Nov 28, 2021 4 min read

UMBC ckobbers Pitt

Keondre Kennedy scored 19 points and L.J. Owens scored 18 and UMBC beat Pittsburgh 87-77 on Saturday.

Kennedy and Owens each made four 3-pointers and the Retrievers (4-2) finished with 14-made 3s in 31 attempts.

Pitt’s Femi Odukale went to the bench with two personal fouls in the first half with the Panthers ahead 18-13. In his absence UMBC went on a 17-3 run with six different players making a 3.

UMBC led 55-44 at halftime before Pitt (2-4) reduced its deficit to 62-57 on John Hugley’s three-point play with 13:33 left. But UMBC countered with a 9-0 run and the Panthers never got closer.

The Panthers put up their best offensive performance of the season, including hitting 11 threes on the day. However, between 14 threes allowed and 14 turnovers committed, UMBC proved to be too much for the Panthers to overcome.

Hugley scored 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting and Odukale scored 18 for the Panthers in their highest-scoring performance as a team this season.

Pitt hosts Minnesota on Tuesday as part of the start of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

Duquesne wins third

Leon Ayers III scored 23 points, tying his career high, as Duquesne defeated American 88-79 on Sunday.

Amir Spears added 21 points for the Dukes. Spears also had six assists and six steals.

Kevin Easley Jr. had 14 points for Duquesne (3-4), Tre Williams added 13 points and the Dukes shot a season-high 58% from the floor.

Colin Smalls had 22 points and seven assists for the Eagles (2-5), whose losing streak stretched to five games. Stacy Beckton Jr. added 17 points. Matt Rogers had 12 points.

Riley takes USC job

Southern California desperately wanted a marquee head coach after more than a decade of underachievement and embarrassment.

The Trojans landed one of the biggest, brightest names in the game.

USC hired Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley on Sunday in a stunning and rare move of one traditional college football powerhouse swiping another’s highly accomplished coach.

Riley went 55-10 in five seasons leading the Sooners, winning four Big 12 titles and making three College Football Playoff appearances in his first head coaching job. USC sold the 38-year-old Texan on the chance to return the Trojans to their glory days as an annual national championship contender and the West Coast’s premier program.

“USC has an unparalleled football tradition with tremendous resources and facilities, and the administration has made a deep commitment to winning,” Riley said in a statement. “I look forward to honoring that successful tradition and building on it. The pieces are in place for us to build the program back to where it should be and the fans expect it to be.”

Riley “will immediately transition to USC,” according to the school’s statement. Interim coach Donte Williams will lead the Trojans (4-7, 3-5 Pac-12) in their season finale at California on Saturday night.

Bob Stoops is returning as Oklahoma’s interim head coach to lead the Sooners in their bowl game, the school announced. Riley took over the program in 2017 when Stoops retired, and the Sooners have dominated the Big 12 in the half-decade since.

Cutcliffe out at Duke

David Cutcliffe won’t return for a 15th season as Duke’s coach after the school announced a “mutual agreement for separation” on Sunday following the Blue Devils’ winless Atlantic Coast Conference record.

The school’s announcement came a day after the Blue Devils (3-9, 0-8) closed a three-win season with a 47-10 home loss to Miami. That marked the first winless slate for Duke in league play under Cutcliffe, who transformed the Blue Devils from one of the nation’s worst performers into a regular bowl contender and even claimed a division title in the ACC in 2013 before the program slid badly in the past two seasons.

In a statement, Cutcliffe, 67, said the decision came after “some detailed and amiable discussions” with new athletic director Nina King, who took over earlier this year but has worked at Duke since 2008 and handled primary administrative duties for the football program.