Arizona Wins; No. 3 Duke, No. 6 Kansas Fall

Arizona didn’t look like a No. 1 team on Wednesday night.

The Wildcats nearly blew a 26-point second-half lead before holding off rival Arizona State, 71-63, in a Pacific 10 Conference game at Tucson.

Jason Gardner scored 19 points for Arizona, including making all six of his free-throw attempts in the final 2:49 to secure the victory.

“It was kind of embarrassing in the second half to let our rivals do that,” Arizona’s Rick Anderson said. “We took quick shots and didn’t play any defense, that’s it.”

The Sun Devils trailed by 20 points at halftime and were down, 51-25, with 14:26 to play, but they outscored Arizona, 31-10, to cut the deficit to 61-56 on Kenny Crandall’s second consecutive three-point basket with 5:09 to play.

“The second half, we came out ready to fight,” Crandall said. “We took it to them.”

After missing five free throws in a row, the Wildcats (14-1, 7-0) made their final eight.

Anderson made two free throws that made it 67-60 with 49 seconds remaining.

Anderson went to the line after colliding with Arizona State’s Shawn Redhage under the Sun Devil basket in a battle for a rebound. Redhage was elbowed in the jaw on the play, and Arizona State Coach Rob Evans was livid about the call.

Evans and Arizona Coach Lute Olson verbally assaulted the officials after the play, with Olson having to be restrained by assistant Jim Rosborough.

“He got elbowed in the side of the head. That’s what happened,” Evans said. “Nobody saw it, so it’s not a foul if nobody sees it.”

Curtis Millage scored 20 points and freshman Ike Diogu had 15 for Arizona State (12-6, 4-3).

The Wildcats’ best shooter, Salim Stoudamire, scored three points in 20 minutes and was on the bench down the stretch.

When asked why Stoudamire didn’t play more, Olson said, “I just wasn’t happy with a couple of things that happened.”

North Carolina State 80, No. 3 Duke 71 -- Clifford Crawford scored 21 points at Raleigh, N.C., as the Wolfpack ended a losing streak at 13 to the Blue Devils.

Julius Hodge added 18 as the Wolfpack (10-4, 3-1 in the Atlantic Coast) snapped its five-year skid against the Blue Devils (12-2, 3-2).

It was Duke’s second consecutive conference loss, the first time that has happened since 1997. Duke fell to No. 12 Maryland by 15 points on Saturday.

Wolfpack Coach Herb Sendek was 1-15 against Duke in his career -- his only victory coming in the 1997 ACC tournament.

“This is a special night for us because we have such great respect for the Duke program and all that they’ve been able to accomplish,” Sendek said.

Colorado 60, No. 6 Kansas 59 -- The Buffaloes ended a losing streak at 27 to the Jayhawks with the victory at Boulder, Colo.

Stephane Pelle scored 27 points, including the winning jump shot with 25 seconds left, and Colorado had to stop the Jayhawks on their final possession.

Kansas Coach Roy Williams stormed the court after the buzzer, appealing for a foul.

Colorado (12-5, 2-2 Big 12), which hadn’t beaten Kansas (13-4, 3-1) since Feb. 20, 1991, also ended the Jayhawks’ streak of 23 consecutive Big 12 victories, a conference record.

No. 5 Florida 87, Vanderbilt 75 -- David Lee had 22 points at Gainesville, Fla., and the Gators (16-2, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) extended their winning streak to 12 games by defeating the Commodores (8-8, 1-4).

No. 8 Kentucky 67, No. 24 Auburn 51 -- Gerald Fitch scored 15 of his 16 points in the second half at Lexington, Ky., as the Wildcats (14-3, 4-0 SEC) extended their winning streak to eight games by defeating the Tigers (15-3, 4-1).

No. 9 Louisville 71, DePaul 43 -- The Cardinals (13-1, 5-0 Conference USA) won their 12th in a row by defeating the Blue Demons (10-5, 2-2) at Louisville, Ky.

No. 12 Maryland 81, North Carolina 66 -- Drew Nicholas scored 20 points at Chapel Hill, N.C., as the Terrapins (11-4, 4-1 ACC) defeated the Tar Heels (11-6, 2-2).

No. 18 Illinois 75, Purdue 62 -- Brian Cook scored 22 points at Champaign, Ill., as the Fighting Illini (13-3, 3-2 Big Ten) ended the Boilermakers’ (11-4, 3-1) six-game winning streak.

No. 19 Georgia 81, Tennessee 76 -- The Bulldogs (11-4, 3-1 SEC) overcame 29 points by Ron Slay to defeat the Volunteers (9-5, 2-3) at Athens, Ga.

No. 22 Mississippi State 64, South Carolina 48 -- Mario Austin scored 18 points at Starkville, Miss., to help the Bulldogs (11-4, 1-3 SEC) defeat the Gamecocks (7-8, 1-4),

OTHER GAMES

LaVell Blanchard had 24 of his 28 points in the second half at Ann Arbor, Mich., as Michigan (12-6, 5-0 Big Ten won its 12th in a row, 75-63, over Minnesota (1-3, 9-6).... John Cox scored 21 points to help San Francisco (7-10, 2-2 in West Coast Conference) to a 55-52 victory at Santa Clara (10-7, 1-3).