Kentucky’s 34-Point Victory Has Knight Singing the Blues

With the loss of three starters who were first-round NBA draft selections, Kentucky was not expected to be as dominant as last season when it beat opponents by 22 points a game in winning the national championship.

Try convincing Indiana and Coach Bob Knight of that.

No. 6 Kentucky overwhelmed No. 8 Indiana from the start with superior quickness and a pressing defense in a 99-65 victory Saturday at Louisville, Ky.

Kentucky (5-1) forced Indiana (6-1) into 28 turnovers, 19 coming in the first half when the Wildcats ran out to a 30-point lead. The Hoosiers finished with the second-worst loss in Knight’s 26 seasons as coach. His worst loss came in 1994, when Minnesota beat Indiana 106-56.

“We were beaten by a better team in the first five minutes and then the next five minutes after that,” Knight said. “They have quick kids. This coach and these kids play this brand of basketball as well as anyone in the country. We just got pounded tonight.”

Even with the loss of Tony Delk, Antoine Walker and Walter McCarty to the NBA, the Wildcats still have plenty of firepower with players like guard Derek Anderson, who had 30 points, and forward Ron Mercer, who had 26. They combined to make 21 of 35 shots.

“We wanted to set the tone early to prove we’re a good team,” said Anderson, who had 23 points in the first half. “It proves that we’re a good team to beat a good team by such a big margin.”

Knight grew so frustrated with his team’s ineptness in the first half that he benched point guard Neil Reed for nearly 12 minutes. Reed finished with three points and six turnovers.

Other examples of the Wildcats’ dominance: They scored 36 points off Hoosier turnovers, had 21 steals, blocked seven shots, made 12 of 22 three-point shots and compiled a 38-33 rebounding advantage.

No. 2 Wake Forest 53, North Carolina State 45--The Demon Deacons (6-0) used a 20-1 run over a nine-minute span of the second half to turn back the Wolfpack (5-1) at Raleigh, N.C., in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

Center Tim Duncan had 13 points and 20 rebounds for Wake Forest, which has its highest-ever position in the national rankings. It was Duncan’s 15th consecutive game of double-figure points and rebounds and the sixth time he has had 20 or more rebounds.

No. 5 Villanova 82, St. John’s 70--Alvin Williams scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half for the Wildcats (5-0, 2-0) in the Big East game at New York.

Guard Felipe Lopez, a junior, and forward Charles Minlend, a senior, both passed the 1,000-point mark for St. John’s (2-2, 1-1) with 18 and 16, respectively.

No. 11 New Mexico 86, New Mexico State 72--The Lobos (6-1) took half of their shots from behind the three-point line, making 12 of 31 in beating the Aggies (3-2) and their matchup zone defense at Las Cruces, N.M.

Guard Charles Smith had 22 points to become No. 4 on New Mexico’s all-time scoring list at 1,546, moving past former American Basketball Assn. star Mel Daniels.

No. 12 Clemson 62, No. 25 Virginia 52--The Tigers (6-1) missed 18 of their first 20 shots but came back to win by limiting the Cavaliers (4-2) to 25 points in the second half in the ACC opener for both teams at Charlottesville, Va.

Forward Greg Buckner scored 13 of his 15 in the second half for Clemson, which made 10 of its last 15 shots after shooting 19% (six of 32) in the first half.

Oregon 87, No. 13 Fresno State 75--Guard Jamal Lawrence made five of eight three-point shots and had a game-high 23 points to lead the Ducks to victory at Eugene, Ore.

Oregon (4-0) is off to its best start since 1977-78.

It was the first of 10 consecutive road games for Fresno State (5-1). Forward Daymond Forney, who sat out three games because of a groin injury, had 21 points for the Bulldogs.

No. 18 Texas 71, North Texas 56--The Longhorns (4-0) opened the second half with a 21-4 run, including 16 unanswered points, in their victory over the Eagles (3-4) at Austin.

Play was stopped with 7:49 left when Texas football players Dan Neil and Tyson King carried the newly won Big 12 Conference championship trophy into the arena. The Longhorns defeated No. 3 Nebraska, 37-27, in St. Louis earlier in the day in the first Big 12 championship game.

Miami 67, No. 19 Syracuse 63--Forward Tim James’ free throw with 50 seconds left broke a 63-63 tie as the Hurricanes (3-2, 1-1) rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half against the Orangemen (3-3, 0-2) at Miami.

Syracuse missed its last three shots. Center Otis Hill had 19 points, including 17 of the Orangemen’s last 24, to move past the 1,000 mark.

Connecticut 61, No. 20 Boston College 54--Freshman Richard Hamilton, being looked upon to fill some of the scoring void created by the early departure of Big East player of the year Ray Allen to the NBA, had a game-high 18 points for the Huskies (4-2, 1-1) at Storrs, Conn.

