Connecticut Beats Stanford With Defense

The letters heard most around Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn., Saturday were D and Q and it wasn’t about players fouling out.

No. 7-ranked Connecticut gave one of its most impressive defensive performances in holding No. 9 Stanford to its lowest point total of the season in a 76-56 victory.

Connecticut senior Monquencio Hardnett, better known as “Q,” had a season-high 14 points and keyed the zone traps that had the sellout crowd of 10,027 roaring throughout and chanting his name in the second half.

“I don’t like being in the spotlight, leave that for the stars,” said the reserve guard who was mobbed by his teammates after consecutive steals led to two breakaway moves as the Huskies (21-3) pulled away midway through the second half. “I just like to do what I’m supposed to do as long as we keep winning.”

The victory was the fifth straight for the Huskies, while the Cardinal (19-3) lost for the third time in four games after starting the season 18-0.

Stanford played won at California on Wednesday night, traveled across the country Thursday, practiced Friday and played at noon East Coast time Saturday, 9 a.m. to the team’s body clocks.

Connecticut, always one of the nation’s leading defensive teams, held Stanford well under its average of 81.6 points per game and to under 70 points for just the fourth time this season. The Cardinal’s previous low was 63 points in a 21-point win over San Diego State.

Stanford, which entered the game shooting 47%, was 19 for 61 (31%) against Connecticut. The Cardinal struggled against the Huskies’ zone trap, finishing with 18 turnovers, five over their season average and three less than the season-high they had in their last game against California.

“That was an exquisite basketball game for us. I couldn’t ask for much more,” Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun said. “We normally use our defense to create our offense and that’s what happened. We knew they would be tired.”

Richard Hamilton scored 24 points for Connecticut, which led by 12 points at halftime and by 25 before Stanford scored the final five points of the game.

Stanford, which lost consecutive home games to Arizona and Arizona State before beating Cal on Wednesday, was led by Arthur Lee with 17 points. The Cardinal’s starting front line of Peter Sauer, Tim Young and Mark Madsen had a total of only 16 points. Sauer was held to three points on one-for-seven shooting.

Stanford plays UCLA at Pauley Pavilion Thursday night.

No. 5 Utah 60, Rice 49--This victory for the Utes at Houston gave Coach Rick Majerus his 200th victory at Utah.

Majerus wasn’t impressed.

“Of all the numbers going on today, that is the one that I care less about,” he said. “It didn’t even know it until you told me. I guess it means my plumbing’s working. I guess it’s staying power.”

After the game was tied, 29-29, at halftime, the Utes (20-1, 7-1) shut down Rice in the second half for a Western Athletic Conference victory which also gave Majerus his 299th career coaching victory and his seventh 20-win season in nine years at Utah.

The Owls fell to 5-16, 2-6.

No. 10 Purdue 107, Ohio State 75--Brad Miller scored 22 points and Chad Austin had 19 as the Boilermakers made a Big Ten record 15 three-point shots in routing the Buckeyes at Columbus, Ohio.

It was Ohio State’s worst loss at St. John Arena, eclipsing the 122-92 loss to Indiana in 1959. The Buckeyes move to Value City Arena next season.

It was also the Boilermakers’ most lopsided victory ever in Columbus. In the 70 previous meetings at Ohio State, Purdue’s biggest margin came in a 38-20 win in 1918.

Purdue (20-4, 8-2) won its fifth in a row while the Buckeyes (7-15, 0-9) have lost 12 in a row overall and their last 15 Big Ten games--their longest streaks ever.

No. 11 Princeton 76, Harvard 48--Gabe Lewullis matched his career-high of 24 points and the Tigers (18-1, 6-0) shot 68% from the field to rout the Crimson (9-10, 3-5) in an Ivy League game at Boston.

The Tigers, who crushed Dartmouth, 71-39, the previous night, made 30 of 44 shots, including 14 of 24 from three-point range, in winning their 11th in a row and beating Harvard for the 15th straight time.

No. 12 New Mexico 77, Colorado State 62--The Lobos (18-3, 8-1), winning their 40th in a row at home, converted five consecutive turnovers into 11 points in the second half in beating the Rams (18-4, 16-3) in a WAC game.

New Mexico’s Clayton Shields made seven three-points shots and scored 25 points.

Tennessee 70, No. 13 South Carolina 69--Freshman Tony Harris scored 22 points and made a key steal in the waning seconds to lead the Volunteers (15-5, 5-5) over the Gamecocks (17-4, 7-3) at Knoxville, Tenn.

Tennessee, in winning its fourth straight Southeastern Conference game, reversed a 30-point loss to the Gamecocks less than three weeks ago in Columbia, S.C.

Brandon Wharton scored 19 points for the Volunteers, who ended a seven-game South Carolina winning streak.

BJ McKie led the Gamecocks with 27 points, including a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the final margin to a point.

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No. 14 Arkansas 93, Vanderbilt 83--Nick Davis scored 24 points and Pat Bradley bounced back from missing his first six shots to score all 17 of his points in the final 9:11 as the Razorbacks (20-3, 9-1) beat the Commodores (15-8, 4-6) in an SEC game at Fayetteville, Ark.

Davis had 13 points in the first half, including eight in a run that put Arkansas ahead to stay. Bradley’s first three-point basket came after Vanderbilt had closed to within 60-59 and his second made it 68-62. His next one pushed the lead to 76-70. He added a 15-footer to make it 81-75 with 3:31 to play.

