COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : It’s Not Pretty, but Kansas Gets 85-74 Win Over Oklahoma

After helping No. 2 Kansas to a sloppily played, 85-74 victory over ninth-ranked Oklahoma at Lawrence, Kan., Kevin Pritchard glanced at a score sheet and shook his head in disbelief.

“We shot 38%,” he said. “That’s kind of mind-boggling.”

Coming into the rematch of the 1988 NCAA finalists, the Jayhawks (22-1, 5-1 in the Big Eight) led the nation with a field goal percentage of 54.3%.

“I didn’t think this team could shoot that bad,” Pritchard said.

But the Sooners (15-3, 4-2) were held almost 40 points below their season average of 112.5 points by a Kansas defense that kept switching and experimenting throughout the game.

In addition, Oklahoma was without its No. 2 scorer and No. 1 rebounder, William Davis, who did not make the trip because of disciplinary action.

There were 55 fouls in the game.

Pritchard and Rick Calloway led a Kansas run that halted Oklahoma’s lone rally in the second half and assured the Jayhawks of their 14th consecutive win at home.

The Sooners cut Kansas’ lead to 53-48 with about eight minutes left, but Pritchard’s two free throws ignited a 15-6 run that put the game out of reach. Calloway, who led the Jayhawks with 20 points, scored eight in that stretch and Pritchard had four.

OTHER TOP 25 TEAMS

No. 4 Michigan 77, Wisconsin 63--Both teams were missing key players, but the Wolverines’ superior depth enabled them to win the Big Ten game at Madison, Wis.

Michigan (16-4, 6-3) was without third-leading scorer Sean Higgins, who sustained a stress fracture in his left foot in a 91-72 loss to Purdue last Wednesday.

The Badgers were without second-leading scorer Willie Simms, who was declared academically ineligible by the NCAA Friday. Simms dropped a class during the week, which put him below the NCAA minimum of 12 credits. He later added a class, making him eligible for Thursday’s game at Michigan State.

Terry Mills scored 20 points for the Wolverines and Loy Vaught added 18. Wisconsin’s Danny Jones had 25 points.

No. 6 Georgetown 74, No. 18 St. John’s 67--The Redmen lost their third game in a row, but they also lost power forward Jayson Williams, who reinjured his right foot three minutes into the Big East Conference game at Madison Square Garden.

Williams, St. John’s second-leading scorer and leading rebounder, missed the first 10 games of the season because of a fracture in his right foot suffered in the first week of practice. He averaged 15.7 points and 8.3 rebounds since returning from the injury in October.

Georgetown (17-2, 7-2), remained tied for the Big East lead, took advantage of Williams’ absence, fouling out starting center Rob Werdann and his backup, Sean Muto, with more than six minutes to play.

Georgetown made just four baskets in the final eight minutes, but the Hoyas made 11 of 16 free throws, three of the misses coming in the last two minutes when the outcome was apparent. St. John’s (17-6, 6-4) led, 37-32, at halftime after closing the half with a 10-1 run.

No. 7 Syracuse 90, Florida State 69--Billy Owens scored 23 points, including 12 during a decisive 10-minute stretch in the first half, as the Orangemen routed the Seminoles at Orlando, Fla.

The Orangemen (16-3) have won four in a row, three on the road. Florida State (13-10) has lost six of its last eight games.

Owens sparked a 24-11 run that gave Syracuse a 42-27 halftime lead. Derrick Coleman scored nine points in the first four minutes of the second half as the Orangemen extended the lead to 55-32.

Michigan State 64, No. 8 Purdue 53--Steve Smith made seven free throws in the final two minutes at West Lafayette, Ind., to help the Spartans deal the Boilermakers their first Big Ten loss of the season.

Purdue (16-3, 8-1), made only 29% of its shots, but rallied from a 14-point deficit to pull to within four points on Woody Austin’s three-point shot with 1:33 left. Smith, who had 22 points, then made two free throws. After Austin missed a three-point shot, the Spartans (17-5, 6-3) got the rebound and Smith made two more foul shots with 1:09 left to make it 61-53.

