Jacksonville 67, Arizona State 66
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Ben Smith scored a game-high 26 points, including a 24-foot jump shot with 1.5 seconds remaining and Jacksonville rallied to upset top-seeded Arizona State 67-66 in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday night.
Sun Devils senior guard Derek Glasser missed the second of two free throws with 8.6 seconds remaining to give Arizona State (22-11) a 66-64 lead.
But Smith came down and hit his fourth 3-pointer of the half two steps behind the arc to give the Dolphins their first postseason win in eight games going back to the 1974 NIT.
"I want Ben Smith to have the ball at the end of the game," Jacksonville coach Cliff Warren said. "Every shot he takes I think is going in. But that one especially, I knew it was going to go in."
Ayron Hardy added 11 points for Jacksonville (20-12), which will face Texas Tech on Monday in the second round.
Rihards Kuksiks scored 16 of his team-high 21 points in the second half for the Sun Devils, who finished the season with consecutive losses after winning eight of their previous 10. Ty Abbott added 15 points, 13 in the first half and all but four coming in the game's first eight minutes. Jamelle McMillan added 10.
"The last two games have been the toughest of my career here," McMillan said.
The Dolphins scored 13 points off nine Arizona State second-half turnovers.
"We turned turnovers into baskets," Warren said. "We did everything we have practiced, everything we have done all year."
McMillan's basket on a goaltending call gave the Sun Devils a 60-49 lead with 3:59 left. But then Smith went to work.
The senior, who became Jacksonville's second-leading scorer, hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key and added a pair of free throws to key a 7-0 run that pulled the Dolphins within 60-56 with 2:04 remaining.
Kuksiks made two free throws only to watch Smith score on a layup with 1:05 left and add a 22-foot jumper one step inside the 3-point line to cut the lead to 62-60 with 34.9 seconds left.
McMillan made three free throws in the final 33 seconds, but Hardy scored on a layup with 12.4 seconds left before Glasser was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play.
Jacksonville reached 20 wins for the first time since 1986.
Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press.
Villanova-Syracuse to set on-campus attendance record
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- The upcoming game between No. 2 Villanova and third-ranked Syracuse is officially a sellout and will break the Orange's NCAA record for the largest on-campus crowd to see a college basketball game.
School officials said Wednesday that 34,616 tickets have been sold for the night game on Feb. 27 in the Carrier Dome.
The current record also was set against Villanova, when 33,633 turned out on March 5, 2006, to see the final home game of former Orange star Gerry McNamara.
(c) 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
South Carolina upsets top-ranked Kentucky in college basketball
Kentucky's return to No. 1 might not last very long.
Devan Downey scored 30 points, and host South Carolina sent No. 1 Kentucky to its first loss of the season with a 68-62 victory Tuesday.
The Wildcats (19-1, 4-1) moved atop the Associated Press rankings this week for the first time since 2003, but Downey, the SEC's leading scorer, reached the 30-point mark for the fourth time in six conference games.
The Gamecocks (12-8, 3-3) had lost all seven previous games they had played against top-ranked teams.
"Let's be honest. No one gave us a chance," Downey said.
DeMarcus Cousins had 27 points to lead Kentucky, which had been the nation's last Division I unbeaten team. Cousins and fellow freshman John Wall combined for 13 points during a 14-3 run midway through the second half that put the Wildcats up 47-42.
That's when Downey took over. South Carolina's senior had a three-point play and two foul shots to tie it. He had another three-point play with 4:06 left to give the Gamecocks the lead for good at 54-51. Wall's three-point play with 40.1 seconds left brought Kentucky within 62-61. But Brandis Raley-Ross made two free throws to restore the edge.
Washington 123, Seattle 76: Quincy Pondexter had 27 points and 11 rebounds, and the Huskies (13-7) routed the neighboring Redhawks (9-12). Washington scored its most points since a 130-67 win oer Chico State on Dec. 1, 1992. Because six Seattle
players fouled out, coach Cameron Dollar chose to play the final 1:27 with four players instead of burning the redshirt of freshman Adam Eakles.
