College Basketball Roundup : Indiana Avenges Record Defeat With an 84-75 Beating of Iowa

Steve Alford scored 24 points Saturday to help Indiana avenge its most recent defeat and maintain its dominance in the Big Ten.

The Hoosiers made it nine victories in a row with an 84-75 decision over Iowa at Bloomington, Ind.

The Hawkeyes had beaten Indiana, 101-88, Jan. 22, becoming the first team to reach the 100 mark against a Bob Knight-coached squad.

“We were waiting on this game for a long time,” Alford said. “It was a revenge thing for us--not because it was Iowa, but because we lost up there before.”

“I think they were relieved and pleased to play Iowa,” said Knight, who partly blamed the team’s recent struggles on anticipation of Iowa.

In the past 10 days, Indiana had beaten the Big Ten’s bottom three teams by a total of five points.

Alford snapped a personal slump Saturday. Indiana’s all-time scoring leader hit 8 of 15 shots after connecting on just 15 of 52 in his previous three games.

“It’s something you really can’t explain,” Alford said. “We prepared the same way. It felt better today. It has felt well all along. I have just had to be patient.”

The Hoosiers improved to 23-2 overall and 14-1 in the conference with their 20th straight home victory. Iowa fell to 23-4 and 10-4.

Indiana led 29-21 with 10:29 remaining in the first half before outscoring Iowa 14-2 over a span of 8:30. The Hoosiers led 46-27 at halftime.

Alford and Keith Smart, Indiana’s starting guards, outscored their Iowa counterparts, Kevin Gamble and B.J. Armstrong, 25-2 in the first half.

In the second half, Indiana led by as many as 23 points.

Temple 88, George Washington 77--Nate Blackwell scored a career-high 37 points at Washington as the No. 5 Owls (28-2) set a school record with their 28th win of the season. Temple is 17-0 in the Atlantic 10.

Temple trailed, 64-60, early in the second half, but Blackwell made four baskets, including a three-pointer, and two free throws in a 19-7 surge that gave the Owls a 79-71 lead with 4:12 left.

Kansas 62, St. John’s 60--Keith Harris, a freshman from Santa Monica High School, sank two free throws with no time remaining as the No. 15 Jayhawks (21-7) edged the No. 20 Redmen (19-6) at Madison Square Garden.

When Harris went to the line, St. John’s guard Mark Jackson, who scored 29 points, had some words for him.

Harris: “He said, ‘You’re going to miss these. We’re playing overtime. There’s no way you can make them.’ ”

St. John’s then called a timeout to put more pressure on the freshman.

“As far as I was concerned, it didn’t mean a thing to me,” said Harris, who scored six points in the game. “I was convinced I was going to be able to make them. Naturally it’s a dream. It’s a dream of everybody to be in such a situation and then come through. What made it even more so is that this took place in Madison Square Garden.”

Danny Manning scored 25 for the Jayhawks who overcame a 32-22 deficit at halftime.

Pitt 76, Connecticut 66--Jerome Lane, the nation’s leading rebounder, had 20 points and a career-high 21 rebounds for the eighth-ranked Panthers at Hartford, Conn.

Pitt, the Big East leader by a half-game over Syracuse which plays Georgetown today, improved to 22-5 and 11-3. Connecticut dropped to 8-17 and 2-12.

Pitt outshot the Huskies, 52% to 36%, and outrebounded them, 46 to 35.

Navy 58, Army 52--Kevin Houston, the nation’s leading scorer, scored 38 points for the Cadets but faltered in the second half as the Midshipmen rallied to win at Annapolis, Md. Navy is 22-5, Army 12-13.

All-American David Robinson of Navy had 18 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.

Houston, who was averaging 31.4 points per game, scored 27 points in the first half, hitting 11 of 17 shots. In the second half, the 5-11 Houston hit just 3 of 15 shots.

North Carolina 96, Clemson 80--Jeff Lebo scored 24 points and Joe Wolf added 21 as the Tar Heels clinched the regular season Atlantic Coast Conference title at Chapel Hill, N.C.

North Carolina, ranked No. 3, is 25-2 and 14-0. Clemson, ranked No. 10, fell to 24-3 and 9-3.

Kenny Smith, who scored 19 points, sparked a second-half Tar Heel rally by making two three-point field goals and scoring on a slam dunk to turn a two-point halftime lead into a 64-53 advantage with 14:27 remaining.

Clemson closed to 64-59 on a pair of 3-pointers by Michael Brown and Michael Tait, but that was as close as the Tigers would come.

Georgia Tech 79, Duke 72--Tom Hammonds scored 26 points as the Engineers, shooting 65% from the field, upset the No. 17 Blue Devils at Durham, N.C.

Duke is 21-6 and 8-4, Georgia Tech 16-8 and 7-5.

Alabama 77, Auburn 75--Guard Terry Coner drove the lane and hit an 8-footer with 50 seconds remaining to lift the 12th-ranked Crimson Tide to victory at Auburn, Ala.

The win, clinching at least a tie for the Southeastern Conference title, raised Alabama’s record to 21-4 and 14-2. The Tide, with a two-game lead over Florida, closes its season at home against Tennessee and Florida. Auburn is 14-10 and 7-8.

After Coner’s basket, Auburn worked the clock down to 10 seconds, but Alabama freshman Keith Askins blocked a pass and then stole the ball.

After Coner missed a free throw, Auburn’s Gerald White was wide on a desperation shot as the game ended.

Oklahoma 133, Nebraska 97--Dave Sieger scored a career-high 32 points, 24 coming on a Big Eight record eight 3-point shots, and teammate Tim McCalister became the top-scoring guard in Big Eight history as the No. 13 Sooners routed the Huskers at Norman, Okla.

Oklahoma’s 17 3-pointers broke the Big Eight record of 13 made by Kansas State earlier this season against Nebraska. The 133 points were a school record, and marked the first time a conference team had ever scored that many points.

The previous school record was 126 points against Southwest Texas in 1984. The previous Big Eight mark was 129 by Iowa State against Northeast Illinois in 1978.

Oklahoma ran its record to 21-5 and 9-3, while Nebraska dropped to 15-10 and 5-7.

McCalister, a senior, passed former Kansas State player Mike Evans on the conference’s scoring list for guards when he slam dunked to complete a fast break. McCalister wound up with 18 for the game, giving him 2,126 for his career. Evans had 2,115.

Missouri 76, Colorado 68--Derrick Chievous had 27 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists for the Tigers at Boulder, Colo.

Missouri improved to 19-9 overall and 9-3 in the Big Eight, while Colorado slipped to 7-18 and 1-11.

Ohio State 88, Minnesota 73--Dennis Hopson had 33 points and 10 rebounds and Curtis Wilson had 17 points and 9 assists for the Buckeyes who led, 43-28, at halftime at Columbus, Ohio.

Ohio State is 18-9 and 9-6.