College Basketball Roundup : Kansas State Pulls Off Another Surprise, 79-68

All the speculators had Oklahoma and Kansas fighting it out in the Big Eight this season with Missouri and Iowa State. As the halfway point approaches, the leader is--Kansas State?

Fred McCoy scored 10 of his 25 points in overtime Wednesday night and the surprising Wildcats upset No. 16 Iowa State, 79-68, at Manhattan, Kan.

“Fred played the way we need him to play,” Kansas State Coach Lon Kruger said. “He got some big baskets, a lot of follow shots and tip-ins.”

The Wildcats (13-4 overall, 5-0 in the Big Eight) broke a 66-66 tie in overtime with 9 straight points, 6 by McCoy.

McCoy said the Wildcats weren’t down after Iowa State guard Terry Woods tied the game, 62-62, with a driving layup as time expired in regulation.

“The team had its confidence up,” McCoy said. “We didn’t have any doubt we could do it in overtime.”

Iowa State (15-6, 2-4) lost its fourth straight game.

Mitch Richmond added 24 points for Kansas State. Lafester Rhodes scored 18 points for the Cyclones.

Oklahoma 73, Kansas 65--Ricky Grace scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half, and Stacy King also scored 19 points to lead the seventh-ranked Sooners past the Jayhawks in a Big Eight game at Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas (12-8, 1-4) lost its second straight game at home after winning 55 straight and has lost 4 in a row for the first time in Coach Larry Brown’s five seasons at Kansas.

The Jayhawks had a 31-29 lead at halftime, but the Sooners (19-2, 5-1) went on a 21-10 surge in the first 10 minutes of the second half to take a 50-41 lead. Grace scored eight points during the span.

Oklahoma built the lead to 12 points, but the Jayhawks ran off an 8-0 burst to cut it to 55-51 with 5:52 to play, but never came closer.

Danny Manning scored 28 points for Kansas.

Michigan 120, Iowa 103--Glen Rice scored 35 points and Gary Grant added 29 as the No. 11-ranked Wolverines overwhelmed the No. 13 Hawkeyes with a 61-point first half at Ann Arbor, Mich.

Grant, hitting four three-point shots, scored 18 points, Rice added 14 and Terry Mills scored 12 as the Wolverines (18-3, 7-1) rolled to a 61-26 halftime lead. Grant hit three three-pointers and two layups while Mills scored eight points to push Michigan to a 23-5 lead with 13:36 remaining in the half.

Iowa (15-6, 6-3) never recovered.

Mills and Rumeal Robinson finished with 18 points each for Michigan. Ed Horton had 22 points for Iowa.

Purdue 86, Wisconsin 62--Todd Mitchell scored 14 of his 17 points and Troy Lewis all of his 16 in the first half as the No. 6 Boilermakers trounced the Badgers in a Big Ten game at West Lafayette, Ind.

Wisconsin (9-9, 3-5) had a 26-23 lead with 9:48 left in the first half, but Purdue (18-2, 7-1) took command with a 19-2 spurt and remained tied with Michigan for the Big Ten lead.

Danny Jones scored with 23 points for Wisconsin.

Duke 78, Georgia Tech 65--Danny Ferry scored 22 points, and the fourth-ranked Blue Devils overcame a first-half offensive lapse to beat the Yellow Jackets in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Durham, N.C.

The Blue Devils (15-2, 2-1) built a 28-9 lead with 10:33 left in the first half, but made only 4 of their next 11 shots and allowed Tech (14-6, 2-4) to get within 38-30 at halftime.

Georgia Tech had two 6-0 runs to pull to 48-44 with 15:01 remaining, but Duke regained control with an 8-2 surge and rebuilt the lead to 68-54.

Kentucky 94, Mississippi 65--Rex Chapman scored 5 points in a 15-0 run midway through the second half, and the 10th-ranked Wildcats overpowered the Rebels in a Southeastern Conference game at Lexington, Ky.

Chapman ignited the second-half outburst with a three-pointer that gave Kentucky (15-3, 7-3) a 57-43 lead with 12:15 to play. The spurt ended on a goal-tending call that gave Winston Bennett a basket for a 69-43 advantage with 9:31 left.

Rod Barnes scored 17 points and Tim Jumper added 16 for Ole Miss (8-10, 2-7).

Pittsburgh 88, St. John’s 71--Demetreus Gore scored 19 points and Charles Smith had 18 as the No. 9-ranked Panthers pulled away to defeat the No. 20 Redmen in a Big East game at New York.

Pitt (16-2, 6-1) beat St. John’s (14-4, 5-3) for the first time in six tries at Alumni Hall, snapping the Redmen’s six-game winning streak. St. John’s lost at home for only the third time in 42 games.

Vanderbilt 82, Mississippi St. 66--Will Perdue scored 23 points and the No. 15 Commodores broke away with a 19-7 run in the last 5:30 to beat the Bulldogs in a Southeastern Conference game at Nashville, Tenn.

The victory was the seventh in a row for Vanderbilt (14-4, 7-3).

Mississippi State (11-8, 3-6) cut Vanderbilt’s lead to 57-52 on a three-point play by Carl Nichols with 8:32 remaining and trailed 63-56 with 5:40 left before the Commodores ran away.

Florida 74, Alabama 64--Vernon Maxwell made 10 straight free throws in the closing minutes and Dwayne Schintzius had 18 points as the 19th-ranked Gators maintained their SEC lead by downing the Crimson Tide at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The Gators (16-5, 7-2) made 14 of 15 free throws in the final 2:43.

Alabama (10-11, 2-7) took a 48-46 lead on consecutive three-pointers by Alvin Lee, but Florida regained the lead and built it to 60-52 with 3:15 left on a three-pointer by Pat Lawrence a basket by Chris Capers with 3:15 left.

Maxwell scored 16 points for Florida, and Michael Ansley had 16 for Alabama.