No. 11 Syracuse Falls to Notre Dame, 74-60

Notre Dame’s Troy Murphy made Syracuse pay for its poor shooting.

Murphy scored 22 of his 34 points in the second half, taking control on the inside to lead the Irish to a 74-60 victory over 11th-ranked Syracuse on Tuesday night at South Bend, Ind.

Notre Dame, 12-5 overall and 4-2 in the Big East, repeatedly went inside to Murphy in the final 20 minutes. Despite getting pounded by Syracuse, Murphy made six of 10 shots and 10 of 13 free throws in the second half. Murphy, who made 16 of 19 free throws overall, also had 16 rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals.

“Troy is a tough player,” Syracuse center Billy Celuck said. “He’s hard to handle, plus he has the refs and the court advantage, and that doesn’t help at all.”

Syracuse (15-3, 4-2) made a season-low 36.9% of its shots.

No. 18 Alabama 70, Kentucky 60--Rod Grizzard scored 11 consecutive points and the Crimson Tide (15-3, 4-2) rallied for a Southeastern Conference victory over the Wildcats (10-7, 3-2) at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Grizzard, who finished with 25 points and a career-high 11 rebounds, took over the game late despite picking up his fourth foul with 13 minutes to play.

The Crimson Tide closed with a 23-6 run.

ELSEWHERE

Providence 77, Pittsburgh 61--Karim Shabazz scored 17 points to lead the Friars (13-5, 4-2) over the Panthers (11-7, 3-4) in a Big East game at Providence, R.I.

Indiana 66, Purdue 55--Kirk Haston had 24 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Hoosiers (12-8, 3-3) to a Big Ten victory over the Boilermakers (12-6, 4-3) at Bloomington, Ind.

WOMEN

No. 2 Connecticut 81, Miami 45--Swin Cash scored 13 points to lead the Huskies (16-1, 6-1) over the Hurricanes (9-8, 2-4) in a Big East game at Storrs, Conn.

No. 3 Tennessee 70, No. 16 Vanderbilt 64--Semeka Randall scored 16 points and Michelle Snow dunked for the second time this season in leading the Lady Vols (19-1, 7-0) over the Commodores (15-4, 4-2) in a SEC game at Nashville.

No. 14 Rutgers 77, St. John’s 43--Tammy Sutton-Brown scored 14 of her 15 points in the first half and Davalyn Cunningham scored all 17 of hers in the second to lead the Scarlet Knights (12-5, 5-2) over the Red Storm (5-12, 0-6) in a Big East game at Piscataway, N.J.

Virginia Tech 65, No. 24 Villanova 59--Tere Williams matched her season high with 22 points as the Hokies (13-5, 4-3) defeated the Wildcats (13-5, 4-3) in a Big East game at Blacksburg, Va.