Florida Flattens Alabama, 85-54

Florida finally has a quality win, and it came in emphatic fashion over a familiar opponent.

David Lee, Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh each scored 18 points to lead the Gators past No. 11 Alabama, 85-54, at Gainesville, Fla., for their largest victory ever against a ranked opponent.

“It’s not about the margin of victory,” Lee said. “It was about getting that sixth [conference] win. We know if we leave everything on the floor, then good things are going to happen.”

Freshman Al Horford pulled down 18 rebounds for Florida, which improved to 14-5 overall and 6-2 in the Southeastern Conference. The Gators blew the game open early with a 15-0 run. Florida beat Alabama for the eighth time in their last nine meetings.

Earnest Shelton and Chuck Davis had 15 points to pace the Crimson Tide (17-4, 6-2).

Corey Brewer gave the Gators the lead for a good, 14-12, with a breakaway dunk off an Alabama turnover. Lee followed with a three-point play, hitting a turnaround jumper on the baseline as he was fouled.

When Walsh made a three-point basket after Roberson made a leaping save on the baseline, the Gators’ lead improved to 24-12 with 9:29 left.

The closest Alabama got the rest of the way was 11 points. Walsh capped Florida’s nearly perfect first half with a three-point shot at the buzzer for a 46-23 lead.

No. 3 Kansas 78, Nebraska 65 -- Keith Langford matched his career high with 27 points and the Jayhawks (18-1, 8-0) held the Cornhuskers (10-9, 3-5) without a field goal for six minutes down the stretch to win the Big 12 Conference game at Lincoln, Neb.

Nebraska, whose last win over a top-five team was against then-No. 3 Kansas in 1993, stayed close through the first half and led by five points when Joe McCray made a three-pointer with 12:05 left.

The Jayhawks switched to a zone and held the Cornhuskers without a field goal on seven of their next eight possessions. Nebraska went without a field goal from the 6:27 mark until Jason Dourisseau’s three-pointer with four seconds left.

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No. 5 Boston College 60, Seton Hall 52 -- The Eagles (20-0, 9-0) became the first team in Big East Conference history to start the season 20-0 after defeating the Pirates (10-9, 2-6) at East Rutherford, N.J.

Jared Dudley had 20 points and 14 rebounds for Boston College, which set the school record for a winning streak and remained with top-ranked Illinois (20-0) as the only unbeaten teams in Division I.

Two Big East teams had gone 19-0 before, but Connecticut in 1998-99 and Syracuse in 1999-2000 both lost in their 20th game.

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No. 6 Kentucky 84, Vanderbilt 70 -- Patrick Sparks, Kelenna Azubuike and Chuck Hayes each scored 15 points as the Wildcats (17-2, 8-0) defeated the Commodores (13-9, 4-5) in an SEC game at Nashville for their eighth consecutive victory.

Kentucky took control from the beginning by scoring the first nine points. Vanderbilt missed its first four shots and didn’t get on the board until Dawid Przybyszewski’s three-pointer five minutes into the game. The Commodores didn’t get within 10 points in the second half.

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No. 7 Wake Forest 83, Virginia Tech 63 -- Taron Downey scored 18 points off the bench to lead the Demon Deacons (19-3, 7-2) over the Hokies (12-8, 5-4) in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Blacksburg, Va.

Downey, who usually plays behind star guards Chris Paul and Justin Gray, scored 13 points in the first half in only 12 minutes, getting into the game when Gray was in foul trouble.

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No. 8 Syracuse 60, Notre Dame 57 -- Gerry McNamara scored 22 points, Hakim Warrick had 20 and the Orange (21-2, 8-1) staged a furious late rally to defeat the Fighting Irish (13-6, 5-4) in a Big East game in front of a record on-campus crowd at Syrcause, N.Y.

It was the first game for No. 8 Syracuse since a 76-69 loss at 16th-ranked Pittsburgh a week ago, and it was a struggle all the way despite the overwhelming support of an NCAA on-campus record crowd of 33,199.

Notre Dame led, 50-39, when Torin Francis converted a three-point play with 6:05 left, but Syracuse went on an 11-0 run to tie the score with 3:24 left before taking control.

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No. 9 Louisville 77, Alabama Birmingham 73 -- Francisco Garcia and Juan Palacios both made two free throws in the last 34 seconds to lift the Cardinals (20-3, 8-1) over the Blazers (16-6, 6-3) in a Conference USA game at Birmingham, Ala.

