Connecticut Finds Some Momentum

Jim Calhoun couldn’t wait for last month to end. He’s sad to see this one do the same.

Connecticut used balanced offense and impressive defense to beat No. 13 Notre Dame, 75-59, Monday night at Hartford, a huge win for Calhoun’s Huskies in their hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

“January made me shiver but February is going to make me smile a little bit,” said Calhoun, whose team went 6-2 in February with significant wins over Boston College, Providence and now Notre Dame.

Caron Butler had 14 points for the Huskies (19-9, 8-7 Big East).

Troy Murphy had 17 points for Notre Dame (19-7, 11-4), which had already clinched the Big East West Division.

No. 11 Boston College 84, Morris Brown 63--Uka Agbai finished with a team-high 15 points to lead Boston College (21-4) at Boston. The Eagles led by as many as 33 against Division II Morris Brown (6-22).

No. 24 Texas 76, Missouri 61--Maurice Evans scored 21 points and the Longhorns (22-7, 11-4 Big 12) secured a first-round bye in the conference tournament with a victory over the Tigers (18-10, 9-6) at Austin, Texas.

OTHER GAMES

Creighton 72, Southwest Missouri State 48--Kyle Korver scored 15 points as the Bluejays (22-6, 13-4 Missouri Valley Conference) extended their win streak to 10 games by beating the Bears (12-15, 8-10) at Omaha, Neb. The Bluejays had already clinched the MVC regular-season title.

Wyoming 81, New Mexico 61--Josh Davis scored 20 points as the Cowboys (18-7, 10-3) returned to the top of the Mountain West Conference with a home victory over the Lobos (17-9, 6-6). The win gave the Cowboys a share of first place with Utah.

WOMEN

No. 4 Duke 72, North Carolina 67--Sheana Mosch scored nine of Duke’s last 13 points to rally the Blue Devils (23-3, 13-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) past the Tar Heels (14-13, 7-9) at Durham, N.C.