Michigan State 57, Michigan 56: Kalin Lucas made a go-ahead jumper with 3.5 seconds left, lifting the No. 5 Spartans (18-3, 8-0 Big Ten) over the host Wolverines (10-10, 3-5). DeShawn Sims had shot roll off the rim off an alley-oop pass with 0.9 seconds left for Michigan. Michigan State has won its first eight conference games for the first time and has beaten its rival for 17th time in 20 meetings. Raymar Morgan had 20 points and Lucas added 12 for the Spartans.
West Virginia 62, DePaul 46: Da'Sean Butler and Wellington Smith had 14 points apiece to lead the No. 9 Mountaineers (16-3, 5-2 Big East) over the host Blue Demons (8-12, 1-7).
Kansas State 76, Baylor 74: Jacob Pullen made two free throws with 8.2 seconds left and scored 25 points, lifting the No. 11 Wildcats (17-3, 4-2 Big 12) over the 24th-ranked Bears (15-4, 2-3) in Waco, Texas. Baylor had one more chance after Pullen's two free throws. But LaceDarius Dunn, who struggled all night, lost the handle in the lane and recovered in time to throw up a wild shot that never had a chance. Dunn finished 3-of-13 shooting with only nine points. The margin was never more than four points for either team in the final 17½ minutes.
UAB 65, Tulsa 55: Elijah Millsap had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and the No. 25 Blazers (18-2, 6-0 Conference USA) beat the host Golden Hurricane (16-4, 5-1). UAB blew a 16-point halftime lead but rebounded from a 12-minute span without a basket in time to survive a matchup of the only CUSA teams without a league loss.
Humboldt State: Tom Wood, the man responsible for building the Lumberjacks into a perennial NCAA Division II powerhouse, will retire after this season. He's guided Humboldt State to 10 NCAA postseason appearances and a 453-348 record during his 29 seasons. "I'm proud of the progress we've made in building the program," Wood, 62, said. "The timing just seems right, for me personally, and in the best interest of the program." The Lumberjacks are currently 12-5, including 9-3 in the CCAA.
Kentucky: President Barack Obama called John Calipari to praise the program after the coach and players helped raise more than $1 million as part of the "Hoops for Haiti" telethon.
Women
Connecticut 73, Rutgers 36: Maya Moore had 19 points and 10 rebounds to help the No. 1 Huskies (20-0, 7-0 Big East) win their 59th straight game with a victory over the visiting Scarlet Knights (12-8, 4-2). UConn is 11 wins short of the NCAA and school record of 70 straight victories.
(c) Alameda Times-Star.
College basketball: Memphis fails to break NCAA record
MEMPHIS - The University of Memphis' game against Texas-El Paso could have been summed up in two first-half offensive plays that characterized the Tigers' 72-67 loss.
The first one was a dunk attempt by Wesley Witherspoon. The sophomore forward tried to dunk the ball when he got an open lane to the basket, but he jumped too far away from the basket and missed as the ball hit the front part of the rim and bounced back into play.
The other was a shot by Pierre Henderson-Niles when he went up for a shot under the goal over Memphis native Jeremy Williams. The ball barely made it past Williams' block attempt and barely had enough force behind it to get above the rim. But it did not have enough force to keep rolling as the ball came to rest on the back of the rim, resulting in the game officials to have to call a jump ball.
In both instances, the Tigers were close to having success, but both times, they came up short.
So went the night for the Tigers as they tried to get what would have been an NCAA record 65th consecutive conference win. Instead, the loss stops the streak at 64, tied with Kentucky (1945-50).
"It's definitely disappointing to lose this game," Henderson-Niles said after the game. "They were celebrating a lot on their way off the court, and if they'd won 64 straight conference games, I'd celebrate too if we beat them."
UTEP took the early lead as the Tigers had a hard time adjusting to the Miners' height advantage, but Memphis coach Josh Pastner made the adjustments as the Tigers found the open man and knocked down the shots to take the lead. The most Memphis led by was six at 40-34 early in the second half.
But the Tigers went on a scoring drought, and UTEP scored nine consecutive points to take the lead. Memphis grabbed the lead momentarily before the Miners took a 55-53 lead on a Christian Polk 3-pointer with 9:43 remaining. Memphis never led again.
