Indiana Leaves Penn State With Sick Feeling

Indiana beat off flu, and then took care of Penn State.

Brian Evans scored 32 points as the Hoosiers overcame a flu bug that wiped out half the team early this week and beat the ninth-ranked Nittany Lions, 72-54, Wednesday night in a Big Ten Conference game at Bloomington, Ind.

“It may have made us concentrate a little more,” said guard Neil Reed, one of five Indiana players hit by flu after the team’s return from Iowa on Sunday. “When you’re sick, you don’t have a whole lot to think about but playing basketball.

The loss dropped Penn State, 18-3 overall and 9-3 in the conference, a half-game behind first-place Purdue in the conference race. Indiana (15-9, 8-4) remained in third place.

“You’ve got to play through it,” Coach Bob Knight said of the Hoosiers’ adversity.

Indiana led only, 54-50, with about seven minutes to go before Evans started an 18-4 streak with two baskets. Penn State got only one free throw by Matt Gaudio and a three-pointer by Glenn Sekunda the rest of the game.

Glenn Sekunda led Penn State with 18 points.

No. 2 Kentucky 86, Georgia 73--Mark Pope scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and the Wildcats (21-1, 11-0 in the Southeastern Conference) made 30 of 38 foul shots to turn back the Bulldogs (14-8, 5-7) at Lexington, Ky., for their 20th consecutive victory.

Kentucky had more turnovers than an opponent for the first time this season (22-19) and shot only 43% (25 of 58) from the field.

Tony Delk added 15 points for Kentucky. Katu Davis led Georgia with 15.

No. 3 Connecticut 87, West Virginia 69--Doron Sheffer had six three-point baskets and scored 23 points at Storrs, Conn., to lead the Huskies (23-1, 13-0 in the Big East) to a rout of the Mountaineers (9-13, 4-10), their 22nd consecutive victory.

Ray Allen and Kirk King added 13 points each for the Huskies.

The Mountaineers stayed with the Huskies until midway through the first half when Sheffer made two three-point shots and Knight added a layup to give UConn a 24-16 lead with 8:53 left.

The Huskies gradually built the lead to 75-54 with 7:33 left before West Virginia made one final run. Five points by Seldon Jefferson and a dunk by Sandro Varejao made it 79-67, but that was as close as the Mountaineers got.

Damien Owens had 16 points and nine assists to lead West Virginia.

No. 4 Villanova 79, Seton Hall 67--Kerry Kittles scored 25 points in his final game at the duPont Pavilion as the Wildcats (22-3, 12-2 in the Big East) won their ninth in a row, beating the Pirates (10-12, 6-8) at Villanova, Pa.

Villanova avenged its 78-73 defeat at Seton Hall on Jan. 17 and handed the Pirates their fifth consecutive loss.

No. 5 Kansas 85, Colorado 70--Raef LaFrentz dominated inside to score 20 points and the Jayhawks (20-2, 8-1 in the Big Eight) scored the first 13 points of the second half in beating the Buffaloes (8-13, 2-7) at Lawrence, Kan.

Colorado lost for the 13th consecutive time to the Jayhawks. Kansas won its 27th in a row at home.

No. 12 Texas Tech 78, Baylor 72--Darvin Ham scored 22 points, 10 on dunks, enabling the Red Raiders (21-1, 10-0 in the Southwest Conference) to shake off a poor shooting night and hold off the Bears (7-14, 2-7) at Lubbock, Texas.

The Red Raiders missed 40 of 63 shots and lost most of their 16-point lead midway through the second half, but held on.

No. 17 North Carolina 53, Clemson 48--Jeff McInnis had a career-high 25 points, all but one on three-point shots, and the Tar Heels (17-7, 8-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) ended a three-game losing streak by beating the Tigers (14-7, 4-7) with their lowest offensive output of the year, at Clemson, S.C.

A Tar Heel loss would have meant only the second four-game losing streak in the last 31 years under Coach Dean Smith.

No. 22 Iowa State 70, Oklahoma 58--Kenny Pratt scored 20 points in leading the Cyclones (18-5, 7-2) to a Big Eight victory over the Sooners (13-10, 4-5) at Norman, Okla.

Pratt’s performance made up for a subpar effort by Dedric Willoughby, who scored only 12 points and had only one field goal in the second half. Willoughby entered the game averaging 20.8 points.

Bowling Green 72, No. 23 Eastern Michigan 70--Antonio Daniels, playing his first game since his brother’s death last week, made the game-winning layup with four seconds to play and the Eagles (18-3, 11-2 in the Mid-America Conference) defeated the Falcons (12-9, 7-6) at Bowling Green, Ohio.

Daniels finished with 20 points. Eagle sophomore Dayon Ninkovic had a career-high 34.

OTHER GAMES

Ricky Price and Chris Collins each scored nine points during a second-half run as Duke (14-10, 5-7) overcame a 17-point deficit to stop surging Virginia (11, 5-7), 79-69, in an ACC game plagued by 54 fouls at Durham, N.C. Earlier, Virginia’s Scott Johnson and Darryl Presley were arrested and charged with petty larceny in connection with a shoplifting incident before Christmas in Charlottesville, Va. Coach Jeff Jones said in a statement that the two would not play “for the indefinite future.” . . . . James Collins’ 20 points led a balanced Florida State attack as the Seminoles (12-9, 4-7) defeated North Carolina State (14-10, 3-8), 79-66, to move out of the cellar of the ACC at Tallahassee, Fla. . . . John Thomas made a short jump shot with 1:23 left in the second overtime to put Minnesota (13-10, 5-6) ahead to stay as the Gophers defeated Michigan State (13-11, 7-5), 64-63, in a Big Ten game at East Lansing, Mich. . . . Darnell Robinson and Kareem Reid scored eight points apiece in a 16-3 run that lifted Arkansas (15-8, 7-4) from a nine-point deficit and sparked a 79-73 victory over Mississippi (9-12, 3-8) at Fayetteville, Ark. . . . Eric Washington scored 21 points to lead Alabama (13-8, 6-5) past Auburn (17-7, 5-6), 75-72, in an SEC game at Auburn, Ala. . . . Patrick Lewis came off the bench and scored a career-high 23 points as Tulane (15-6, 7-3) rolled to a 77-51 decision over ice-cold shooting Saint Louis (13-9, 3-7) in Conference USA action at St. Louis. . . . Kiwane Garris scored 25 points as Illinois (15-8, 4-7) beat Northwestern (6-15, 1-11), 93-62, in the Big Ten at Champaign, Ill.