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How did the top five freshmen fare in their first college game?

julius randle

Kentucky Athletics

There’s a ton of hype surrounding the top five in this year’s freshman class and last year’s Rivals Class of 2013 top five of Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, Aaron Gordon, Jabari Parker and Andrew Harrison played last night in their college debuts.

We’ll start with Kentucky, since they had the top class and started four freshman in yesterday’s win over UNC Asheville. Julius Randle led four freshman starters with 23 points and 15 rebounds in only 26 minutes while going 11-of-13 from the free throw line. The Harrison brothers -- Andrew at point and Aaron at two -- started and Andrew had eight points and five assists and only one turnover and Aaron had 10 points and five rebounds to go along with four steals. James Young has been great in practice according to many, but was 3-for-10 for 11 points. Marcus Lee was a surprise with 17 points in only 15 minutes off the bench and you forget he’s another McDonald’s All-American on the bench at Kentucky,

Duke freshman forward Jabari Parker had 22 points in 23 minutes that included 8-for-10 from the field and 3-for-3 from three-point range. Parker also added six rebounds in a great 111-77 debut win over Davidson.

Andrew Wiggins led Kansas in minutes (34) and points (16) in a balanced 80-63 win over Louisiana-Monroe and also added three rebounds and three steals. Center Joel Embiid played only 11 minutes and was saddled with four fouls, but was 7-of-10 from the free throw line with nine points.

Out west, Arizona freshman forward Aaron Gordon started at the four and had 13 points and 10 rebounds to go along with four blocks in 33 minutes in a 72-63 win over Cal Poly.

Overall, the top five freshman played well and they all started and contributed in wins. Next week comes the real test for many of them as the Champions Classic awaits.

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