COLLEGE BASKETBALL THE TOP 25 : Rider Plays to Camera With 40 as UNLV Beats Georgetown

J.R. Rider stole the show on national television.

Rider scored 40 points Saturday, leading No. 15 Nevada Las Vegas to a 96-80 victory over No. 18 Georgetown at Las Vegas.

“That was something I’ve been dying for people to see,” Rider said of his first appearance on national television for UNLV, which was blacked out last season because of NCAA probation.

Rider became the first UNLV player to score 40 points since Bob Florence did it twice during the 1972-73 season. Rider had 38 points earlier this week in the Rebels’ victory over Texas A&M.; He is averaging 35.6 points over his last five games.

His performance overshadowed the coaching matchup of UNLV’s Rollie Massimino, in his first year with the Rebels after a long run at Villanova, against John Thompson, the Hoyas’ coach for more than two decades.

Thompson holds a 20-8 edge over Massimino.

“It was just fun walking out there and then he gave me a big, fat hug,” Massimino said. “It was great to renew a great acquaintance with a terrific friend such as John.”

UNLV (11-1) won its 57th consecutive home game, the longest current streak in the nation. The Rebels’ last home loss came Jan. 28, 1989, to Oklahoma, 90-89.

The Rebels broke it open early with a 19-0 run over a span of 5:18, when Georgetown (11-3) made six turnovers.

The lead was 50-26 at halftime and reached 35 points, the last time at 80-45 with 10:30 to play. Georgetown scored the last 13 points in the last three minutes.

Dexter Boney added 21 points for UNLV. Othella Harrington had 20 points for Georgetown.

No. 1 Kansas 82, Colorado 51--Richard Scott scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half as the Jayhawks routed the Buffaloes in a Big Eight Conference game at Boulder, Colo.

The Jayhawks (16-1, 0-3) had a 37-33 halftime lead, and Colorado (8-7, 0-3) pulled to within 42-39 early in the second half.

Rex Walters, who also scored 21 points, made a three-pointer for Kansas and Scott followed with a basket to start a 9-1 surge. After Donnie Boyce, who had 26 points, scored for Colorado, Scott made two more baskets to make it 55-42.

The Jayhawks held the Buffaloes to 18 points in the second half, when Kansas shot 68%.

No. 4 Kentucky 108, South Carolina 82--Rodney Dent scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half and the Wildcats trounced the Gamecocks in a Southeastern Conference game at Columbia, S.C.

Dent scored the first seven points of the second half for Kentucky (13-1, 4-1 SEC), which opened a 22-point lead midway through the second half after consecutive three-pointers by Travis Ford, Dale Brown, and Gimel Martinez. After Dent made a basket, Jeff Brassow, playing his first game since arthroscopic surgery last week, made a three-pointer for an 89-67 lead.

The Wildcats pulled away to a 51-40 halftime lead by scoring seven points, five by reserve Tony Delk, in 36 seconds.

Jamie Watson scored 23 points for South Carolina (7-8, 3-3) and Terry Bynum had 21, including four three-pointers, one of them leading to a four-point play.

No. 5 Michigan 76, Illinois 68--Jalen Rose scored 25 points and the Wolverines got past the Illini in a Big Ten Conference game at Ann Arbor, Mich.

Chris Webber, still wearing a plastic mask to protect his broken nose, added 13 points for Michigan (15-2, 4-1).

Andy Kaufman, after making only two of 11 shots in the first half, had 27 points for Illinois (10-6, 3-2), and Deon Thomas added 18.

Illinois trailed by 19 points but pulled to within 71-64 on a three-pointer by Kaufman with 2:47 left. But the Illini managed only four more points, the last two on Kaufman’s layup in the closing seconds.

No. 16 Georgia Tech 75, No. 7 Virginia 71--Travis Best made a series of big plays in the closing minutes and the Yellow Jackets rebounded from three consecutive losses to get past the Cavaliers in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Charlottesville, Va.

Best’s layup gave Georgia Tech (10-4, 3-2) a 65-60 lead with 4:15 left. After Best stole a pass from Cory Alexander, he missed a layup, but Ivan Newbill tipped it in to give the Yellow Jackets a 67-60 lead.

After a basket by Virginia’s Junior Burrough, Best made both free throws to push Georgia Tech’s lead back to seven with 3:17 left. Virginia (11-2, 4-2) got no closer than five until Alexander’s three-pointer at the buzzer.

Georgia Tech defeated Virginia for the seventh consecutive time. The loss was the second in a row for the Cavaliers after a 16-game winning streak. It also ended an 11-game home winning streak.

Malcolm Mackey scored 22 points for Georgia Tech and Burrough had 26 for Virginia.

Auburn 100, No. 8 Arkansas 89--Ronnie Battle scored 26 points and Aaron Swinson added 25 at Fayetteville, Ark., as the Tigers handed the Razorbacks their second consecutive SEC defeat.