No. 13 Connecticut 92, Providence 77--The Huskies extended their winning streak to nine games with an easy Big East victory at Providence, R.I.

Chris Smith, who led Connecticut with 21 points, and John Gwynn helped the Huskies (19-3, 7-2) take a 21-point lead with 9:55 left. The Friars (12-7, 5-5) could get no closer than 13 the rest of the game.

No. 15 La Salle 89, Iona 73--The Explorers, led by Doug Overton, scored 24 of the game’s final 32 points to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at New Rochelle, N.Y.

La Salle (16-1, 7-0) led at halftime, 47-37, but Iona (8-12, 3-6) fought back and took its first lead at 59-58 on a steal and dunk by Joey Johnson with 12:28 left. Kevin Cooper’s tip-in extended the Gaels’ margin to 61-58.

Overton ended a 3:52 scoring drought for La Salle with a basket that cut Iona’s lead to 61-60 with 9:20 left. With the score tied at 65, he keyed a 13-2 run with seven points. He made two free throws, a three-point shot and made both ends of a one-and-one, giving the Explorers a 78-67 lead with 2:59 remaining.

No. 17 Georgia Tech 90, Maryland 84--Dennis Scott scored 17 of his 26 points in the second half and the Yellow Jackets twice rallied from 11-point deficits in the Atlantic Coast Conference game at College Park, Md.

The Yellow Jackets (14-4, 4-4) trailed, 41-30, in the first half and 55-44 with 17:56 remaining before winning their second consecutive ACC game.

Scott scored eight points, including two three-point shots, in the second-half run. Maryland (13-8, 3-4) got to within 82-78 with 1:39 left, but Georgia Tech made its final eight free throws.

No. 23 Xavier (Ohio) 88, Dayton 81--Jamal Walker made six free throws in the final 75 seconds to give the Musketeers a Midwestern Collegiate Conference win at Cincinnati.

Xavier (17-2, 6-1) trailed, 44-40, at halftime as Dayton (11-8, 4-3) shot 56% and Walker made just one of five shots and committed five of 14 Xavier turnovers. But Walker made two layups early in the second half to put the Musketeers ahead to stay.

EAST

Pittsburgh 94, Villanova 82--Darelle Porter and Brian Shorter led a pair of second-half runs that carried the hot-shooting Panthers to their third consecutive victory in a Big East game at Pittsburgh, despite a Big East record 15 three-point baskets by Villanova.

Porter, who finished with 21 points, scored four points and had three assists during a 10-2 run early in the second half that saw Pitt turn a 45-44 deficit into a 54-47 lead with 14:33 to play.

Shorter, who had 24 points, scored seven of those during a 17-5 run that gave Pitt (9-10) a 77-63 lead after Villanova (12-11) rallied to within 60-58.

Pitt shot 60.7%, including 68.9% in the second half, against a Villanova defense that was limiting its opponents to 38.9% shooting, third-best in NCAA Division I.

Boston College 78, Seton Hall 65--The Eagles rallied in the second half at Boston to win their first Big East game of the season.

Boston College (7-12, 1-8) made 49% of its shots and had balanced scoring. Junior Bobby Moran led the Eagles with 15 points.

Rhode Island 86, Temple 70--Jeff Kent scored 24 points, Kenny Green had 23 and Eric Leslie added 22 to lead the Rams to an upset win at Kingston, R.I.

Rhode Island (8-11, 7-3), outrebounded Temple, 54-31, led by Green, who had 16 rebounds.

Temple (11-8, 9-2) led only twice early in the game. Rhode Island led, 84-65, with 1:27 left. Mark Macon had 27 points for Temple.

SOUTH

Kentucky 88, Georgia 77--A swarming defense that forced the Bulldogs into committing a season-high 33 turnovers, and two free throws by John Pelphrey with 1:11 left gave the Wildcats the Southeastern Conference win at Lexington, Ky.

