Kansas Gets It Right in Edging Arizona

Kansas couldn’t erase the memory of last spring, but the Jayhawks did the next best thing Tuesday night. They beat Arizona for a small measure of revenge.

“I feel a lot better with this being Arizona. Last year, they ripped our hearts out. It was a devastating loss. We watched the tape just to scout Arizona and it was difficult,” Raef LaFrentz said after carrying the second-ranked Jayhawks to a tense 90-87 victory over No. 4 Arizona in the Great Eight at Chicago.

Kansas had been No. 1 for most of last season when Arizona upset the Jayhawks in the Southeast Regional finals of the NCAA tournament and then went on to win the national championship.

This time, Kansas pulled out to a big lead and then held off a furious comeback in the second half, one that didn’t end until Mike Bibby’s three-point attempt just before the buzzer veered off the rim.

LaFrentz scored six of his career-high 32 points in the final two minutes and freshman Kenny Gregory rebounded his own miss and hit a layup with five seconds left to preserve the victory.

Arizona used an 18-3 run to make a game of it late after trailing, 79-62.

“We just came out soft and they were doing anything they wanted, getting open shots and killing us. We have to get ready before the game and play the first half instead of coming back,” said Bibby, who led Arizona with 22 points.

Coach Lute Olson agreed.

“How can you play this hard in the last 10 minutes and not play that hard in the first 10?” Olson asked.

No. 9 Xavier 88, Central Michigan 54--Lenny Brown scored a season-high 18 points as the Musketeers (4-0) pulled away early in a victory over the Chippewas (1-4) at Cincinnati.

Xavier, playing for the first time in a week, forced 28 turnovers and had four players score in double figures as it slowly ground down overmatched Central Michigan.

No. 10 Iowa 90, Drake 60--Freshman Ricky Davis was 10 of 11 from the field and scored 26 points in his first start to lead the Hawkeyes (4-0) past the visiting Bulldogs (2-3) for the 19th consecutive time.

No. 11 Utah 64, Providence 58--Hanno Mottola scored 17 points, including a three-point play to start a pivotal 7-0 second-half run at Chicago as the Utes (6-0) passed their first test of the season against the Friars (2-2).

Utah won its first five games by an average of 27.6 points but had trouble pulling away from the young and undersized Friars.

No. 19 Florida State 90, Florida Atlantic 52--Terrell Baker scored a career-high 20 points and 7-foot-2 freshman Karim Shabazz added 13 points and 11 rebounds at Tallahassee, Fla., as the Seminoles (5-1) rolled. Florida Atlantic fell to 0-6.

No. 18 Arkansas 108, Bethune-Cookman 42--Freshman Jason Jennings had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Nick Davis added 14 points and 14 rebounds as the Razorbacks (5-0) raced to a 51-15 halftime lead en route to victory at Fayetteville, Ark. Bethune-Cookman fell to 0-3.

OTHER GAMES

Zerrick Campbell scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the second half and San Francisco (3-1) outscored visiting California, 10-3, in the final 3:50 to win, 59-50, sending the Bears to their first 0-3 start since 1929. . . . Jason Richey scored eight of his 25 points in the final six minutes as San Diego State (2-3) pulled away from visiting Oregon (1-3) for an 80-68 victory. . . . Desmond Mason had 21 points and 11 rebounds to help Oklahoma State (5-0) to a 73-66 victory over Oral Roberts (4-2) at Stillwater, Okla. . . . Tony Harris scored 21 points at Knoxville to lead Tennessee (6-0) to an 83-69 victory over Tennessee Tech (3-2), giving Jerry Green the best start for a Volunteer coach. . . . Junior forward Jason Williams sparked a 14-0 spurt midway through the first half and Pacific (5-3) coasted to an 80-33 victory over Calgary (2-9) at Stockton. . . . Jaime Holmes scored 14 points and Craig Johnson added 13 as visiting Santa Clara (3-1) defeated San Jose State (0-5), 65-49.