UTEP took a 70-64 lead with 55 seconds to go, but the Tigers cut the lead in half when Roburt Sallie hit a 3-pointer from the right wing.
Memphis stole the ball but turned the ball back over on an errant pass by Willie Kemp that went out of bounds.
"We wanted to get the ball to Elliot Williams, but we obviously didn't get the ball to him," Pastner said. "They did a good job of playing defense on us all night, and sometimes there are games where you just lose even if you do everything you want to do in the game.
"We had the ball in our handlers' hands, but they were able to make the plays."
Elliot Williams finished the game with 23 points, but Witherspoon was the only other player from Memphis to reach double digits with 12.
Jeremy Williams had a double-double for UTEP with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Polk scored 17, and Derrick Caracter and Randy Culpepper finished with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
"I told them that it's a long season and conference race, and we don't need to get down after one loss," Pastner said. "We've got Houston coming in here Saturday night, and they beat UTEP.
"So we have to be ready to play and try to get another conference win this weekend."
(c) Jackson Sun.
UMass basketball loses 70-63 to Richmond in overtime
RICHMOND, Va. --- On a night when the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team nearly overcame a 14-point deficit for a coveted Atlantic-10 Conference road victory, the moment belonged to Richmond's Darrius Garrett.
Garrett blocked an A-10 record 14 shots Wednesday night, including four in the final minute of overtime, and Richmond held off UMass, 70-63.
Afterward, UMass head coach Derek Kellogg nodded his head in admiration.
''Three or four times I thought we had easy lay-ups, and he comes up with blocks,'' Kellogg said.
Block after block after block. Garrett, a 6-foot-9 sophomore who was averaging only 1.5 blocks per game, said even he was surprised that the Minutemen kept driving toward the hoop in his direction -- especially in that final minute.
''They just kept shooting lay-ups, and I kept taking the blocked shots,'' said Garrett, adding that the highest he ever had in a high school game was 11 blocks.
''It's tough. It seemed like every time you'd go to the hole, he's somewhere over the rim,'' said UMass freshman Freddie Riley, who scored a game-high 20 points.
Garrett's defense overshadowed another big night for Riley, who scored a career-high 22 points in Saturday's 80-64 loss to LaSalle. But it was that early 14-point deficit which really bothered Riley, a trend he says the young UMass players must learn from.
''We just came out lazy at the beginning of the game,'' Riley said.
The Minutemen (7-9, 1-2 A-10) have only a few days to fix that problem. Saturday, they play at 19th-ranked Temple, the second of a five-game period in which UMass plays on the road four times.
''We've got it easy. Saturday, we get to go to Temple,'' Kellogg said, tongue clearly in cheek.
UMass had a chance to win the game in the final seconds of regulation, but as senior guard Ricky Harris (18 points) went up to take a shot with one second left, the ball was stolen away by Richmond's Kevin Anderson.
''Ricky just waited too long to make his move and make a play,'' Kellogg said.
Anderson led Richmond (13-5, 2-1) with 19 points, including five in overtime.
Garrett and Justin Harper hurt the Minutemen inside. Harper had a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Garrett had a game-high 13 rebounds. Harper's basket following an offensive rebound with 3:54 left in regulation gave the Spiders a 50-46 lead.
Richmond's 17 team blocks were the third highest in A-10 history, with UMass still holding the No. 1 and 2 spots (the single-game record is 20).
Richmond, which leads the A-10 in 3-point baskets with 110, fired from long range early and often against UMass, launching 20 of them in the first half. Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez each hit two -- Anderson's second giving the Spiders a 28-14 lead. The majority of Richmond's shots were from 3-point range; the Spiders hit 5-of-20 3-point attempts in the first half. Overall, the Spiders hit 6-of-29.
Then, the Spiders went cold. UMass scored the last 11 points of the first half, including a 3-pointer by Terrell Vinson which cut Richmond's lead to three. The streak also included the Minutemen's first 3-pointer of the night, by Riley with 3:40 left in the half.
