Arizona Makes Itself at Home

A 15-point deficit in the second half proved to be no big deal to No. 9 Arizona on Saturday at Tucson.

Not when the Wildcats were playing in front of a loud, capacity crowd of 14,588. Not with a team that Marquette Coach Tom Crean called “as good as we’ve played in my five years” at the school.

Salim Stoudamire scored 27 points, including a career-high seven three-point baskets, and Arizona (4-1) stormed back for an 85-75 victory over the Golden Eagles (6-1).

The Wildcats trailed, 50-35, with 17:15 left but outscored Marquette, 50-25, the rest of the game.

Hassan Adams scored 20 points, including 14 in the second half, and blocked two shots down the stretch. His breakaway basket after a turnover capped a 12-0 run that gave the Wildcats a 74-64 lead with 3:42 left.

Louisville 73, No. 1 Florida 65 -- It was the 400th victory for Rick Pitino, and yet another win over one of his former assistant coaches. This one, at Louisville, Ky., came over Billy Donovan, who played for Pitino at Providence and worked as his assistant at Kentucky from 1989-94.

Pitino improved to 14-1 against ex-assistants and has won all five meetings against Donovan, who coached at Marshall before becoming Florida’s coach in 1996.

Francisco Garcia had 21 points for the Cardinals (4-1), who clinched the victory by holding the Gators (5-2) without a basket over the final 67 seconds.

No. 2 Connecticut 88, Quinnipiac 55 -- The Huskies (7-1) played without center Emeka Okafor, who has chronic back pain, but they didn’t need him to beat the Bobcats (2-5) at Storrs, Conn.

Ben Gordon scored 28 points and Hilton Armstrong, a 6-foot-11 sophomore playing in place of Okafor, had 12 rebounds to lead the Huskies.

No. 5 Kansas 77, Oregon 67 -- The Jayhawks (5-1) took a 49-36 lead early in the second half at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, then Luke Jackson led the Ducks (3-1) on an 11-0 run that reduced the lead to two points.

That’s when David Padgett made two hook shots in a row and Wayne Simien made another basket. By the time Jackson made a three-point basket, Kansas led, 63-52.

No. 10 Georgia Tech 75, Saint Louis 62 -- The Yellow Jackets (8-0) continued their best start since 1989-90. They led the Billikens (3-3) by three points at halftime at Atlanta, but in a 90-second span that started with 16:36 left, they went on an 8-0 run to make the score 48-33.

No. 11 Oklahoma 83, Prairie View 56 -- The Sooners (7-0) had what amounted to a breather at Norman, Okla., after pulling out consecutive last-second victories over top-20 opponents Michigan State and Purdue. The Panthers (0-5) shot only 32%, including 17% from three-point range.

No. 13 Stanford 86, Nevada Las Vegas 71 -- The Cardinal (5-0), playing for the first time since a 64-58 victory over then-No. 1 Kansas in the John Wooden Classic, shot 56.6% at Stanford. The loss ended a four-game winning streak for the Runnin’ Rebels (5-2).

No. 14 Illinois 74, Memphis 64 -- Richard McBride, a freshman playing in only his fourth game after serving a four-game suspension for violating team rules, scored 22 points to help the Fighting Illini (6-2) win their 21st game in a row at Champaign, Ill.

No. 16 Purdue 80, Central Michigan 39 -- The Boilermakers (7-1) bounced back from a last-second loss at No. 11 Oklahoma Thursday night to overwhelm the Chippewas (2-5) at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

No. 19 Syracuse 75, Binghamton 54 -- The Orangemen (3-1) hadn’t played in 10 days -- an 87-78 victory over St. Bonaventure -- and it showed at Syracuse.

They were called for two shot clock violations in the first nine minutes and trailed, 9-6, after four minutes of play.

No. 20 Pittsburgh 57, Youngstown State 42 -- The Panthers (7-0) overcame a slow start and won a school record-tying 27th in a row at home. They haven’t lost on their home court since a Big East defeat to Notre Dame two seasons ago.

No. 23 Wisconsin 89, Wisconsin Milwaukee 71 -- The Badgers (6-1), who won for the 18th consecutive time at Madison, dominated their in-state rival, beating the Panthers (4-3) for the 20th time in 21 meetings.

No. 25 Dayton 61, Indiana Purdue-Indianapolis 59 -- Ramod Marshall’s jump shot with 40 seconds left gave the Flyers (8-0) the victory at Dayton.

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ELSEWHERE

Utah 87, Savannah State 39 -- The Utes (6-2), who took an 18-4 lead at Salt Lake City, set a school record for defensive field goal percentage. The Tigers (1-6) made only 10 of 55 shots (18%). Utah won for the 22nd time in its last 23 home games.