The loss ended a 36-game home conference winning streak dating to Arkansas’ days in the Southwest Conference. It was the Razorbacks’ first loss in Barnhill Arena since an 87-76 loss to Missouri in December, 1991.

Auburn (8-5, 3-3) had a 24-point lead with eight minutes left and held on when Arkansas (12-3, 3-2) cut the margin to 11 with 1:28 left.

The Tigers, who made 67% of their shots, used a 22-6 run to build a 47-31 halftime lead.

Corey Beck scored 18 points for Arkansas, which lost to No. 19 Vanderbilt, 102-89, on Wednesday night.

No. 9 Cincinnati 40, Alabama Birmingham 38--Nick Van Exel hit an off-balance three-pointer with one second to play, giving the Bearcats a Great Midwest Conference victory over the Blazers at Cincinnati.

Alabama Birmingham (11-8, 1-3) controlled the game with its slowdown offense and man-to-man defense, taking a 15-11 lead at halftime and leading by as many as 10 points in the second half.

Van Exel, suffering through a four-for-13 shooting night, tried to pass the ball inside with eight seconds left but had it slapped back to him for the winning shot, which gave Cincinnati (13-1, 3-0) its 10th consecutive victory.

Alabama Birmingham, which has lost seven of eight games, held the Bearcats without a field goal in the first 9 1/2 minutes of the game and outrebounded the Bearcats, 12-0, over that span.

The Blazers scored nine consecutive points to take a 24-14 lead five minutes into the second half.

No. 11 Arizona 72, New Orleans 69--Chris Mills scored 27 points, including the last seven for the Wildcats, to lead a comeback victory over the Privateers at New Orleans.

Ed Stokes added 20 points for Arizona (11-2), which ended New Orleans’ 10-game winning streak.

New Orleans (13-2) had a 58-49 lead with nine minutes left but made only two field goals in the final 8:31.

Mills’ basket gave Arizona a 67-66 lead with three minutes left, the Wildcats’ first lead since early in the game. He added a three-pointer and two free throws to make it 72-66.

Gerald Williams’ three-pointer got the Privateers to within three, but Tony Madison missed a three-pointer with three seconds left.

Ervin Johnson scored 17 points for New Orleans.

No. 17 Connecticut 68, Providence 61--Donyell Marshall scored 24 points, including a three-pointer with 58 seconds left, helping the Huskies defeat the Friars in a Big East game at Storrs, Conn.

The Huskies (9-4, 4-3) were in danger of losing their third consecutive game at home until Marshall scored from the left corner to give Connecticut a 61-56 lead. He added two free throws with 25 seconds left and the Huskies made seven of eight free throws in the final 38 seconds.

Michael Smith had 15 points and 16 rebounds for Providence (7-7, 1-6), which has lost 10 consecutive games at Connecticut and 19 of its last 22 Big East road games.

No. 20 Pittsburgh 86, Miami 84--Antoine Jones’ layup with 1.9 seconds left gave the Panthers a Big East victory at Miami after the Hurricanes huddled too long during a timeout and allowed Pitt to tie the score.

Jerry McCullough took an inbounds pass under the basket while Miami players were still returning to the floor after the timeout, and tied the score, 84-84, with 16 seconds left.

Then McCullough, who scored 17 points for Pitt (13-2, 6-2), stole the ball and passed to Jones for the winning basket.

Chris Parker and Steve Edwards each missed two free throws for Miami (4-10, 2-5) in the final 38 seconds.

Edwards scored 26 points for Miami, which had a 69-61 lead with 8:25 remaining.

Wisconsin 67, No. 21 Michigan State 66--Jason Johnsen made a three-pointer with 3.1 seconds left to give the Badgers a Big Ten upset of the Spartans at East Lansing, Mich.

It was Wisconsin’s third consecutive Big Ten victory, the first time the Badgers have done that since the 1988-89 season.

The Badgers (10-4, 3-2) led for only 18 seconds in the game, 15 of those in the game’s first minute. Michigan State (10-4, 2-3) didn’t score from the field during the final 7:34 and blew a 12-point second-half lead.

Wisconsin finished the game with a 13-2 surge. Tracy Webster’s three-pointer got the Badgers to within 66-64 with 1:48 remaining.

Michael Finley scored 28 points for Wisconsin. Mike Peplowski had 21 points and 13 rebounds for Michigan State.

No. 22 Utah 78, San Diego State 53--Josh Grant had 18 points and nine rebounds as the Utes beat the Aztecs in a Western Athletic Conference game at Salt Lake City.

Utah (14-2, 7-0) led, 38-24, at halftime and broke the game open with a 9-0 run to build a 47-26 lead early in the second half. The Utes have won nine consecutive games and are 10-0 at home this season.

Joe McNaull had 12 points and 10 rebounds for San Diego State (4-12, 0-7), which lost its seventh consecutive game and its 33rd in a row to Division I teams.