St. John’s 77, No. 15 West Virginia 69--Felipe Lopez and Lavor Postell each scored 17 points and the Red Storm (18-7, 10-4) closed the Big East game at New York with with a 10-4 run in beating the Mountianeers (19-4, 9-4).

The Red Storm, winning for the ninth time in 10 games, also got 15 points and 13 rebounds from freshman Ron Artest.

No. 16 Michigan State 75, No. 24 Iowa 64--Antonio Smith scored 17 points and had 12 rebounds while reserve Morris Peterson added 14 points as the Spartans (17-4, 10-1) stayed atop the Big Ten standings by beating the Hawkeyes (16-7, 5-5) at East Lansing, Mich.

The Spartans have won eight in a row while Iowa has lost five of six.

No. 17 Mississippi 75, Alabama 74--Jason Smith drove the lane for a game-winning dunk with 13 seconds at Oxford, Miss., as the Rebels (15-5, 6-4) notched an SEC victory over the Crimson Tide (10-13, 2-8).

Demetrius Alexander had scored Alabama’s last 10 points before being called for an offensive foul with 24 seconds left. After an Ole Miss timeout, Anthony Boone found Smith alone in the lane for the game-winning shot.

Ole Miss had lost four straight SEC road games, but returned home to stretch its home court winning streak to a school-record 17 in a row.

Minnesota 88, No. 18 Michigan 78--Eric Harris scored 24 points and Minnesota made 14 of 20 three-point shots as the Gophers (10-12), 3-8) upset the Wolverines (17-7, 7-4) at Minneapolis.

Harris made three straight three-pointers midway through the second half as Minnesota took a 70-55 lead.

Michigan, which overcame a 12-point deficit against Northwestern on Thursday, went on an 11-3 run, but could get no closer than six the rest of the way.

Seton Hall 85, No. 19 Syracuse 61--The Pirates ended 16 years of futility, winning for the first time ever in the Carrier Dome by holding the Orangemen to one field goal over the final 12 minutes of the first half.

While Syracuse (17-5, 7-4 Big East) was cold, Seton Hall (12-10, 6-6) hit a season-high 14 three-point shots on 24 attempts, led by Donnell Williams and Levell Sanders, who each had five and finished with 23 points. Shaheen Holloway added a career-high 14 assists, to go along with 11 points.

Seton Hall had lost all 16 games played in the Carrier Dome since its opening in 1981. It was the Pirates’ first win in Syracuse since Jan. 27, 1951.

North Carolina Charlotte 69, No. 20 Cincinnati 62--The 49ers (12-8, 8-2) climbed back into the thick of the Conference USA race by beating the Bearcats (17-5, 8-2) at Charlotte, N.C.

Demarco Johnson had 18 points and 11 rebounds for North Carolina Charlotte, which ended a two-game conference losing streak to tie Cincinnati atop the league’s American Division.

North Carolina Charlotte harassed Cincinnati into 17 turnovers and converted them into 16 points. The 49ers’ defensive showing, which came in front of a raucous sellout crowd at Halton Arena, helped them limit the conference’s highest-scoring offense to 18 points below its average.

No. 22 George Washington 67, St. Joseph’s 62--Yegor Mescheriakov scored 17 points and Shawnta Rogers had 16 as the Colonials (20-3, 9-1) nearly blew a 20-point second-half lead before hanging on to beat the Hawks (8-12, 1-9) in an Atlanta 10 game at Philadelphia.

St. Joseph’s rallied behind Rashid Bey, who scored all of his 17 of his points in the second half, and got to within 64-62 with 29 seconds left.

But Rogers made two free throws with 27 seconds left and the Hawks’ Frank Wilkins missed two free throws with 23 left.

No. 25 Maryland 68, Florida State 62--Rodney Elliott scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half, including two free throws with 48 seconds left, as the Terrapins (14-6, 7-4) recovered from an 11-point deficit to defeat the Seminoles (16-8, 5-6) in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Tallahassee, Fla.

Laron Profit also scored 16 points for the Terrapins, who trailed, 34-23, in the first half and were still down, 53-45, with 9:55 left to play. But Elliott scored eight straight points in a span of 1:27 seconds to tie the game at 57-57.

OTHER GAMES

Jerry Hester scored 18 points, including a key basket in overtime, and Illinois (17-7, 9-2) won its sixth straight with a 53-47 Big Ten victory over Wisconsin (10-13, 3-8) at Madison, Wis. Hester also had 13 rebounds. . . . Cory Carr and Rayford Young scored 25 points at Lubbock, Texas, each to lead Texas Tech (12-8, 6-4) to a 102-75 Big 12 victory over Texas A&M; (6-14, 0-10), its biggest winning margin of the year and its biggest ever in Big 12 play. . . . Winfred Walton scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half to lead Fresno State (13-8, 6-2) to an 80-73 WAC victory over Southern Methodist (14-6, 3-5) at Fresno. The Bulldogs have won seven of their last eight games. . . . Lee Nailon scored 44 points as Texas Christian (20-4, 9-0) rolled to a 119-84 WAC victory over San Jose State (1-17, 0-7) at San Jose. Michael Quinney scored a career-high 31 points for the Spartans. . . . Brian Jones scored 17 points and Nathan Fast had 16 as Santa Clara (16-6, 7-3) rolled to an 80-53 victory over Portland (13-9, 6-4) in a battle of West Coast Conference leaders at Santa Clara. . . . Adam Jacobsen scored 28 points, Michael Olowokandi added 17, and each had nine rebounds as Pacific (15-8, 8-2) held off host Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (10-12, 3-7) for a 85-79 Big West victory.