Trae Young sank his first six 3-point attempts to spark Atlanta's hot-shooting start and the Hawks overcame Victor Wembanyama's big second half to beat the San Antonio Spurs 109-99 on Monday. Young scored 36 points, passing 10,000 for his career, with 13 assists. The Hawks had to survive a late scare after holding a big lead of 35 points, After making 10 of 14 shots from the field in the first half, Young made only 1 of 10 after halftime, helping the Spurs close to within six points, 99-93.
North Carolina found energy from its full-court pressure. The 17th-ranked Tar Heels sure needed that jolt to win their Atlantic Coast Conference opener. RJ Davis scored 27 points and North Carolina ran off 22 unanswered points in the second half to rally past Florida State 78-70 on Saturday.
TJ Bamba scored 13 points and all of Villanova's starters scored in double figures in beating Memphis 79-63 in the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament on Friday. Villanova used a 12-0 run late in the first half to lead by as many as 30 and led by 35 midway through the second half. At that point, Memphis, which shot just 15% in the first half, responded with a press and 21 unanswered points on 9-of-11 shooting led by Jahvon Quinerly's nine points to get within 14 with 4 1/2 minutes to go before the monster rally ended.
In the best game of his young NBA career so far, Victor Wembanyama dropped 38 points, to go along with 10 rebounds and two blocks, powering the San Antonio Spurs to a 132-121 victory over the Phoenix Suns.