Gooden Leads Kansas’ Charge

Kansas had too much muscle, shooting skill and experience for youthful Arizona.

Drew Gooden had 23 points and tied his career high with 15 rebounds as the No. 8 Jayhawks defeated the No. 4 Wildcats, 105-97, Saturday at Tucson.

The Wildcats cut a 16-point deficit with 11 minutes left to four on two occasions, but each time the Jayhawks pulled away.

“In the first half we couldn’t keep up with our transition game,” Gooden said. “In the second half we had some letdowns on defense but were able to hit the buckets to stop their runs.”

Keith Langford, a freshman, had a season-high 19 points, Jeff Boschee had 19 points, Kirk Hinrich had 16 points and nine assists and Nick Collison had 14 and nine rebounds for the Jayhawks (4-1), who beat the Wildcats for the fifth time in six meetings.

“I’m just ecstatic,” Coach Roy Williams said. “You have to feel bad for Arizona, because they played well. We had to continue to tell our guys to play hard and we made clutch shots at the end.”

Jason Gardner scored a career-high 34 points for the Wildcats (3-1).

Luke Walton had 20 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists and Rick Anderson scored 15 of his 17 points during Arizona’s desperate rally.

Arizona got within 87-83 when Walton made two free throws with 3:43 to play and were close again at 99-95 after a three-point basket by Anderson with 28 seconds remaining.

But Jeff Carey made two free throws and Hinrich four in the remaining time.

“You could see the experience,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “They played a whole lot smarter than we did.”

The defeat was the first in a home opener since Arkansas won in Tucson nine years ago, and the third for Olson in 19 home openers.

“This was a big win,” Collison said. “Not very many teams can win here. It was just really big.”

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No. 2 Illinois 80, Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi 56--Cory Bradford scored 23 points at Champaign, Ill., as the Fighting Illini routed the Islanders (1-3).

Despite the lopsided victory, Illinois Coach Bill Self wasn’t happy with his team’s play.

“I’m not mad. I’m a little miffed that in a short amount of time basketball has become a business to our players,” Self said. “We’re approaching it as a job, and we’re not enjoying our job that much.”

The Illini committed 21 turnovers and played poorly in stretches against their overmatched opponent and shot only 41% from the field.

Self attributed part of Illinois’ poor performance to a hangover from his team’s poor play in a loss Tuesday at No. 4 Maryland.

“We act like the loss to Maryland is so devastating that how do we recover from it,” Self said. “We look like a slow team because we look dead. We look tired.... We need a spark.”

No. 3 Missouri 100, Grambling State 76--Arthur Johnson had 16 points and 10 rebounds at Columbia, Mo., as the Tigers (7-0) overcame a sluggish first half. Paul Haynes scored 25 points for Grambling State (1-5).

Clarence Gilbert shot his way through a one-for-11 start, finishing with 20 points, and Kareem Rush had 17 points and seven rebounds for Missouri.

Gilbert missed his first nine shots, including an air ball, and didn’t have a basket until he made a layup with 16:39 to play, and ended up four of 15 from the field and 10 of 12 from the line.

“It was a struggle from the beginning,” Gilbert said. “It wasn’t like I was taking bad shots--I was taking good shots--but things just weren’t going down.

“I just stayed with it, and you just find your way back into the mix.”

No. 7 Iowa 86, Southern Methodist 69--Luke Recker scored 22 points and reserve Ryan Hogan made five three-point baskets to lead the Hawkeyes (6-2) past the Mustangs (3-3) at Iowa City.

“I’ve been feeling really good the past month in practice,” said Hogan, who was averaging only 4.7 points.

“I really got my legs underneath me. I’m healthy. I had a lot of confidence coming into this game. That helped me a lot.”

Evans had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Hawkeyes, who closed the first half with a 21-6 run and responded with a 12-0 run when SMU cut the lead to six in the second half.

Iowa finished 13 of 26 from behind the arc.

No. 9 Virginia 69, Virginia Tech 61--Roger Mason Jr. scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half at Charlottesville, Va., as the Cavaliers (4-0) rallied from a 16-point, first-half deficit to defeat the Hokies, (4-2).

The victory was the sixth in a row and 12th in 14 games for Virginia in the series, which dates to 1915, when the Hokies won, 39-21.

Texas 83, No. 11 Stanford 75--Chris Owens scored eight of his 26 points in overtime and added 11 rebounds and six blocks at Chicago as the Longhorns (2-3) held off the Cardinal (3-1).

No. 14 Oklahoma State 61, Wichita State 59--Fredrik Jonzen’s jump shot with 1:59 remaining proved to be the game-winner as the Cowboys (8-0) avoided an upset try by the Shockers (3-3) at Stillwater, Okla.

No. 15 Boston College 83, Michigan 74--Ryan Sidney had 29 points and Troy Bell 28 at Ann Arbor, Mich., as the Eagles (5-0) took advantage of second-half turnovers by the Wolverines (2-3).

No. 16 Ball State 81, Austin Peay 60--Patrick Jackson scored 20 points and Chris Williams added 18 as the Cardinal (4-1) routed the Govenors (3-4) at Muncie, Ind.

No. 19 St. Joseph’s 82, Canisius 76--Na’im Crenshaw tied his career high with 24 points and Jameer Nelson added 21 at Philadelphia as the Hawks (4-1) held off the Golden Griffins (1-2).

No. 20 Memphis 111, Eastern Kentucky 74--Dajuan Wagner scored 14 of his 26 points during a 24-2 second-half run at Memphis, Tenn., as the Tigers (6-2) routed the Colonels (2-3).

No. 22 Michigan State 80, Lamar 71--The Spartans extended their home winning streak to 48--longest in the nation and five shy of Minnesota’s Big Ten record--in a victory against the Cardinal (2-3).

No. 23 Marquette 77, Sam Houston State 58--Dwyane Wade scored 17 points and Cordell Henry added 16 points at Milwaukee as the Golden Eagles (7-0) brushed aside the Bearkats (3-2).

No. 24 Fresno State 68, Air Force 52--Hiram Fuller scored 14 points while filling in for Melvin Ely, and Chris Jefferies had 12 points and eight rebounds as the Bulldogs (6-1) defeated the Falcons (3-3) at Fresno.

Ely, the Bulldogs’ standout center, voluntarily removed himself from the lineup while the NCAA investigated allegations he received an improper benefit.

Ely and Coach Jerry Tarkanian have denied the charge.