COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : North Carolina’s Opponents Are Taking Big Losses Hard

With the loss of Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace to the NBA, North Carolina wasn’t expected to maintain its usual high national profile this season.

And, with five starters back from an NCAA tournament team, Stanford was expected to emerge as a national power.

Well, the No. 17 Tar Heels’ 87-63 rout of the No. 16 Cardinal in the title game of the Tournament of Champions at Charlotte, N.C., Saturday night figures to change those early observations.

North Carolina improved to 5-1 as Dante Calabria, playing most of the game on a bad ankle, made four of six three-point shots and was one of his team’s four double-figure scorers with 17 points. The Tar Heels played without talented freshman Vince Carter, who twisted an ankle Friday night.

Stanford (3-2, which includes a loss to unheralded San Francisco) shot 32% and trailed by as many as 37 points.

OTHER TOP 25 TEAMS

No. 1 Kentucky 89, Indiana 82--The Wildcats rebounded from Tuesday’s 92-82 loss to Massachusetts, holding off repeated Hoosier surges at Indianapolis.

Kentucky (2-1) took leads of 14 points in the first half and 10 points in the second half. Indiana (2-3) closed within one point 10 times but couldn’t take the lead.

A basket by Antoine Walker and consecutive three-point baskets by Derek Anderson pushed the Kentucky lead to 71-64 midway through the second half, and Indiana never came closer than four points. Walker finished with 24 points and the Hoosiers’ Brian Evans led all scorers with 28.

No. 3 Villanova 83, St. John’s 68--Kerry Kittles had 28 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats (4-0), who cruised to a Big East victory at Philadelphia without 6-11 center Jason Lawson and 6-9 forward Chuck Kornegay.

Lawson and Kornegay were serving one-game suspensions for fighting in Wednesday’s 70-63 victory over Bradley, but St. John’s (2-2) was unable to take advantage as Villanova’s backcourt of Kittles and Alvin Williams (22 points) dominated play.

No. 5 Massachusetts 50, No. 19 Maryland 47--The Minutemen (2-0) held the Terrapins (1-2) to one basket in the final 11 minutes of a come-from-behind victory in the Franklin National Bank tournament in Landover, Md.

Massachusetts was behind, 28-12, at halftime after shooting 19% from the field, and trailed by 13 points with 15 minutes left.

Center Marcus Camby took control at that point, scoring 10 of his 14 points while intimidating Maryland defensively. The Minutemen worked the ball to Camby in their last two possessions and he scored the game’s final three points.

Maryland’s Johnny Rhodes missed a three-point shot at the buzzer.

No. 6 Georgetown 86, West Virginia 83--Allen Iverson provided the key plays at the end of regulation and overtime as the Hoyas dodged an upset at Morgantown in the Mountaineers’ Big East Conference debut.

West Virginia (1-2) led by 12 points with 2:34 remaining but Georgetown (5-1) used a 19-7 run to send the game into overtime at 76-76 on a layup by Iverson with five seconds left.

The lead changed three times in overtime, with the Hoyas taking the lead for good at 81-80 with 41 seconds left when Othella Harrington scored underneath after a steal by Joseph Touomou.

West Virginia pulled within 84-83 with two seconds left on a three-point shot by Seldon Jefferson, but Iverson sealed the victory with two free throws after he was fouled on the inbounds pass.

Iverson finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Jefferson scored a game-high 26 points--21 above his season average.

The game was the first between the teams since 1975.

No. 7 Memphis 80, Florida A&M; 50--Center Lorenzen Wright had 18 points and 12 rebounds and the Tigers (3-0) forced 29 turnovers at Memphis.

No. 8 Mississippi State 79, BYU 74--Whit Hughes made four free throws without a miss in the final 36 seconds as the Bulldogs (3-0) survived their first real test of the season at Starkville, Miss.

Mississippi State, with victories by 23 and 43 points the first two games, didn’t score a field goal in the final 5:39 and had missed seven of 10 free throws before Hughes’ accuracy sealed the victory.

Center Erick Dampier led Mississippi State with 25 points and eight blocked shots.

No. 10 Wake Forest 68, Lehigh 53--Center Tim Duncan had 21 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots for the Demon Deacons (3-0) at Winston-Salem, N.C.

No. 11 Iowa 79, Colgate 59--The Hawkeyes (5-1) led by as many as 38 points at Iowa City in winning their tournament for the 13th time in 14 years.