Boston College (3-1, 1-1) was outscored, 11-2, in the final four minutes. Leading scorer Danya Abrams was limited to five shots in the first half and finished with 17 points. He made only four of 14 shots and eight of 15 free throws.

St. Joseph’s 67, No. 21 Tulsa 64--Reserve guard Terrell Myers made a three-point shot from the corner with one-tenth of a second remaining to give the Hawks (2-1) the victory at Atlantic City, N.J.

Tulsa (4-3) lost the ball on a shot-clock violation with 4.2 seconds left, setting the stage for Myers, who made his shot with a defender’s hand in his face. Myers, a 6-foot-3 senior averaging 14 points a game, scored seven of his game-high 23 points in the final minute.

No. 22 Arkansas 80, Missouri 76--Guard Pat Bradley scored a career-high 30 points, including two free throws in the final seconds as the Razorbacks (3-1) beat the Tigers (4-2) for the fifth consecutive time in a game at Columbia, Mo.

No. 24 Stanford 81, Manhattan 59--The Cardinal (3-1) made 30 of 35 free throws in compiling a decisive 23-point advantage from the line against the Jaspers (2-1) in Sacramento.

Forward Pete Sauer had a career-high 19 points while guard Brevin Knight had 14 points, seven assists and six steals.

OTHER GAMES

As Massachusetts guard Charlton Clarke prepared to shoot a free throw in the second half against Wyoming, snow on power lines outside the Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass., caused an outage that postponed the game. The lights went out on Clarke and more than 6,000 fans with 7:35 to go and Massachusetts leading, 67-53. The game will be resumed today. . . . Rutgers (2-2, 1-1), the worst-shooting team in the Big East at 36%, made 52% of its shots--including eight of 17 three-point attempts--in a 75-68 victory over Georgetown (5-1, 1-1) at Piscataway, N.J. Fans rushed onto the court and mobbed players and Coach Bob Wenzel blew kisses to the crowd after the final horn as Rutgers recorded its biggest victory since beating UNLV (26-2) in the 1991-92 season. . . . Forward Jamel Thomas had 27 points and Providence (5-2, 1-1) capitalized on 23 turnovers by Notre Dame (2-2, 0-1) in an 82-59 home-court Big East victory. . . . Forward Lynard Stewart scored nine of his 19 points during a 17-0 second-half run as Temple (1-1) was a 76-58 winner over Georgia Tech (4-1) at Atlantic City, N.J. Forward Matt Harpring had 21 points for the Yellow Jackets, who had 21 turnovers.

Guard Pete Lisicky scored 13 of his team’s last 15 points as Penn State (4-1) was a 42-41 overtime winner against Tennessee (2-2) at State College, Pa. The Nittany Lions led, 42-40, with 8.8 seconds left when Rahsaan Carlton, a fifth-year senior, called timeout while trying to inbound the ball. Penn State did not have a timeout and was called for a technical foul. Tennessee’s leading scorer, guard Brandon Wharton, made one of two free throws and then took the game’s last shot as time ran out but had it blocked by center Calvin Booth. . . . Wisconsin (4-0) came within a point of a school record for fewest allowed in a 52-30 victory over Brown (0-5) at Madison. Opponents are averaging 42 points against the Badgers. . . . Missouri Kansas City (2-3) posted a surprising 74-53 victory over St. Louis (1-3) on the Billikens’ home court. Missouri Kansas City Coach Bob Sunvold is a former assistant to St. Louis Coach Charlie Spoonhour.

Center Todd MacCulloch had a career-high 38 points and 14 rebounds for Washington (4-1) in a 73-68 victory over James Madison (2-2) at Harrisonburg, Va. MacCulloch made 15 of 18 shots and scored 20 of the Huskies’ first 35 points. . . . Arizona State (4-2) won its third consecutive game as guard Quincy Brewer’s layup with 10.8 seconds left at Tempe, Ariz. provided the decisive points in a 68-67 victory over Oklahoma State (3-2). Sun Devil forward Rodger Farrington had a school-record eight blocked shots. Isaac Fontaine’s 23 points led Washington State (5-0) to a 80-46 victory over Eastern Washington (3-3) at Cheney, Wash.

A technical led to a six-point swing that sparked Santa Clara (3-3) to a 63-54 victory over New Orleans (3-1) in the championship game of the Met Life Classic in San Francisco. Leading scorer Kwan Johnson, after being called for goaltending with New Orleans ahead, 45-40, was ejected for throwing the ball in disgust at the head of Santa Clara’s Craig Johnson. The basket credited to Johnson, Marlon Garnett made the two free throws resulting from the technical, and Todd Wuschnig’s driving layup on the regained possession gave Santa Clara the lead for good at 46-45 with 8:06 to play.

College Basketball Notes

The presidents of the Big Ten Conference will vote on a men’s basketball tournament during their two-day meeting at Park Ridge, Ill., which begins today. The decision is expected to be announced Monday when the Big Ten has scheduled a media conference call.