Georgia (13-6, 6-4) rallied from a 75-65 deficit to within 79-75 on Jody Patton’s two free throws with 1:36 remaining. But Kentucky (10-10, 6-5) countered with Derrick Miller’s three-point play and Pelphrey’s free throws to take a 84-75 lead.

Auburn 89, Tennessee 83--Chris Brandt scored a career-high 28 points at Auburn, Ala., to help the Tigers knock the Volunteers out of a four-way tie for the SEC lead.

Auburn (7-13, 4-6) opened the second half with a 20-8 run that put the Tigers ahead, 50-36, and they never trailed after that. Tennessee (11-8, 6-4) could come no closer than eight points until 1:35, when they cut the lead to six.

Alabama 65, Vanderbilt 56--Robert Horry scored 23 points and Melvin Cheatum added 17 at Nashville as the Crimson Tide took over sole possession of first place in the SEC.

The victory gave Alabama (16-5, 7-3) a half-game lead over LSU and a one-game lead over Georgia and Tennessee.

Vanderbilt (13-6, 5-5) cut the lead to 54-47 with 4:49 to play, but the Tide went on a 7-1 run to take a 61-48 lead with 1:03 remaining.

Mississippi 83, Florida 63--Forward Gerald Glass scored 26 points at Gainesville, Fla., as the Rebels handed the Gators their worst home defeat in 10 years.

The SEC loss was the worst for Florida (6-11, 2-8) since a 21-point setback to Mississippi State. The Gators have lost six in a row for the first time since 1981-82.

Mississippi (7-12, 4-6) took a 10-1 lead three minutes into the game as the Gators missed their first seven shots. The Rebels’ biggest lead was 22 points in the second half.

Clemson 83, South Carolina 65--Dale Davis, who has played with a stress fracture of his left foot since Jan. 3, scored 22 points and had 17 rebounds as the Tigers (16-5) eased past the Gamecocks (10-7) at Clemson, S.C.

MIDWEST

Nebraska 74, Kansas State 71--Clifford Scales scored a career-high 25 points and Dapreis Owens made a reverse layup with 35 seconds left at Lincoln, Neb., to help the Cornhuskers win their first Big Eight Conference game of the season.

Carl Hayes added a pair of free throws with two seconds left to snap a four-game losing streak for the Cornhuskers (8-11, 1-5).

Jean Derouillere scored 29 points for Kansas State (12-10, 2-4).

Virginia 96, Marquette 91--Bryant Stith scored eight of his 35 points in overtime and the Cavaliers made 10 of 11 free throws in the extra period to beat the Warriors at Milwaukee.

Stith’s two free throws with 1:57 left in overtime gave Virginia (13-6) the lead for good at 88-87. The Cavaliers scored the next six points as Stith made a basket and two free throws and Jeff Daniel made two free throws to make it 94-87 with 32 seconds left.

Marquette (11-7) was led by Trevor Powell and Tony Smith, who each scored 31 points.

WEST

Brigham Young 68, Hawaii 65--Marty Haws made a baseline jumper with 36 seconds to play, then made two free throws with 17 seconds left as the Cougars won the Western Athletic Conference game at Provo, Utah.

Haws finished with 28 points for BYU (18-3, 9-1). Andy Toolson had 25 for the Cougars.

Terry Houston made a turnaround eight-foot jump shot with 48 seconds left to give Hawaii (17-6, 6-4) its only lead of the game, 65-64.

Utah 61, San Diego State 49--The Utes (12-9, 5-5) went on a 15-1 run midway through the second half to break open the WAC game at Salt Lake City. The Aztecs (12-11, 4-6) were held without a basket for more than nine minutes in the second half.

Santa Clara 70, Portland 57--Ron Reis scored 20 points to lead the Broncos to a West Coast Conference win at Santa Clara.

Reis also added a game-high nine rebounds to lead Santa Clara (7-13, 4-4) to its second win in a row. The Broncos never trailed in the game. Portland is 6-15 and 3-5.