Illinois 75, No. 12 Duke 65--Kiwane Garris made three steals in the final minutes as the Illini snapped the Blue Devils’ 95-game winning streak at Durham, N.C. against nonconference opponents.

Illinois (3-0) forced seven turnovers in the final 2:17, with the first of Garris’ steals giving his team the lead for good at 61-60. He finished with 18 points--12 in the final 4:24.

Duke (4-1) lost for only the second time in the last 18 games against Big Ten teams. Jeff Capel led all scorers with 27 points.

No. 13 Missouri 117, Chicago State 45--The Tigers (4-0) had scoring runs of 23-1 and 14-0 at Columbia, Mo., to equal their largest-ever margin of victory. Missouri’s previous 72-point margin came in a 106-34 victory over MacMurray on Jan. 12, 1976.

No. 18 Louisville 79, Michigan State 59--Alvin Sims and DeJuan Wheat each made a three-point shot during a decisive 12-0 run at Louisville as the Cardinals won for the first time time in three games.

Michigan State (2-3) held a 39-25 edge in rebounds behind Jamie Feick’s 14, but committed 24 turnovers.

No. 20 Georgia Tech 89, Appalachian State 65--Bobby Cremins made a successful return to his college coaching roots at Boone, N.C., as the Yellow Jackets improved their record to 5-1.

Cremins returned to Appalachian State for the first time since 1981, when he left the Southern Conference school for Georgia Tech. At the time, the 27-year-old Cremins was the youngest coach in NCAA Division I basketball.

Appalachian State (1-2) missed its first 11 shots.

No. 22 Virginia Tech 71, William & Mary 66--Keefe Matthews scored six points in late 9-2 run for the struggling Hokies (2-0) at Williamsburg, Va.

No. 24 Michigan 68, Detroit Mercy 48--Maurice Taylor had 20 points and nine rebounds and the Wolverines (5-2) overcame 19 turnovers against the Titans (2-1) at Detroit.

PACIFIC 10

No. 4 Arizona 73, Houston 69--Center Joseph Blair had 18 points and 17 rebounds at Houston to lead the Wildcats (5-0) against the undermanned Cougars (2-2).

Kanya Capers scored a game-high 25 points for Houston, which suited up only seven players because of academic problems.

Oklahoma State 90, Arizona State 85--The Cowboys (2-1) shot 63% from the field but couldn’t pull away at Stillwater, Okla. as they missed five of nine free throws in the final 1:02.

Arizona State (2-1) had 11 three-point baskets, with Ron Riley getting five en route to his game-high 31 points.

Oregon 105, Alaska Fairbanks 63--The Ducks (4-1) recorded their second-largest margin of victory and scored more than 100 points for the fourth time this season at Eugene, Ore., against a Division II opponent.

OTHER GAMES

Rutgers (2-1) overcame a 17-point deficit in an 86-80 overtime victory against Notre Dame (1-2) at Piscataway, N.J. It was the first Big East game for both schools. . . . Miami (3-0) won its first Big East opener since joining the conference five years ago, beating visiting Seton Hall (1-1), 80-70. . . . Nebraska (5-0) shot 68% in taking a 21-point halftime lead on its way to a 96-80 victory over Grambling (3-2) in the championship game of the Ameritas Classic in Lincoln. . . . Reggie Freeman scored a career-high 31 points and Texas (2-2) forced 25 turnovers in an 88-84 victory over DePaul (2-1) at Rosemont, Ill. . . . Johnny Miller scored the last 21 points for Temple (1-2) but Wisconsin (3-2) prevailed in overtime, 57-54, at Madison. Miller finished with 27 points. . . . Purdue (3-1) won its Boilermaker Invitational with an 87-76 victory over Murray State (3-1). . . . Penn State (4-0) had twice as many rebounds (44-22) as Tennessee (1-2) in a 69-57 victory at Knoxville.

St. Mary’s (3-0) reeled off 15 unanswered points in a late four-minute span of a 52-46 victory over Pacific (1-1) at Moraga. U. San Diego (3-1) beat San Diego State (2-1) for the fourth consecutive year, 69-65. . . . Brian Green made nine of 12 three-point shots in a 36-point performance that lifted Nevada (1-1) to an 88-80 victory over Baylor (1-2) at Waco, Tex. . . . Eric Franson scored 22 points as Big West favorite Utah State (3-2) struggled to beat NAIA school Lewis-Clark State, 61-57.