This Knight’s plan works

Pat Knight used old-school methods in practice after Texas Tech lost by 44 points to Texas A&M; earlier in the week.

It seemed to make a difference in his players’ efforts as the Red Raiders upset No. 5 Texas, 83-80, Saturday at Lubbock.

Bob Knight, said his son, did “regular old drills” that in some way involved basketball. On Thursday, the younger Knight made his players run sprints while carrying weights. Then they shot lots of free throws. After that Pat Knight made them carry tractor tires and then flip them over -- in relay races.

“I honestly believe they might have wished my dad didn’t retire after Thursday,” Pat Knight said. “I wanted to take it up a notch. I wanted to leave my stamp on it, so I think everything was pretty original that we did.”

Alan Voskuil made six consecutive free throws down the stretch to help the Red Raiders (15-13 overall, 7-7 Big 12 Conference) hold off the Longhorns (24-5, 11-3), who had an eight-game winning streak end.

Texas Tech made 34 free throws during the game, including its last 10 to stave off the comeback.

Three-point baskets by A.J. Abrams and Justin Mason and three baskets by D.J. Augustin -- who finished with 30 points -- got Texas to within 81-80 with 11.6 seconds left.

Martin Zeno fouled Augustin before he could attempt a shot, and he missed the front end of a one-and-one. Texas got the rebound, but J.D. Lewis’ three-point shot hit off the rim.

No. 7 Duke 87, North Carolina State 86 -- DeMarcus Nelson capped a late rally at Raleigh, N.C., by making two free throws with 1:01 left to lift the Blue Devils (25-3, 12-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) over the Wolfpack (15-14, 4-11) and give Mike Krzyzewski his 800th win. Ben McCauley’s three-point shot from about 30 feet bounced off the glass as time expired.

Cornell 86, Harvard 53 -- The win at Ithaca, N.Y., gave the Big Red (20-5, 12-0) its first Ivy League title in 20 years and the first automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The Big Red last won an Ivy League title in 1988, and no team other than Penn or Princeton had won it since then.

The Ivy League is the only conference that doesn’t have a postseason tournament, so the automatic bid to the field of 65 goes to the regular-season champion.

WOMEN

No. 15 George Washington 66, Fordham 27 -- The loss at Washington completed the worst season in NCAA women’s basketball history, the Rams becoming the first team to finish 0-29.

Fordham finished with one loss more than the 0-28 teams of Charleston in 1990-91 and Centenary in 1999-2000. The Rams have lost 33 consecutive games, their last victory a 74-65 win over Duquesne on Feb. 4, 2007.