"Marquette's No. 15 Ranking Secured by David Joplin's Record-Breaking Performance against Georgia: A Top 25 Recap"
David Joplin had an impressive showing, scoring a career-best 29 points and sinking six 3-pointers to lead No. 15 Marquette to an 80-69 victory over Georgia on Saturday in Nassau, Bahamas.
Chase Ross and Ben Gold also contributed with 14 points each, while Kam Jones added 10 points and seven assists for the Golden Eagles (6-0). They were able to pull away from the Bulldogs (5-1) after a 9-0 run following Georgia closing within three points with just under five minutes remaining.
Blue Cain led Georgia with 17 points, including five 3-pointers. Tyrin Lawrence had 15 points and Dakota Leffew added 11 off the bench. Silas Demary Jr. also had a solid performance with 10 points and seven rebounds.
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Marquette extended their lead to 60-46 with 10:30 left after Joplin's fifth triple. However, Georgia responded with an 11-0 run, sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers from Leffew. Despite a strong effort from Cain, who trimmed the lead to three points with a 3-pointer, Georgia was unable to score for the next 4:09 as Marquette pulled away for the win.
In another game, No. 6 Purdue dominated Marshall with a final score of 80-45. Trey Kaufman-Renn led the Boilermakers with 18 points, while Camden Heide and Myles Colvin each added 13 points in their first career starts. Purdue shot 50% from the field and 37.5% from 3-point range.
Nate Martin was the top scorer for Marshall with nine points and seven rebounds, but the Thundering Herd struggled with a shooting percentage of 30.2% and missed 28 of their 32 3-point attempts.
No. 18 Cincinnati also had a strong showing, defeating Georgia Tech 81-58 in Atlanta. Dillon Mitchell recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Connor Hickman and Jizzle James also contributed with 14 points each for the Bearcats (5-0).
Georgia Tech (2-3) was led by Naithan George with 13 points and Duncan Powell with 10. However, the Yellow Jackets have now lost two straight games.
No. 25 Illinois bounced back from their loss to No. 8 Alabama with a dominant 87-40 win over Maryland Eastern Shore. Will Riley led the Fighting Illini with 19 points off the bench, while Morez Johnson Jr. recorded a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Kylan Boswell and Tomislav Ivisic also had solid performances with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Jalen Ware was the top scorer for Maryland Eastern Shore with 10 points, but he fouled out of the game. Ketron "KC" Shaw, who is averaging 23.4 points per game, was held to just seven points on 2-of-11 shooting.
