Mississippi Pulls Off Upset at Kentucky

How long has it been since Mississippi beat Kentucky on Kentucky’s homecourt?

The last time it happened, Babe Ruth was heading into the season in which he would hit 60 home runs. The year was 1927.

Saturday, Mississippi did it again.

The 18th-ranked Rebels pulled away to a 73-64 victory over No. 7 Kentucky at Lexington, Ky., their first win in 20 games in Rupp Arena and their second overall in 45 tries on a Kentucky home floor.

“To come in and quiet a crowd like this is really exciting,” Mississippi guard Michael White said. “I couldn’t care less if we haven’t won here since 1927. Beating Kentucky at Rupp Arena is huge. It’s something we can say for the rest of our lives.”

Rebel guard Keith Carter completed a four-point play late in the game, snuffing out a rally by the Wildcats to stun the crowd of 23,842. Carter finished with a 21 points.

Kentucky, 22-4 overall and 10-2 in the Southeastern Conference, got no closer than 66-61 on Scott Padgett’s two free throws. Mississippi (17-5, 8-4) went seven for 10 from the free-throw line down the stretch in winning its third consecutive game.

No. 1 North Carolina 85, No. 24 Maryland 67--North Carolina’s Antawn Jamison was nearly perfect at Chapel Hill, N.C., with his variety of inside moves, matching his career high with 36 points as the Tar Heels avenged their only loss of the season by beating the Terrapins in an Atlantic Coast Conference game.

North Carolina is off to its best start in 14 years.

Jamison was 16 for 23 from the field and added 16 rebounds, matching another career high, as the Tar Heels (26-1, 12-1) clinched at least a first- or second-place finish in the ACC for the 29th time in the last 34 seasons.

The Terrapins (15-8, 8-5) had won eight of 10 coming in, including an 89-83 overtime victory over North Carolina on Jan. 14 at College Park, Md. Maryland had also won the last two it had played at North Carolina’s Smith Center.

No. 2 Duke 78, Wake Forest 47--Trajan Langdon scored 18 points in this ACC game at Durham, N.C., all on three-pointers, to help Duke break a five-game home losing streak to Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons (12-11, 4-8) had won their last five games at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, the longest active streak by any team, but they committed 17 turnovers and shot 33% (17 for 52) from the field.

Duke (23-2, 12-1) made 11 of 20 shots from three-point range (55%) and scored 22 points off Wake Forest turnovers to win its 20th consecutive home game.

No. 4 Kansas 73, Kansas State 58--Raef LaFrentz scored 24 points, including 10 straight during a decisive second-half stretch at Manhattan, Kan., to lead Jayhawks (27-3, 11-1 Big 12) to their 15th straight win over the Wildcats on the Wildcats’ home floor.

Kansas State (15-7, 6-6), had won their first 11 home games for the first time since 1961-62.

No. 6 Connecticut 92, Pittsburgh 67--Richard Hamilton scored 31 points as the Huskies (22-4, 11-3) bounced back from a disappointing loss with a victory over Pittsburgh (8-13, 3-10) in a Big East game at Hartford.

Hamilton, a sophomore, came into the game as the Big East’s second-leading scorer at 21.7 points a game.

The Huskies were coming off an 80-62 loss to West Virginia at Wednesday.

No. 5 Utah 60, Colorado State 48--Rick Majerus earned his 300th coaching victory as the Utes (21-2, 8-2) beat the Rams (19-5, 7-4) in a Western Athletic Conference game at Fort Collins, Colo.

Majerus, 300-109 overall and 201-57 in nine years with the Utes, joined Vadel Peterson (384-224) and Jack Gardner (339-154) as the only coaches at Utah to reach 300 wins.

No. 8 Purdue 75, Illinois 72--Chad Austin scored 26 points, including a three-pointer with 41 seconds left, as the Boilermakers (22-4, 10-2) beat the Illini (18-8, 10-3) in a Big Ten game at West Lafayette, Ind.

It was only the second time in eight games between these two teams that the home team has won.

No. 10 Princeton 78, Yale 48--Brian Earl scored nine of his 21 points in a deciding second-half run as the Tigers (20-1, 8-0) extended their winning streak to 13 by beating the Bulldogs (10-12, 5-5) in an Ivy League game at Princeton, N.J.

No. 11 New Mexico 96, Air Force 72--Lamont Long scored 27 points and Royce Olney had 20 and the two combined for 21 points to key a game-breaking run as the Lobos (19-3, 9-1) rolled to a WAC victory over the Falcons (9-12, 2-8) at Colorado Springs.

Tennessee 74, No. 12 Arkansas 71--Freshman guard Tony Harris scored 21 points as the Volunteers (16-6, 6-6) upset the Razorbacks (29-6, 9-3) in an SEC game at Knoxville, Tenn.

Tennessee led by as many as 24 points in the first half, then withstood a comeback to defeat Arkansas for the first time in two years.

No. 13 Michigan State 71, Minnesota 59--Jason Klein scored 11 of his 19 points in the first four minutes of the second half and Mateen Cleaves had a school-record nine steals at the Spartans (18-5, 11-2) regained sole possession of first place in the Big Ten by beating the Gophers (11-13, 4-9) at East Lansing, Mich.

No. 15 South Carolina 76, Mississippi State 65--BJ McKie scored 20 points to lead the Gamecocks (19-4, 9-3) to a spirited SEC victory over the Bulldogs (14-11, 3-9) at Columbia, S.C.

The victory came one day after a players’ only meeting about their unenthusiastic play. Coach Eddie Fogler had called the 74-63 victory over Alabama on Wednesday night uninspired.

No. 19 Cincinnati 72, South Florida 55--Bobby Brannen scored 15 points--11 from the foul line--and played peacemaker by tackling a teammate Michael Horton during a second-half fight as the Bearcats (29-5, 10-2) beat the Bulls (14-11, 4-4) in a Conference USA game at Cincinnati that, besides one major altercation, included eight technical fouls. South Florida had five of the technicals.

No. 20 Massachusetts 81, La Salle 71--Charlton Clarke scored 22 points, including eight straight free throws in the final minutes, to lead the Minutemen (19-6, 11-1) to an Atlantic 10 victory over the Explorers (7-16, 3-10) at Amherst, Mass.

UMass won for the 13th time in 14 games despite forward Tyrone Weeks’ first scoreless game in over two years.

No. 22 Texas Christian 91, San Diego State 69--Malcolm Johnson scored 22 points to power the Horned Frogs (22-4, 11-0) over the Aztecs (11-11, 4-6) in a WAC game at Fort Worth, Texas.

TCU won despite shooting only 39% from the floor. The Actecs had 26 turnovers.

No. 23 Syracuse 73, No. 16 West Virginia 58--Etan Thomas scored 11 of his 19 points during a key five-minute span in the second half and the Orangemen (19-5, 9-4) outmuscled the Mountaineers (20-5, 10-5) on the backboards in a Big East game at Syracuse, N.Y.

Damian Owens, West Virginia’s top scorer at 19 points a game and third in the nation in steals, injured his back with 7:16 to play in the first half and watched the rest of the game from the bench. He had six points.

Temple 68, No. 25 Rhode Island 67--Reserve Quincy Wadley scored all 12 of his points over the game’s final six minutes and Temple (16-6, 9-3) held off Rhode Island (18-6, 9-3) in an Atlantic 10 game at Providence, R.I.

Minutes after the Rams had cut a 20-point lead to one, Wadley scored 10 straight points for the Owls, beginning and ending with three-point shots.

Rhode Island’s Preston Murphy made a 75-foot shot at the Buzzer.

OTHER GAMES

Kent McCausland scored 16 points and five other Hawkeyes were in double figures as Iowa (17-8, 6-6) rolled to an 82-70 Big Ten victory over Ohio State (7-17, 0-11) at Iowa City. Iowa ended a four-game losing streak at home and extended the Buckeyes’ skid to 14. . . . Titus Ivory scored 16 points and Penn State (12-9, 5-6) made 14 of 17 free throws in the closing minutes for a 75-69 Big Ten victory over Wisconsin (10-15, 3-10) at State College, Pa. . . . Held to only two points in the first half, Andrae Patterson scored Indiana’s first 12 points after the break and finished with 20 as the Hoosiers (17-7, 8-4) recorded a 73-55 Big Ten victory over Northwestern (9-13, 2-10) at Bloomington, Ind.

Matt Harpring scored 21 points and Michael Maddox and Dion Glover each added 20 points as Georgia Tech (16-9, 5-7) cruised to a 105-86 ACC victory over the Virginia (10-15, 2-10) at Atlanta. . . . Jimmie Floyd scored 21 points as Southern Mississippi (18-7, 7-5) won its fifth straight game, 75-62, over Memphis (12-10, 8-4) in a Conference USA game at Hattiesburg, Miss. . . . Damon Cobb scored seven of his 17 points in the final 3:30 to lift Alabama Birmingham (15-9, 7-5) to a 77-69 Conference USA victory over Tulane (6-18, 1-11) at New Orleans. . . . Mike Bargen scored a career-high 17 points as Marquette (16-6, 7-5) recorded a 70-52 Conference USA victory over Houston (9-15, 2-10) at Milwaukee. Marquette won despite the absence of starting guards Aaron Hutchins (left foot) and Marcus West (left ankle).

Jeremy Hays scored a career-high 26 points to lead Alabama (11-14, 3-9) to an 80-66 SEC victory over Florida (13-9, 6-6) at Tuscaloosa, Ala. It was just the second win in the last 10 games for the Crimson Tide. . . . Daymeon Fishback came off the bench to score 13 points, including three three-pointers, to lead Auburn (15-8, 7-5) to a 66-44 SEC victory over Louisiana State (9-13, 2-10) at Auburn, Ala.

Brett Robisch scored 19 points and backup Brian Montonati scored six in the final two minutes as Oklahoma State (18-4, 8-4) recorded a 70-66 victory over Oklahoma (17-8, 8-4) at Stillwater, Okla., to forge a tie for the Big 12 South Division lead. . . . Marcus Fizer scored 22 points and Iowa State (11-14, 4-8) hit Colorado (12-10, 6-6) with a 24-0 run spanning the two halves en route to an 80-63 Big 12 victory at Ames, Iowa.

Senior guard David Sivulich, playing his last home game, scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the first half St. Mary’s (11-3, 6-6) notched an 88-73 Western Collegiate Conference victory over San Diego (12-12, 4-8) at Moraga, Calif. Sivulich, the WCC’s leading scorer and the conference’s top three-point shooter, made five of the Gaels’ first six shots. . . . Bakari Hendrix scored 27 points as Gonzaga (20-7, 9-3) rolled to a 73-60 WCC victory over Portland (13-11, 6-6) at Portland.

Michael Olowokandi had 24 points and Pacific (17-8, 10-2) matched its third-highest score ever in a 114-83 rout of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (11-13, 4-8) in a Big West game at Stockton. Pacific clinched the Western Division title. . . . Paul Culbertson scored 16 points and Jimmy Carroll added 15 on five-for-seven three-point shooting as Nevada (13-8, 9-3) notched a 73-62 Big West victory over Utah State (19-6, 10-2) at Reno.