Duncan’s Number Retired, His Game Isn’t

Tim Duncan arrived at Wake Forest in 1993 as a skinny center from the Virgin Islands with a limited background in basketball.

He will leave as one of the greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history, a probable No. 1 NBA draft pick and as a hero in his native country.

Duncan had his No. 21 jersey retired in a ceremony after No. 5 Wake Forest defeated Georgia Tech, 71-55, Tuesday night at Winston Salem, N.C.--the Demon Deacons’ final home game of the season.

Duncan, playing in front of his father, two sisters and the governor of the Virgin Islands, had his typical well-rounded game--10 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists--as Wake Forest (22-4, 11-4) moved within a half-game of ACC leader Duke, which plays No. 16 Maryland Thursday at Durham, N.C.

It was his 24th game in double scoring and rebounding figures this season and the 81st in 123 career games for Duncan, who has helped Wake Forest to 95 victories and two ACC championships in that span. He entered the game against Georgia Tech (9-16, 3-12) with the following career rankings among an illustrious cast of ACC players--first in blocked shots, fourth in rebounds, 12th in minutes played, 19th in field goal percentage and 33rd in scoring.

“There is no denying by any standard you want to make it, you want to hold up, that he is going to be ranked among one of the greats to ever play in this league,” Wake Forest Coach Dave Odom said. “Whether it’s a statistical comparison, whether it’s championships in the ACC comparison, whether it’s the number of games won by his team comparison, he measures up.”

No. 3 Kentucky 74, Tennessee 64--Sophomore forward Ron Mercer, expected to announce today he will make himself eligible for this year’s NBA draft, had 19 points for the Wildcats (27-3, 13-2) in the Southeastern Conference game at Knoxville, Tenn.

Kentucky scored 41 points off 33 turnovers by Tennessee (11-14, 4-11).

No. 9 Cincinnati 63, Southern Mississippi 49--Forward Ruben Patterson came off the bench to score 20 points and lead the Bearcats (23-5, 11-1) to a victory at Cincinnati which gave them the No. 1 seed in next week’s Conference USA tournament.

Patterson got extended playing time against Southern Mississippi (12-13, 6-7) as leading scorer Danny Fortson sat out most of the game because of foul trouble. Fortson fouled out with 1:05 left with a season-low four points.

No. 21 Illinois 87, Penn State 65--Guard Kiwane Garris had 27 points as the Illini (19-8, 9-6) handed the Nittany Lions (9-16, 2-14) their second-worst loss of the season in the Big Ten game at State College, Pa.

Guard Pete Lisicky, Penn State’s leading scorer, didn’t get a field goal until 2 1/2 minutes into the second half and finished with six points.

No. 23 St. Joseph’s 78, Massachusetts 63--The Hawks (20-6, 12-3), making their first appearance in the national rankings in 24 years, held the Minutemen (17-12, 10-5) without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes in an Atlantic 10 game in Philadelphia.

St. Joseph’s won for the 17th time in 20 games, clinched at least a tie for the Atlantic 10 East Division championship and defeated Massachusetts for the first time in seven games.

Bruiser Flint--a former St. Joseph’s point guard in his first game as Massachusetts coach at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse--was ejected with 30 seconds left after getting his second technical foul.

OTHER GAMES

Southern Utah 76, UC Irvine 65--The Anteaters (1-23) fell behind, 46-22, in the first half of the nonconference game at Cedar City, Utah, as they missed 16 of 20 shots while the Thunderbirds (9-16) shot 60% from the field.

Forward Pat Garrity scored 27 points and Notre Dame (14-11, 8-9) made 25 of 31 throws in a 69-60 Big East victory over Miami (15-10, 9-8) at South Bend, Ind. Miami, looking for its first NCAA tournament berth since 1960, has lost four in a row. . . . Freshman forward Colin Ducharme, playing in his hometown of Richmond, Va., blocked Jim Jackson’s shot as time expired for Virginia (17-11) in a 58-57 nonconference victory over Virginia Tech (14-14). . . . Texas (16-9, 10-5) clinched at least a tie for the Big 12 South Division title with the 1,300th victory in school history--a 68-57 decision over Texas A&M; (9-16, 3-12) at Austin, Texas. . . . Guard Cory Carr scored 30 points and made three of his school-record seven three-point baskets in a 19-1 run that erased an 14-point deficit as Texas Tech (17-8, 9-6) was an 84-73 Big 12 winner over Missouri (13-15, 5-10) at Columbia, Mo. . . . Forward Bubba Wells scored 31 of his 43 points in the first half as Austin Peay (16-13) coasted to a 106-83 victory over Morehead State in a first-round Ohio Valley Conference tournament game at Clarksville, Tenn.

College Basketball Notes

Tim Duncan of Wake Forest and Keith Van Horn of Utah are among 12 men finalists for the 1997 Naismith college player of the year award, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced. Kate Starbird of Stanford, Tina Thompson of USC and Marion Jones of North Carolina and Thousand Oaks are among the 12 finalists for the women’s award. The winners will be announced March 23.