St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 11, 2020 – Sophomore Justin Hardy hit a four-footer in the lane with 20.1 seconds left to lift the No. 13-ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team to a 66-65 win over the University of Chicago in the University Athletic Association (UAA) opener for both teams Saturday in St. Louis.
WashU improved to 10-2 and 1-0 in the UAA with the victory, while Chicago dropped to 5-7 and 0-1 in the UAA.
Junior Jack Nolan had 23 points on 7-of-11 three-point shooting, while sophomore Kameron Mack added a career-best 11 points on three triples in 17 minutes off the bench. Senior DeVaughn Rucker had 10 points and a season-high nine boards.
WashU shot 45.8 percent (27-59) from the field, including 56.7 percent (17-30) in the second half. The Bears outrebounded Chicago 37-35 and committed a season-low eight turnovers.
WashU hit just four of its first 17 shots from the first and trailed 16-9 early in the contest. Nolan's first three of the game trimmed the advantage to 16-12, but Chicago responded with three triples in a row to make it 25-16 and force a WashU timeout.
Chicago took a 36-25 lead to the locker room as the Maroons hit eight threes. Nolan led the Bears with eight points as WashU shot 34.5 percent (10-29) from the field and hit just 3-of-14 from three-point range.
An 11-2 run by WashU trimmed the lead to four (43-41) with 12:06 to play, then a three-pointer by Mack made it a two-point game at 50-48. Nolan canned back-to-back three-pointers to give WashU the 59-58 lead with 4:09 to play.
Nolan hit a three with 2:31 to play to give WashU the 64-62 lead, but Chicago's Jordan Baum connected on his seventh triple of the night to put the Maroons up by one with 2:09 to play.
Baum led all scorers with 27 points and six assists, while Cole Schmitz had 11 points and seven boards. Brennan McDaniel added 10 points, five boards and four assists. Chicago hit 12-of-38 three-pointers in the loss.
WashU plays its first conference road game at Case on Friday, Jan. 17, at 8 p.m. (ET).
BEAR NOTEBOOK: WashU leads the all-time series with Chicago 53-23 … Sophomore Charlie Jacob had two points and three assists in his first career start … The Bears are 22-12 all-time in UAA openers … Nolan is 65 points shy of 1,000 for his career … WashU is 6-0 at home this year and has won the last 12 contests dating back to last season … The Bears have outrebounded 11 of 12 opponents this season … The teams combined to shoot just nine free-throws … Freshman Nate Bloedorn had nine points and a career-high eight boards.