Loyer scores career-high 30 as No. 1 Purdue routs Evansville

Purdue has won 33 consecutive non-conference home games — this one despite playing without preseason all-conference forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, who missed the game with an injured hip.

Joshua Hughes had 15 points and AJ Casey added 14 for Evansville, which faced the Boilermakers for the first time in 20 years. Defending Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year Connor Turnbull also sat out for an undisclosed reason.

Without Turnbull, Purdue made this one look easy even though it played raggedly at times — missing shots at the rim, struggling to grab rebounds and just getting into a normal flow.

But the Boilermakers managed to take control with an early 11-0 run and then closed the first half by scoring the final five points to make it 41-22. They started the second half on a 12-0 spurt that made it 53-22.

NO. 6 DUKE 75, TEXAS 60

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Isaiah Evans scored 23 points, Cameron Boozer had a big second half and finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds as Duke overcame a sluggish start to beat Texas at the Dick Vitale Invitational.

The Blue Devils got 10 points from Patrick Ngongba and used a stifling defense to limit Texas to 32% shooting and force 16 turnovers.

Dailyn Swain had 16 points, while Jordan Pope and Matas Vokietaitis each had 15 to lead Texas in coach Sean Miller’s debut.

Boozer, one of the nation’s top high school recruits, was 0 for 7 from the field and held scoreless in the first half with three rebounds as Duke trailed 33-32 at the break.

But Boozer, the son of former Duke star Carlos Boozer, made his presence felt in the second half getting to the foul line 12 times and converting nine free throws. He also had three steals, two assists and a block in an all-around effort reminiscent of Cooper Flagg a year ago.

NO. 8 KENTUCKY 77, NICHOLLS 51

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Collin Chandler scored a career-high 15 points to lead Kentucky to a win over Nicholls in a season opener for both teams.

Otega Oweh, the preseason Southeastern Conference player of the year, scored nine of his 13 points in the second half for Kentucky. Freshman Jasper Johnson added 11 points and Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen scored 10.

The Wildcats overcame a slow start by outscoring the Colonels 49-36 in the second half to put the game out of reach. The Wildcats made just three of their first 15 shots but regrouped and shot 61% in the second half. Kentucky made seven 3-pointers in the second half, including back-to-back makes by Chandler, who ended an eight-point stretch with a one-handed dunk.

Kentucky, coming off a 24-12 season and a Sweet 16 appearance, gave coach Mark Pope his second straight season-opening victory.

NO. 10 TEXAS TECH 98, LINDENWOOD 60

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Christian Anderson had career highs with 34 points and 11 assists, leading Texas Tech to a victory over Lindenwood as the Red Raiders extended their nonconference home winning streak to 39 games.

Texas Tech, which has the highest preseason ranking in school history coming off the program’s third Elite Eight appearance, was without preseason Big 12 player of the year JT Toppin and LeJuan Watts, a Washington State transfer who is the preseason newcomer of the year.

Toppin and Watts were listed with lower-body injuries, as were two more transfers in Josiah Moseley (Villanova) and Luke Bamgboye (Virginia Commonwealth).

Donovan Atwell scored 22 points, with all of his shots coming from 3-point range. The UNC Greensboro transfer was 6 of 13 from deep and 4 of 5 on free throws.

Mekhi Cooper scored 15 points for Lindenwood, and Milos Nenadic had 12 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out.