North Carolina Stops Louisville

Max Owens got a rare chance to contribute, and he made the most of his opportunity.

Ademola Okulaja had a career-high 23 points and 15 rebounds, and Owens sparked a key second-half run Thursday night as No. 7 North Carolina held off Louisville, 77-72, at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Owens, who saw limited action in North Carolina’s first 11 games, scored all 10 of his points in the second half to help the Tar Heels (11-1) repel a Louisville surge built on pressure defense and timely three-point shooting.

Cameron Murray led Louisville (2-2) with 17 points.

No. 6 Stanford 101, Nevada 57--Kris Weems ended a seasonlong shooting slump with 23 points, including five three-pointers, and the Cardinal overcame a slow start with a big spurt before halftime in a victory over the Wolf Pack at Reno.

Trailing 24-21 with 8:49 left in the first half, the Cardinal (6-2) outscored the Wolf Pack 25-4 the rest of the half. Weems made a three-pointer to end the half and cap the run.

Dimitrios Marmarinos had 12 points to lead Nevada (3-4) before fouling out with 4:10 left in the game.

Weems, who was averaging less than seven points a game this season and making only 35% of his shots, was nine of 12 from the field. After leading Stanford in scoring nine times last season, he topped the Cardinal in scoring for the first time this year against Nevada.

Stanford was playing its first game without Jason Collins, a backup center who is expected to sit out the rest of the season after having surgery on his right wrist. Collins dislocated the wrist against George Washington on Dec. 7.

The Cardinal also are missing backup point guard Michael McDonald (sprained right foot) and backup shooting guard Ryan Mendez (left knee).

No. 13 Kansas 74, DePaul 66--Kenny Gregory scored 18 points and Eric Chenowith had 14 points and a career-high seven blocks as the Jayhawks (7-2) overcame poor first-half shooting to hold off the Blue Demons (6-3) at Lawrence, Kan.

No. 24 Oklahoma 75, Sam Houston State 44--Eduardo Najera scored 18 points and matched a career high with 13 rebounds to lead the Sooners (6-1) over the Bearkats (3-5) at Norman, Okla.

OTHER GAMES

Ohio State 99, Florida Atlantic 70--The Buckeyes (8-2) matched their victory total from last season as Scoonie Penn scored 21 points in a rout of the Owls (3-6) at Columbus, Ohio.

Santa Clara 79, UC Santa Barbara 69--Nathan Fast scored 17 points at Santa Clara to help the Broncos (3-5) end a three-game losing streak and hand the Gauchos (0-7) their 15th consecutive loss.

WOMEN’S TOP 25

Chamique Holdsclaw scored 24 points and Tamika Catchings had 18 as No. 2 Tennessee (7-1) rolled to an 82-62 victory over Arkansas (6-5) in a Southeastern Conference opener at Fayetteville, Ark. . . . Chanel Wright scored 20 points to lead No. 7 North Carolina (12-1) to an 89-66 rout of Holy Cross (6-5) at Worcester, Mass. . . . Amy Geren scored 26 points for No. 14 Clemson (9-0) in an 84-67 victory over South Carolina (6-2) at Columbia, S.C. . . . Annie Garrison scored 17 points as No. 25 Santa Clara, playing as a ranked team for the first time in school history, improved to 8-0 and extended its home winning streak to 23 games with a 64-51 victory over Northern Illinois (2-6) at Santa Clara.