No. 11 Mich. St. Escape from Big Hole, Beats Texas in Las Vegas | Sports News

By ADAM SOBOLESKI, Associated press

LAS VEGAS (AP) – The Michigan State has dug a deep hole early in the game against Texas. But Joshua Langford, Cassius Winston and the rest of the Spartans have not panicked.

Fleeing 19 points eight minutes after the start of the Las Vegas Invitational Championship game, the Spartans, ranked 11th (5-1), took the lead in the second half and moved away for a win from 78-68 on Friday. .

Langford scored 29 points, while Winston, who had 20 points and 10 assists, was named MVP of the tournament.

"This game start, we just threw the ball to them," said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. "We understood why (this beginning had happened), we learned a good lesson, what was good (was) to play against such a team, Josh to play a second half like that and Cassius to play as well, and the Balloon screen defense was good, but we have a long way to go. "

Texas (5-1) scored 25-6 early, but the Spartans reduced the score to 44-36 at halftime. Michigan State took its first lead over Langford's 3-pointer with 15:26 to go and continued on a 3-pointer Winston 1:19 later.

The state of Michigan, which enjoyed the majority of fans, slowly built its lead at 71-59 with 3:32 remaining. The Spartans shot 55% of the field in the second half.

"Texas started their shots and their shots and we ate them," Winston said. "They ran and we said:" We're going to push it. "We were not ready for this kind of pressure. Thanks to the team, we did a good job by regrouping us. "

Kerwin Roach II, North Carolina's No. 7 hero, led the Longhorns with 15 points and five assists. Dylan Osetkowski and Matt Coleman III each had 13 points.

"In the second half, we have moved away from what we want to be," said Texas coach Shaka Smart. "We have to do a better job for what we want to be, when you break down, you play with a ruthless approach, I thought Michigan State did a good job after taking that lead."

Michigan State now leads the all-time 6-4 series and has won three straight wins. The Spartans have reached the championship game in their last six invitational tournaments, winning three wins.

NO. 7 NORTH CAROLINA 94, NO. 17 UCLA 78

North Carolina played most of its game against UCLA, but with a potentially disastrous trip to Las Vegas, the seventh ranked Tar Heels continued to be aggressive on the offensive – and that brought its fruits.

Coby White had 19 points and 8 assists, Luke Maye added 16 points and 8 rebounds and North Carolina beat No. 17 UCLA 94-78 in the consolation game.

Kenny Williams scored 15 points as five Tar Heels doubled their numbers and North Carolina (6-1) decided to part with their trip to Las Vegas after a loss to Texas on Thursday.

"We have been effective in defense with our intensity," said North Carolina coach Roy Williams, whose Tar Heel teams had lost three straight to Las Vegas. "We did not have as many turnovers today, we did not keep the 3 points we wanted, it was a big game as we have three teams in the top five or six in our next five games played better today. "

Cameron Johnson and Nassir Little each had 14 points for the Tar Heels, who will play Wednesday in Michigan at 9th.

Kris Wilkes led UCLA (4-2) with 22 points while he converted 7 out of 10 of the field. Jaylen Hands added 14 points and nine assists, while Cody Riley earned 11 points and nine rebounds for the Bruins, who lost both games in Las Vegas.

Thanks to 53% of his shots in the second half, North Carolina definitely took advantage, 63-62, on a Little dunk with 11:58 to go in the game.

UCLA's freshmen, Moses Brown, dropped in at 7:40 am He finished with seven points and four rebounds.

"He has to learn," said UCLA coach Steve Alford, whose team lost to the state of Michigan on Thursday night. "He has to learn and watch this tape, we need him out for 22 minutes, not eight minutes."

Although both teams played two games in less than 20 hours, both shot well, especially at 3 points. North Carolina was 30 out of 60, including 11 out of 23 in a 3-point range, while the Bruins were 10 of 22 in a 3-point range.

White struggled to make his fourth foul with 7:10 left, but Leaky Black, who had five points, made up for it.

"Leaky was huge for us," said Williams. "Leaky has made big shots and he needs more time on the field."

UCLA started quickly, hitting his first six shots and never finishing in the first half. The Bruins' biggest advantage was 11 with 7:33 in the half. UCLA finished the half scoring 52% on the field and led 46-41 at intermission.

"After being slapped last night, I thought we had responded very well," Alford said. "But when Carolina has tightened things up, we have not handled the situation well, we now have four home games and we need to learn to improve."

The Bruins welcome Hawaii next Wednesday.

North Carolina are now leading the all-time series with a 9-3 record in a match of 18 teams overall.

This is the third meeting of the teams in five years. North Carolina defeated UCLA in 2015 in Brooklyn, 89-76, and 2014 in the Bahamas, 75-65.

Cameron Johnson broke the 1,000 point mark in Tar Heels' loss to Texas on Thursday. He is the 77th Tar Heel to reach the mark.

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