COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Crum Sees It Coming, Louisville Can’t Get Going in Loss

Louisville Coach Denny Crum saw in his team a lack of enthusiasm as it prepared for Thursday night’s game against Cincinnati and therefore was not surprised that the Bearcats came away with a 71-66 upset over the No. 8-ranked Cardinals.

“There’s an old adage that you get what you earn, and we earned a loss,” Crum said. “I knew before the game we weren’t ready to play.”

Keith Starks scored five of Cincinnati’s final 11 points as the Bearcats turned back a late charge to win the Metro Conference opener for both teams.

“I just wanted to go out and play hard, get the rebounds and stick them back in,” Starks said.

Louisville, which faces UCLA Sunday, turned the ball over 15 times and its starting guards, LaBradford Smith and Keith Williams, were one of 14 from the field. Cincinnati scored 15 points off Louisville mistakes.

“We came in lackadaisical,” said Louisville center Felton Spencer, who scored 19 points. “We haven’t been going as hard in practice the last two or three days.”

Louisville (9-2) rallied from a 37-26 halftime deficit to lead, 59-58, on Everick Sullivan’s breakaway dunk with 4:07 remaining. But Cincinnati (8-3) regained the lead for good, 61-59, on Starks’ three-point play with 3:36 left.

Cincinnati, which posted its second victory in a row over Louisville in Freedom Hall, got 18 points from Banks and 15 apiece from Andre Tate and Levertis Robinson. Starks finished with 14.

No. 2 Kansas 93, Wichita State 66--Terry Brown led five Jayhawks in double figures with 18 points as they made a school-record 11 three-point shots to win easily at Wichita.

Kansas (14-0) made eight three-point baskets in the first half to bring the Shockers (4-7) out of their zone defense, and took a 52-30 halftime lead.

No. 4 Illinois 73, Wisconsin 59--Kendall Gill, whose eligibility was restored by the NCAA earlier in the day, scored 20 points and led the Illini over the Badgers in the Big Ten Conference opener for both teams at Champaign, Ill.

Andy Kaufmann added 11 points for the Illini (11-0). Danny Jones had 21 points and Willie Simms 18 for Wisconsin (9-4).

Steve Bardo and Gill, considered one of the top backcourt duos in the country, were declared ineligible after officials learned they were not asked to follow all the steps on loan applications for used cars in 1989--a technical violation of NCAA rules.

However, after the NCAA determined that the loan terms were appropriate and proper payments were being made, both players’ eligibility was restored.

Mississippi State 87, No. 11 Louisiana State 80--Doug Hartsfield made a pair of breakaway baskets early in overtime and added two free throws with 22 seconds left to lead the Bulldogs to a Southeastern Conference victory at Starkville, Miss.

In beating LSU for the fifth consecutive time, Mississippi State (8-2, 1-1) used a school-record nine three-point baskets and beat the Tigers (7-2, 0-1) in overtime.

Sophomore All-American guard Chris Jackson, who scored 14 of the Tigers’ 16 points in overtime, had 40 points.

New Mexico St. 81, Pacific 60-- James Anderson scored 16 points and Reggie Jordan added 15 as the Aggies held the Tigers to 30% shooting in winning the Big West game at Las Cruces, N.M.

New Mexico State (11-1, 2-0) won its ninth in a row, matching its longest winning streak since winning a school-record 16 in a row in 1968-69.

Florida State 92, Tulane 68--Irving Thomas scored 23 points and Tharon Mayes had 22 as the Seminoles won the Metro Conference opener at Tallahassee, Fla.

Michael Christian scored 16 points and Anthony Reed 14 for Tulane (2-7), which played its first Metro game since the 1984-85 season, when the school suspended basketball after a point-shaving scandal.

Maryland 88, Wake Forest 82-- Tony Massenburg scored 21 points and the Terrapins equaled their 1989 Atlantic Coast Conference victory total by winning the opener at College Park, Md.

UC Santa Barbara 91, Utah State 66--Carrick DeHart scored 20 points and Gary Grey added 18 to lead the Gauchos in a Big West game at Santa Barbara.

UC Santa Barbara is 2-0 in conference play. Utah State is 1-1.