All-American Luka Garza scored 30 of his 35 points in the first half to lead No. 3 Iowa to a 99-58 nonconference victory over Western Illinois on Thursday night at Iowa City.
Garza made 13 of 21 field-goal attempts and collected 10 rebounds for the Hawkeyes (3-0). The point total was the fourth best of his career.
Jack Nunge scored 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting and Joe Wieskamp added 11 for Iowa. Patrick McCaffery had 10 points for the Hawkeyes, who shot 47.1 percent from the field and 8 of 23 from 3-point range.
Tamell Pearson scored 12 points, Rod Johnson Jr. had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Will Carius added 10 points, three steals and three blocked shots for Western Illinois (0-1), which was playing its first game under new coach Rob Jeter.
No. 7 Kansas 89, Washburn 54
David McCormack scored 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting to lead four Jayhawks in double figures during a rout of the Ichabods at Lawrence, Kan.
Kansas (3-1) ran its string of wins in home openers to 48, a streak that began in 1973-74 to launch a Final Four run with Ted Owens as coach. Ochai Agbaji, Jalen Wilson and Bryce Thompson added 16, 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the Jayhawks. Marcus Garrett distributed five assists.
No one scored in double figures for Division II Washburn (3-1). Levi Braun had a team-high nine points while Tyler Geiman had seven assists for Washburn. The Ichabods are coached by Brett Ballard, who played at Kansas under coach Roy Williams before serving on Bill Self’s staff from 2003-10.
No. 16 Virginia Tech 64, VMI 57
Keve Aluma collected 17 points and 12 rebounds to lift the Hokies to a victory over the Keydets in Blacksburg, Va.
Tyrece Radford had 13 points, Wabissa Bede scored 11 and Justyn Mutts added 10 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Hokies (4-0). Virginia Tech is off to another fast start after beginning the 2019-20 season with six consecutive wins.
Myles Lewis recorded 13 points and 12 rebounds and Greg Parham finished with 12 points for the Keydets (2-2), who have lost nine in a row to Virginia Tech. VMI was bidding for its first win over the Hokies since a 72-68 decision on Dec. 4, 2004.
-Field Level Media