Louisville, which made 19 of 21 free throws, closed with a 7-2 run, sparked by Larry O’Bannon’s three-pointer from the top of the key. He finished with 21 points as the Cardinals extended their winning streak to nine games.

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No. 10 Oklahoma State 81, Baylor 63 -- John Lucas III scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half to help the Cowboys (17-3, 7-2) defeat the Bears (9-10, 1-7) in a Big 12 game at Waco, Texas.

Oklahoma State shot 74% from the field (17 of 23) in the first half, including nine of 12 on three-pointers. Even after missing their first nine shots after halftime, they had a 20-point lead and still went on to shoot 57% overall (28 of 49) and from three-point range (12 of 21).

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No. 12 Michigan State 75, Iowa 64 -- Kelvin Torbert scored 16 points to help the Spartans (15-4, 6-2) hold off a late rally and defeat the Hawkeyes (15-6, 3-5) at Iowa City in the home team’s first game since leading scorer Pierre Pierce was kicked off the team.

Michigan State, looking to bounce back after a tough loss Tuesday to top-ranked Illinois, dominated in every facet of the game in the first half and came out strong in the second. Maurice Ager made a pair of foul shots at the 15:39 mark to give Michigan State a 53-31 lead, its biggest of the game.

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Texas Tech 88, No. 14 Oklahoma 81 -- Jarrius Jackson scored a career-high 32 points and the Red Raiders (14-5, 6-2) upset the Sooners (17-4, 6-2) in a Big 12 game at Norman, Okla., to end Oklahoma’s home winning streak at 14 games.

Kevin Bookout, who was averaging 13.3 points and 7.1 rebounds coming in, was held to four points and no rebounds in 22 minutes. It was his second straight subpar effort after a one-point and two-rebound performance against Texas A&M; on Wednesday.

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Charlotte 91, No. 18 Cincinnati 90 -- Brendan Plavich scored all but two of his 26 points on three-pointers to lead the 49ers (15-4, 6-2) over the Bearcats (17-5, 6-3) in a Conference USA game at Charlotte, N.C.

Plavich made eight of 17 three-point shots to lead Charlotte, which had to withstand a missed shot by Cincinnati’s Armein Kirkland as time expired.

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Minnesota 60, No. 19 Wisconsin 50 -- Vince Grier scored 26 of his career-high 32 points in the second half to lead the Gophers (16-6, 6-3) over the Badgers (15-5, 6-3) in a Big Ten game at Minneapolis.

Grier made 12 of 14 shots in the second half in matching Wisconsin’s second-half point total by himself.

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Iowa State 92, No. 20 Texas 80 -- Tasheed Carr scored 13 points in overtime and the Cyclones (11-8, 3-5) ended a 28-game road losing streak in the Big 12 with a victory over the Longhorns (15-6, 4-4) at Austin.

The Cyclones got their first conference road win in nearly four years after Will Blalock sent it into overtime with a short shot in the lane that tied it at 68-68 with 37 seconds left.

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No. 21 Utah 61, San Diego State 41 -- Andrew Bogut had 15 points and 13 rebounds, and the Utes (19-3, 7-0) extended their winning streak to 14 games with a victory over the Aztecs (9-11, 3-4) in a Mountain West game at San Diego. Utah, which became the first Mountain West team to start conference play with seven straight wins, has beaten San Diego State in 27 of 29 games.

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Miami 75, No. 22 Maryland 73 -- Will Frisby made a pair of free throws with 0.8 of a second left in overtime to lift the Hurricanes (14-7, 5-5) over the Terrapins (13-7, 4-5) in an ACC game at Coral Gables, Fla. It was the first win in three games for Miami, which was led by Guillermo Diaz’s 27 points.

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No. 23 Connecticut 68, St. John’s 46 -- Rashad Anderson scored 21 points and Josh Boone blocked a career-high nine shots to lead the Huskies (14-5, 6-3) over the Red Storm (8-11, 2-7) in a Big East game at Storrs, Conn. Connecticut held St. John’s to 27% shooting from the floor and its lowest point total of the season.

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No. 24 Villanova 89, Providence 81 -- Curtis Sumpter had 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Wildcats (13-5, 5-4) over the Friars (11-11, 0-8) in a Big East game at Villanova, Pa.

Ryan Gomes led Providence with a career-high 32 points.