TJ Bickerstaff scores 21 to lead No. 18 James Madison over Old Dominion 84-69

NORFOLK, Va. -- — TJ Bickerstaff scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead No. 18 James Madison to an 84-69 victory at Old Dominion on Saturday night.

Michael Green III, Jaylen Carey and Terrence Edwards each added 13 points for the Dukes (9-0). Green also had a game-high nine assists.

“We got it going the way Michael Green passed and the way Terrence Edwards passed the ball, it made TJ and Jaylen Carey’s job easy,” JMU coach Mark Byington said. “When we passed the ball like that everything was at the rim early. Then we started getting 3s later on. I know TJ and Jaylen made a bunch of shots, but Mike Green played at a high level.”

After dismissing forward Dericko Williams from the team earlier in the week, the Monarchs were left without a player taller than 6-7 in the regular rotation and James Madison went inside to take advantage.

“There’s a bunch of different things I can take away,” Old Dominion coach Jeff Jones said. “First of all, James Madison is pretty darn good. They create a lot of problems for you defensively. In that first half we made way too many mistakes and we didn’t play nearly hard enough to slow them down.”

JMU big men Bickerstaff and Carey combined to go 9-of-9 from the floor in the first half. Once the Dukes started hitting 3-pointers late in the first, there wasn’t much Old Dominion could do to slow them down.

“It wasn’t really the game plan, we just kind of took advantage of it,” Bickerstaff said. “As we were playing we noticed their bigs really couldn’t stop us in the paint. ... We exploited that and you saw in the second half they tried to go small ball.”

Chaunce Jenkins led the Monarchs (3-6) with 19 points, Vasean Allette added 14 and Devin Ceaser had 13.

The Dukes led 50-30 at halftime and led by 24 early in the second before Jenkins sparked a run for the Monarchs. Old Dominion cut it to 75-61 with four minutes left, but JMU answered with back-to-back buckets from Bickerstaff.

FIRST OF THREE

James Madison and Old Dominion, both members of the Sun Belt Conference, will play three times this season. Saturday’s game didn’t count in the Sun Belt standings. The in-state rivals were under contract to play a nonconference contest before both programs joined the Sun Belt in 2022.

WEBB REMEMBERED

The pregame included a moment of silence for former Old Dominion coach Paul Webb, who died Friday at 94. Webb coached the Monarchs from 1975-1985 and guided ODU in its transition to Division I in 1976. He led the Monarchs to the NCAA Tournament three times.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Dukes entered the game ranked No. 18, their highest ranking in school history, following blowouts of Buffalo and Keystone College. Losses to other ranked teams could see JMU approach the top 15 for the first time ever.

UP NEXT

Old Dominion: Opens the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu Dec. 21 against TCU.

James Madison: Returns to the Tidewater region next Saturday to face Hampton.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball