Cincinnati Is in Position to Reclaim No. 1

As Cincinnati’s Kenyon Martin stepped to the foul line in the closing seconds with Saturday’s game with Marquette in hand, the Shoemaker Center rang with the chant: “We’re No. 1!”

Only a couple of minutes earlier, however, the crowd worried that third-ranked Cincinnati might be headed in the opposite direction.

The Bearcats had a 21-point lead dwindle to six with five minutes left before going on a game-ending 17-4 run for a 67-48 victory that should allow them to regain the No. 1 ranking they held three weeks ago.

Second-ranked Connecticut lost to Notre Dame on Wednesday and No. 1-ranked Stanford lost to Arizona, 68-65, a few minutes after Cincinnati, 14-1 overall and 3-0 in Conference USA, closed out its sixth consecutive victory since a 66-64 loss to crosstown-rival Xavier of Ohio on Dec. 18. The Bearcats have won by an average of 28 points during the streak.

“It’s just a ranking. It’s not special,” said forward Pete Mickeal, who had a game-high 23 points. “It gives other guys more incentive when they come out to play us, that’s all it does.”

Marquette (8-5, 1-1) was coming off a victory over Xavier in which it came back from an 18-point deficit, but had a season-low first half point total in trailing, 31-17.

Guard John Cliff and forward Oluoma Nnamaka scored 20 of their 30 points to lead a second-half comeback which ran out of steam when the Golden Eagles ran out of players. They had three players foul out in the closing minutes and finished with three others with four fouls.

Marquette was called for 19 more fouls than Cincinnati, 30 to 11. The Bearcats made 28 of 44 free throws; the Golden Eagles were six for eight.

Cincinnati has won 38 in a row at home.

No. 2 Connecticut 73, Pittsburgh 51--Guard Albert Mouring scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half at Pittsburgh as the Huskies (11-2, 1-1 in the Big East) bounced back from the home-court loss to Notre Dame.

Connecticut set a Big East record with its 12th consecutive road victory. Pittsburgh (8-5, 0-2) trailed the entire game.

No. 4 Auburn 67, Georgia 52--The Tigers (13-1, 1-0 in the Southeastern Conference) relied on their full-court defense to create numerous easy scoring opportunities in running their win streak to 11 and getting their 24th home-court victory in a row.

Georgia (7-7, 0-2) had 11 turnovers in the first 10 minutes and finished with 27.

No. 6 Florida 75, Mississippi 71--The Gators (12-2, 1-1) abandoned their fast-paced offense against the Rebels (12-3, 0-2) in the SEC game at Oxford, Miss., and patiently worked the ball inside to center Udonis Haslem and forwards Donnell Harvey and Brent Wright, who combined to score 39 points.

The 6-foot-7, 260-pound Haslem made eight of 13 shots and had a game-high 21 points in his matchup with 6-8, 250-pound Rahim Lockhart, who was eight of 11 from the field and had 19 points.

No. 7 Syracuse 67, Miami 55--Guard Jason Hart had 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Orangemen (11-0, 2-0 in the Big East) at Miami (8-6, 1-1)--their first road game of the season.

With losses by Stanford and Louisiana State, Syracuse is the only unbeaten Division I-A team. The Orangemen had a 16-point lead cut to five with 1:31 left and lost possession but Etan Thomas’ blocked shot was converted into a fast-break layup and free throw by Tony Bland.

No. 9 Kansas 84, Colorado 69--Guard Jeff Boschee scored all 13 of his points in the second half to help the Jayhawks (12-2) come back from an eight-point deficit in the Big 12 opener for both teams at Boulder, Colo., and beat the Buffaloes (9-4) for the 21st consecutive time.

Kansas trailed, 43-35, after the first 44 seconds of the second half before going on an 18-4 run. Boschee then scored the first five points of 13-0 run that allowed the Jayhawks to pull away late in the game.

No. 10 Indiana 85, Penn State 78--Sophomore forward Kirk Haston had a career-high 28 points and the Hoosiers (12-1, 2-0) shot 57% at State College, Pa., in defeating the Nittany Lions (8-5, 0-2) for the sixth consecutive time.

Penn State forward Jarrett Stephens, the Big Ten’s leading scorer at 20.2 points a game, had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

No. 11 Michigan State 75, Iowa 53--Forward Morris Peterson scored 20 of his 29 points in the first half at Iowa City as the Spartans (11-4, 2-0) won their 20th consecutive Big Ten game. Iowa (7-6, 1-1) has lost six in a row to Michigan State.

Point guard Mateen Cleaves, playing his second game after being sidelined 10 weeks with a broken right foot, had three assists to tie the Michigan State record of 645 set by Scott Skiles from 1982-86.

No. 14 North Carolina 83, North Carolina State 75--Point guard Ed Cota made all eight of his shots in scoring a career-high 23 points and the Tar Heels (11-4, 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) shot 71% at Chapel Hill, N.C. Center Brendan Haywood also made all of his shots (seven) and had 16 points.

North Carolina, which led by only two points at halftime, made eight of its first nine shots in the second half. North Carolina State (10-2, 1-1) had come into the game allowing only 57 points a game.

No. 15 Tennessee 64, No. 21 Louisiana State 59-- The Volunteers (14-1, 2-0 in the SEC) overcame 29% shooting in the second half in beating the Tigers (13-1, 1-1) at Baton Rouge, La., and continuing their best start since the 1941-42 season.

Guard Tony Harris scored all but one of his 18 points in the first half to help Tennessee take a 12-point lead.

Louisiana State, playing before its first sellout crowd since 1995, managed to get as close as 55-54 with six minutes left even though leading scorer Stromile Swift didn’t play 11 minutes of the second half because of foul trouble. Swift, averaging 19 points, eventually fouled out with eight points.

No. 16 Oklahoma State 55, Texas Tech 47--The Cowboys (12-1) overcame 36% shooting and a three-point effort by leading scorer Desmond Mason in the Big 12 opener for both teams at Stillwater, Okla., to beat the Red Raiders (8-3) for the fifth consecutive time.

Mason, a senior forward averaging 19.8 points, was one-of-nine shooting in finishing with his lowest point total since going scoreless late in his freshman season. Forward Brian Montonati had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Oklahoma State.

Wisconsin 63, No. 19 Illinois 59--Forward Mark Vershaw made his first three-point basket of the season with 17 seconds left as the Badgers (9-5, 1-1) defeated a ranked opponent for the third time this season at Madison, Wis. Earlier Vershaw, who had 11 points, had missed his first three-point shot of the season.

Forward Marcus Griffin had a chance to tie the game for Illinois (9-4, 1-1) with 3.6 seconds to play but missed two free throws.

Wisconsin had its biggest comeback under fifth-year Coach Dick Bennett after trailing by 15 at halftime.

No. 20 Oklahoma 78, Texas A&M; 53--Reserve guard Kelley Newton hit five of six three-point shots and had 19 points for the Sooners (13-1) at Norman, Okla., in the Big 12 opener for both teams.

Oklahoma has its best record after 14 games since 1988-89, when it had a 30-6 record and reached the NCAA tournament’s round of 16 under Billy Tubbs.

Texas A&M; (4-8) had 24 turnovers in suffering its sixth loss in as many road games.

No. 23 DePaul 77, North Carolina Charlotte 75--Forward Quentin Richardson scored the game’s final seven points, including a go-ahead tip-in with 38 seconds left for the Blue Demons (11-3, 2-0 in Conference USA) at Rosemont, Ill.

Richardson scored 32 points, making 13 of 18 shots, and had 10 rebounds as DePaul ended a losing streak at five against North Carolina Charlotte (7-7, 0-2).

No. 25 Kentucky 72, Vanderbilt 52--Forward Tayshaun Prince made five of seven three-point shots and had 17 points at Lexington, Ky., as the Wildcats (10-4) beat the Commodores (10-2, 1-1) for the 14th consecutive time. Vanderbilt has not won in 24 games at Rupp Arena.

Kentucky has won six consecutive games since losing four of five and dropping out of the Top 25 for the first time in nine years.