Kellogg was visibly vocal with the officiating crew, and drew a technical foul with 6:16 left in the first half after arguing a call. Less than a minute later, with his jacket off, Kellogg threw his hands up in the air and shook his head as UMass' Javorn Farrell drove toward the basket, put up a shot and did not draw a Richmond goaltending call despite a hand hitting the ball before it appeared to hit the rim (the Minutemen did get called for goaltending later on). A traveling call on Riley with 3:40 left in the game also drew a few words from Kellogg, igniting the crowd which wanted a second technical to be called.
MINUTEMEN NOTES: UMass will continue its road trip by zipping up Interstate 95 to play at 19th-ranked Temple on Saturday afternoon. Including Wednesday night's game, the Minutemen are playing four of five games on the road, interrupted only by a home game next Wednesday against St. Bonaventure. . . . The game was a homecoming, of sorts, for UMass' Javorn Farrell and Raphiael Putney, who are both from Woodbridge, Va., a suburb of Washington D.C., 90 miles north.
(c) 2009 MassLive.com LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Missouri's record means little entering Big 12 men's basketball play
COLUMBIA --- Numbers and records can be deceiving, especially in the world of college basketball, where teams from the top conferences hardly see each other for the first two months of the season.
The Missouri men's basketball team has a 12-3 record heading into its Big 12 Conference opener against No. 11 Kansas State at 1 p.m. Saturday at Mizzou Arena.
Looks impressive. But it doesn't say a whole lot about where the Tigers will go this season.
Last year, Missouri had similar success in nonconference play, going 13-2. It then went 12-4 in the Big 12 and reached the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight for the fourth time in school history.
But just a few years ago, in the 2006-07 season, Missouri posted another strong nonconference mark of 11-2. The Tigers then went 7-9 in conference play, finished a mediocre 18-12 overall and didn't make a postseason tournament.
Which shows that a strong record entering the Big 12 schedule doesn't necessarily translate to a successful season, mainly because most of the nonconference season for schools like Missouri is spent at home playing overmatched teams from weak conferences.
Going into Thursday night's games, Missouri's opponents had a combined record of 106-113, and the Tigers' strength of schedule is 285 out of 347 NCAA Division I teams. Only two Big 12 schools have a lower strength of schedule than Missouri: Baylor and Nebraska.
Not to say Missouri's season-to-date has been a waste of time. Missouri has collected wins against respectable teams like Illinois, Oregon, Georgia and Old Dominion. But none of those games were on the road, and key road wins are one of the most important items for a team looking to play in a postseason tournament. Missouri's loss at Oral Roberts is the biggest blotch, considering the Golden Eagles had just seven scholarship players available when they played Missouri.
Despite the attractive record, Missouri coach Mike Anderson knows there's a steep climb ahead.
''Hopefully we have enough experienced guys who have been through the wars that understand when you get to conference play, it goes up 20 notches, the intensity level, the physicalness, and you've got to bring it in order to win,'' Anderson said during Thursday's Big 12 coaches teleconference.
The Big 12 looks to be as strong this year as it has been in a while. The league's teams have gone 140-29 in nonconference play. The wins are a Big 12 record, and the losses are the fewest in the nation this season. And, other than Colorado, all of the conference's teams seem to have legitimate NCAA Tournament hopes.
''I thought the bottom of the league was going to be the strongest that its ever been, and I think its proven to be that,'' Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said.
The Tigers will find out quickly how they stack up against some of the better teams in the conference. After hosting the No. 11 Wildcats on Saturday, Missouri heads to No. 22 Texas Tech on Wednesday and visits Oklahoma on Jan. 16. Less than two weeks later, the Tigers make their trip to Lawrence to play No. 1 Kansas.
''This part of the year you really find out more about your team,'' Anderson said.
And whether a dominant nonconference record was a preview of a strong season or just a delusion.
(c) Columbia Missourian.
Cats reach crossroads as Pac-10 play starts
A gut-wrenching nonconference basketball schedule has left Arizona with two directions to head when Pac-10 games begin.
The Wildcats could hobble into this weekend's games at USC and UCLA with shattered confidence after suffering their worst-ever McKale Center loss on Monday, 99-69 to BYU, and falling to their worst record (6-6) to start a season since 1983-84.
