Kansas Will Take Lackluster Victory

Kansas Coach Roy Williams had an answer for any excuse that was offered for his second-ranked Jayhawks’ uninspired 79-72 victory over San Diego on Sunday at Lawrence, Kan.

Some cited jet lag. Some said it might have been looking ahead to Monday’s new poll when Kansas should be ranked No. 1 after starting the season behind Cincinnati, which lost Tuesday.

“Garbage,” said Williams, whose Jayhawks (5-0) won their 24th consecutive home opener. “That’s all any excuse is. I think we were a little down. But that’s just an excuse. We didn’t play as well as we needed to play. We didn’t have the emotion.”

San Diego (2-1) led by six points early and quickly shaved a 12-point halftime deficit to one point. The Jayhawks, who had arrived from winning the Maui Classic only 45 hours earlier, never did pull away from the Toreros.

Paul Pierce scored 18 points for Kansas, which struggled in the final minutes with Scot Pollard and Raef LaFrentz saddled with four fouls apiece.

No. 3 Wake Forest 80, Richmond 55--Tim Duncan had 14 points, 18 rebounds and blocked five shots as the third-ranked Demon Deacons won at Richmond, Va.

It was Duncan’s 13th consecutive double-double as Wake Forest (4-0) held Richmond (1-2) to 34.4% shooting from the field.

No. 5 Villanova 85, Tulane 70--Tim Thomas and Jason Lawson each scored 21 points to lead the Wildcats to the championship of the Puerto Rico Shootout at Bayamon.

Lawson, who made nine of 11 shots, had 13 points in the first half as Villanova (3-0) took a 37-30 lead. The Wildcats pulled away from Tulane (3-3) in the second half by shooting 70%.

No. 9 Iowa State 82, Maryland-Eastern Shore 62--Dedric Willoughby led four Cyclone players in double figures with 23 points as Iowa State easily won at Ames, Iowa.

Iowa State (2-0) trailed, 30-28, at halftime, then used a 24-1 run in the second half to pull away.

No. 24 Minnesota 75, No. 10 Clemson 65--Eric Harris, the hero of Minnesota’s semifinal victory, scored 17 to lead the Golden Gophers (5-0) past the the Tigers (4-1) in the championship game of the San Juan Shootout at Caguas, Puerto Rico.

OTHER GAMES

A 37-point performance by Raymond Tutt was spoiled as Josh Unruh scored 22 points to lead St. Mary’s (2-2) to a 94-86 nonconference victory over UC Santa Barbara (1-2) at Moraga. . . . Olivier Saint-Jean scored 27 points and Tito Addison 21 to lead San Jose State (2-1) to a 76-65 nonconference victory over Santa Clara (1-3) at San Jose. . . . DeJuan Wheat scored a game-high 21 points to lead Louisville to a 92-82 victory over Colorado (3-1) and the championship of the Big Island Invitational at Hilo, Hawaii. Wheat paced five scorers in double figures for the Cardinals (3-0). . . . Illinois (4-1) matched a Big Island Invitational record with 13 three-pointers in a 92-68 victory over Virginia Tech (1-2) in the tournament’s third-place game.