No. 1 Kansas Gets Off the Ropes, Beats Cincinnati, 72-65

Cincinnati wears on you, beats you up and knocks you down. Top-ranked Kansas learned, playing punching bag for the Bearcats for a half.

Then the Jayhawks fought back.

“They intimidated us in the first half. The way we played in the first half, we were soft and I don’t think we’re a soft team,” Kansas Coach Roy Williams said after Kansas had beaten the No. 4 Bearcats, 72-65, Wednesday night in the final game of the Great Eight tournament in Chicago.

“In the second half, we became more aggressive and got the ball to the basket instead of dribbling from side to side like we did in the first,” Williams said.

Sophomore Paul Pierce scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half for the Jayhawks, who once trailed by 16 points.

“I knew we’d come out strong in the second half. We’re a veteran club, and we’re not going to give up on anybody,” Pierce said. “I don’t think I was being aggressive enough like I should have been in the first half. I was losing the ball. I wasn’t going to the boards like I should have.”

Scot Pollard added 14 points for Kansas, which used a 36-14 run to wipe out the large deficit.

Cincinnati (2-2), ranked No. 1 before losing to Xavier, got 25 points and 11 rebounds from Danny Fortson. But Fortson managed only nine second-half points before fouling out with 45 seconds to go.

In the other Great Eight game, Victor Page scored 20 points and helped turn back a late Massachusetts (1-3) rally in a 58-53 victory for Georgetown (5-0).

No. 3 Utah 60, Southern Utah State 40--Keith Van Horn scored 14 points and had 15 rebounds for the Utes (4-0), who outscored Southern Utah, 19-4, over a 6:24 stretch of the second half to beat the Thunderbirds (2-2) at Salt Lake City.

No. 5 Villanova 75, Providence 64--Highly touted freshman Tim Thomas made his home debut a memorable one for the Wildcats (4-0), scoring a game-high 29 points to lead a victory over the Friars (4-2) in a Big East game.

Texas Tech 77, No. 11 New Mexico 68--Cory Carr had 25 points and seven assists for the Red Raiders (5-0) in Lubbock, Texas, and Tech beat a ranked team for the second time in a week.

The Red Raiders, who lost four starters from last season’s Sweet 16 team, beat a New Mexico (5-1) team that got 66 of its 68 points from starters.

No. 12 Clemson 82, Furman 55--The Tigers (5-1) lost point guard Terrell McIntyre early and center Harold Jamison late because of injuries, but had no problem at Clemson, S.C., beating Furman (2-2) for the 21st consecutive time.

Both players are expected to return for Clemson’s Saturday game against No. 25 Virginia.

No. 18 Texas 82, Florida 64--Reggie Freeman and Brandy Perryman hit successive three-point baskets, and Perryman then added another three-pointer in turning back a Gator (3-3) run in the second half. Freeman finished with 22 points for Texas (3-0) in the victory in Gainesville, Fla.

The Longhorns are 3-0 for the first time since 1990, when they made it to the final eight of the NCAA tournament.

West Virginia 101, No. 19 Syracuse 79--Reserve Gordon Malone had 25 points for the Mountaineers (2-1), who used a 15-0 run in a second half in which they scored 65 points in winning their Big East opener at Syracuse (3-2).

Jason Hart led the Orangemen with 22 points.

No. 20 Boston College 73, Rutgers 64--Danya Adams scored seven points in a row and Antonio Granger added successive three-point baskets in a 13-0 Eagle (3-0) run that staved off a Rutgers (1-2) rally in the second half of a Big East game at Boston.

Houston 79, No. 21 Tulsa 77--Damon Jones made a jump shot with 13.4 seconds to play in the second overtime, then added a free throw 13 seconds later to push the Cougars (3-1) over Tulsa (4-2) at Houston.

The Cougars overcame a 14-point deficit in the second half and a six-point Tulsa lead in the first overtime.

No. 25 Virginia 75, William and Mary 64--The Cavaliers (4-1) trailed most of the first half before Curtis Staples’ three-point basket capped a 10-2 run that built a 33-31 lead, then Virginia outscored the Tribe (3-3), 28-8, over the first 11 minutes of the second half of a victory at Williamsburg.

OTHER GAMES

Sean Mason scored eight of his 18 points in overtime for Wisconsin (3-0), which was a 64-57 winner over Temple (0-1) at Philadelphia. . . . Kellii Taylor scored 10 points in the final 3 1/2 minutes and Pittsburgh (1-3) avoided its worst start in 42 years by beating Connecticut (3-2), which was held to its lowest Big East point in 10 seasons in a 56-49 loss in Pittsburgh. . . . Pax Whitehead made his fourth three-point basket of the second half with 7.9 seconds to play and lifted Vanderbilt (2-1) to a 66-62 victory over Alabama Birmingham (3-1) at Nashville, Tenn. . . . Jason Sutherland and Derek Grimm had 15 points each for Missouri (4-1) in an 81-47 victory over Arkansas State (3-1) in Columbia, Mo. . . . Curtis Wiggins’ 22 points led Tennessee Tech (4-0) in a 73-62 victory over Tennessee (2-1) in Knoxville, the Golden Eagles’ first over the Volunteers in 17 tries dating to 1939. . . . Kenya Wilkins scored 23 points, 12 in the second half, for Oregon (3-0) in an 85-66 victory over Portland State (0-4), which was playing its first home game since the men’s program was dropped in 1981. . . . Rico Hill made nine of 10 shots and scored 23 points for Illinois State (3-0) in a 75-50 victory over DePaul (1-2) at St. Louis.