Or, they could learn from experiences such as playing three overtime games, grinding through three contests in three days at the Maui Invitational, and having to deal with talents such as Oklahoma's Willie Warren, Lipscomb's Adnan Hodzic and BYU's Jimmer Fredette.
No doubt UA coach Sean Miller is hoping the Wildcats choose the latter path.
"With the 12 nonconference games, we challenged ourselves like all of the Arizona teams in the past," Miller said.
"But our biggest worry is that you can really lose confidence when you get beat like that and you've gone through the 12-game schedule we have," he added. "So we'll learn our lessons and keep getting our young team better, but there's no easy answers right now here at Arizona.
"I'd like to think as we go through the 18 games in the Pac-10, I hope we get the benefit as we move forward."
The one sure thing about the nonconference schedule: "We've learned a lot about our team," Miller said.
Here's five of those things:
1. Arizona can't guard a team's top perimeter scorer.
The list keeps growing. Trevon Hughes scores 24 for Wisconsin, Cory Higgins 28 for Colorado, Tre'Von Willis 25 for UNLV, Warren 25 for Oklahoma, Kyle Gibson 25 for Louisiana Tech ... and, most vividly, Fredette 49 for BYU.
"His performance was incredible," Miller said about Fredette. "Did we have something to do with it? Yes. We struggle to guard the other team's best perimeter player.
"But when a guy not only scores 46 (actually 49) but also has nine assists, you take a look at it and say he and his performance alone really dictated the final score.
"He was incredible."
2. The Cats don't create good three-point shots.
While BYU quickly dished its away around the court to find a good shot -- hitting 14 of 25 three-pointers on Monday with 25 assists -- the Wildcats sank 3 of 17 long-range shots and had only 11 assists.
The Wildcats' best percentage three-point shooter is Kyle Fogg (56.7 percent), but he has carefully limited himself to just 30 attempts by mostly taking only what defenders give him.
UA's Jamelle Horne has improved dramatically from beyond the line to hit 40 percent, and Nic Wise is at 35.1 percent, including a game-winner against Lipscomb. But the player Miller called the team's best practice shooter, Brendon Lavender, is shooting 23 percent with only 31 attempts. MoMo Jones is also at 23 percent, having gone 0 for 5 after a 3-for-5 three-point night against Lipscomb.
3. UA's post tandem idea isn't working.
With Ukrainian big man Kyryl Natyazhko showing promise in the preseason, Miller excitedly discussed the idea of playing the big-bodied Natyazhko at center and the athletic Derrick Williams at power forward, with Horne being freed to operate comfortably at small forward as a bonus.
Instead, Miller has been forced to rely primarily on Williams at center, while splitting reserve time at center between the struggling Natyazhko and Alex Jacobson.
Miller said Natyazhko's confidence has dropped since November. As a result, the coach has been hesitant to play Natyazhko and Williams together, except briefly in a few games.
4. Every game is an adventure.
Needing a buzzer-beater to get past Lipscomb at home in overtime probably says it all.
"I don't think our team is the type that tries to overlook anyone," Miller said after the BYU game.
Freshman forward Solomon Hill said the Wildcats need to concentrate harder in pre-game preparation because their opponents may turn out to be tougher than what they see on video.
"It was different watching on film and seeing it yourself," Hill said of BYU.
The Cougars shooters "were kind of hard to guard," Hill added. "I don't know that any team in the Pac-10 that has four guys who can hit the three ... and they really got the ball up the floor. It was like you looked up and four guys were right on your heels."
5. The streak could be over.
While Miller has warned everyone since last spring that UA's 25-year NCAA tournament streak could end "on my watch," several of his players in the preseason still talked about extending the mark.
But at 6-6, the Wildcats would likely have to go 12-6 in the Pac-10 to warrant an NCAA tournament bid, unless they have a strong showing in the Pac-10 Tournament and capture the automatic bid given to the tournament winner.
After the Cats saw their record fall to 4-5 in a Dec. 12 loss at San Diego State, Miller mentioned that "there are some reasons" the UA program is in the state it is, and made it clear again that getting an NCAA tournament bid would be a challenge.
"Clearly, it's my job to bring back that great tradition here as we move forward," Miller said. "That streak is very much in jeopardy."
(c) 2009 Arizona Daily Star.
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