Kansas and Wake Forest Avoid Upsets

Top-ranked Kansas bounced back from its only loss of the season, and No. 2 Wake Forest avoided a loss to Missouri, the team that defeated the Jayhawks.

Raef LaFrentz scored 21 points, and Jacque Vaughn and Paul Pierce led a key run at the start of the second half as the Jayhawks withstood Dedric Willoughby’s career-high 36 points and defeated No. 6 Iowa State, 69-62, on Sunday at Ames, Iowa.

Kansas, 23-1 overall and 9-1 in the Big 12 Conference, bounced back from its double-overtime loss at Missouri last Tuesday with a strong defensive effort that shut down the Cyclones (16-4, 7-3) other than Willoughby, who made a school-record nine three-point baskets.

Wake Forest (19-2) denied Missouri the rare feat of defeating No. 1 and 2-ranked teams, getting 18 points and 20 rebounds from Tim Duncan and pulling away at the start of the second half for a 73-65 victory at Columbia, Mo.

Missouri (12-11) kept the game close by making a school-record 15 three-point shots in 28 attempts. The previous record was 13.

No. 3 Kentucky 93, No. 16 Villanova 56--Ron Mercer had 23 points and 11 rebounds as the Southeastern Conference Wildcats dominated the Big East Conference Wildcats at Lexington, Ky.

Kentucky (22-3) shot 55%, including eight of 19 from three-point range, and outrebounded Villanova (17-6), 42-17.

Kentucky’s pressure defense also forced 24 turnovers.

Memphis 79, No. 11 Louisville 59--Cedric Henderson scored 27 points and the Tigers sent the Cardinals to their third consecutive loss in a Conference USA game at Memphis, Tenn.

Memphis (12-11, 6-3) never trailed and shocked the Cardinals (18-5, 5-3) by opening the game with a 16-0 run.

No. 14 Arizona 81, No. 21 Tulane 62--Miles Simon had career highs of 30 points and 10 assists as the Wildcats routed the Green Wave at Phoenix.

A.J. Bramlett had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Arizona (15-5) while Lawrence Nelson (15) led the Green Wave (16-7).

Illinois 66, No. 25 Iowa 51--Kiwane Garris scored 21 points, including five three-point baskets, as the Illini defeated the Hawkeyes in a Big Ten Conference game at Champaign, Ill.

Illinois (17-6, 7-4) outrebounded Iowa (16-6, 7-3), 45-29.

OTHER GAMES

Mickey Curley converted a rebound basket with one second remaining in overtime as Boston College (15-6, 9-4) defeated St. John’s (9-12, 4-9), 81-80, in a Big East Conference game at New York. . . . Kerry Thompson’s jump shot with 2.5 seconds left boosted Florida State (13-7, 4-7) to a 64-62 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over Georgia Tech (9-12, 3-8) at Tallahassee, Fla. . . . Monty Owens made four free throws in the final 30 seconds to lead Pacific (18-2, 9-1) to a 63-60 Big West Conference victory over Nevada (14-7, 8-3) at Stockton. . . . Marc Jackson and Rasheed Brokenborough each scored 19 points to lead Temple (13-7, 6-4) to an 83-68 victory over Duquesne (7-13, 3-7) at Pittsburgh in an Atlantic 10 Conference game. . . . Eric Ambrozich scored seven points in an 11-0 game-opening run Saturday night that got Hawaii (16-4, 8-2) started on an 87-63 romp over Air Force (5-15, 1-10) at Honolulu in a Western Athletic Conference game. . . . Chuck Guittar scored 22 points and Drexel (17-6, 13-2) earned a 73-42 victory over Boston University (18-4, 13-1) in an America East Conference game at Philadelphia, ending Boston’s 14-game winning streak.