Duke Gets Easy Win Over Fairfield, 86-58

Dahntay Jones scored 22 points and J.J. Redick had 20 as the third-ranked Duke Blue Devils used their defense to overcome poor shooting and beat Fairfield, 86-58, Thursday at Durham, N.C.

Freshman Shelden Williams added 16 points and 10 rebounds for Duke, which improved to 8-0 for the 11th time in 23 seasons under Coach Mike Krzyzewski.

The Blue Devils are poised to rise to the top of the polls Monday after losses by No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Pittsburgh this week.

“I like it: We always want to be No. 1,” Redick said. “We’re Duke and we have the No. 1 program in the country, and we want to stay No. 1.”

Duke held a double-digit lead for most of the game but shot only 39% and was slow to put away the Stags (5-5).

Still, the Blue Devils held the Stags to 37% shooting, had 11 steals and forced 23 turnovers.

No. 5 Connecticut 95, St. Bonaventure 78 -- Ben Gordon scored 25 points for the undefeated Huskies at Hartford, Conn.

Connecticut (9-0) is one of only four teams still undefeated in Division I play.

The others -- Duke (8-0), Wake Forest (8-0) and Clemson (9-0) -- are from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The win at the Hartford Civic Center avenged last year’s 18-point loss to the Bonnies (5-7), one of only two home losses for the Huskies.

No. 8 Mississippi St. 68, Alabama Birmingham 52 -- Winsome Frazier had 10 points for Mississippi State (10-1) and led a defensive effort that held the Blazers’ leading scorer, Morris Finley, to two points in the first half at Birmingham, Ala.

Finley, who began the game averaging 18.5 points, finished with 15 for the Blazers (8-3).

No. 18 Kansas 102, North Carolina Asheville 50 -- Nick Collison scored 20 points and Wayne Simien had 19 points and nine rebounds to lead Kansas over North Carolina Asheville at Lawrence, Kan.

The Jayhawks (8-3), who have won five straight, were much quicker as well as taller than the preseason Big South favorites and forced 26 turnovers.

No. 20 Kentucky 94, Alcorn St. 63 -- Chuck Hayes scored 15 points and forced a season-high 28 turnovers at Lexington, Ky.

Erik Daniels had 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Wildcats (8-3), who shot 52% and won easily despite being outrebounded, 40-36.

Lee Cook scored 15 points for Alcorn State (2-10).

WOMEN’S TOP 25

No. 22 UC Santa Barbara (6-2) benefited from 27% shooting by Brigham Young (7-4) in a 65-51 victory at Santa Barbara.... No. 2 Louisiana State (11-0) continued its best start in six years with a 74-43 victory over North Texas (4-6) at Denton, Texas.... Erika Valek scored 23 points as No. 7 Purdue (10-1) beat Tulane (8-3), 76-66, at West Lafayette, Ind....Plenette Pierson matched her career high with 31 points to lead No. 8 Texas Tech (10-1) to a 94-81 win over Rutgers (6-3) at Lubbock, Texas.... It took a last-second shot from freshman Meghan Craig to give Oklahoma State (4-7) a 60-58 win over No. 9 Arkansas (10-2) at Stillwater, Okla.... Lindsay Whalen scored 30 points to lead No. 10 Minnesota (12-0) to a 98-70 victory over Michigan (9-3) at Minneapolis.... Coretta Brown scored 23 points as No. 11 North Carolina (11-1) beat Georgia Tech (11-2), 72-67, at Atlanta.... No. 12 Vanderbilt (8-3) lost to Louisville, 92-82, at Louisville, Ky....Kelly Mazzante scored 26 points and No. 15 Penn State (10-2) beat Wisconsin (2-8), 86-55, in the Big Ten opener for both at Madison, Wis.... Heather Schreiber had 16 points as No. 17 Texas (7-3) beat Texas A&M; Corpus Christi (6-6), 64-37, at Austin, Texas.... Tan White scored 23 points as No. 18 Mississippi State (10-2) beat Xavier (7-3), 78-64, at Starkville, Miss.... Joan Bonvicini won her 200th game with Arizona, and Shawtinice Polk had 16 points as the No. 20 Wildcats (8-3) beat Oregon (5-7), 96-65, at Tucson, Ariz.... Cleveland State (1-9) narrowed a 22-point deficit to 10 with 6:46 to play, but No. 21 Wisconsin Green Bay (10-2) went on to win, 93-73, at Green Bay, Wis.... Buffalo (7-2) had its five-game winning streak ended by No. 25 Colorado (10-1), 76-47, at Amherst, N.Y.