregon 78, Fresno State 73: Dillon Brooks had 21 points and 10 rebounds and the Ducks (6-0) staved off a late rally by the Bulldogs (5-1). Chris Boucher and Elgin Cook had 14 points each for the Ducks, who led, 70-52, with 6 minutes 35 seconds to play before Marvelle Harris scored 13 points in a 16-2 run by the Bulldogs that cut the deficit to four points. A driving layup by Brooks put Oregon up, 74-68, with 1:20 left and the Ducks held on by making four of six free throws in the final 45 seconds. Harris, who didn’t score until the 12:04 mark of the second half, led Fresno State with 18 points.

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at College of Charleston 70, Louisiana State 58: Canyon Barry had 19 points and the Cougars (4-2) used a big first-half charge to hand the Tigers (3-3) their third consecutive loss. Barry scored 12 of his points in the opening half as Charleston pulled in front, 41-17, on Payton Hulsey’s free throws to start the second half. Louisiana State cut the deficit to 63-56 on Jalyn Patterson’s three-point basket but that’s as close as the Tigers could get. Ben Simmons led Louisiana State with 15 points and 18 rebounds.