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COLLEGE BASKETBALL DAILY
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Rick Gagliano
February 4, 2005
Top 25 Action for Saturday, Feb. 5 and Sunday, Feb. 6
#3 Kansas 17-1 at Nebraska 10-8
Sunday
February 3, 2005
Tar Heels Stomp In-state Rivals
Shooting a blistering 66% (19-29, including 5-7 from 3-point range) in the first half, #2 North Carolina built a 19-point halftime lead and went on the defeat NC State, 95-71 in Chapel Hill.
The Tar Heels didn't let up at all in the 2nd half, finishing the game shooting 59% and exceeding their averages both in points scored (92.7) and margin of victory in ACC games (21.5).
The bulk of the scoring was handled by juniors Sean May (16), Rashad McCants (18), and freshman Marvin Williams, the game's high scorer, who had 20.
Elsewhere, #13 Washington dismantled USC, 90-69; #14 Arizona cruised past Cal, 97-76 and #17 Gonzaga overcame a 12-point halftime deficit to edge St. Mary's, 68-63
February 2, 2005
#7 Wake Forest 92 #4 Duke 89
J. J. Redick scored 33 points, but it wasn't enough as his last-second shot missed and #7 Wake Forest survived at home, 92-89.
In typical ACC fashion, the game was hotly contested from the start right until the final buzzer. Wake's Chris Paul topped the Demon Deacons with 23 points, 6 assists and 5 steals, while inside, Eric Williams pulled down 13 rebounds - 11 offensive - and tallied 19 points.
Duke's second loss of the season dropped them into a tie with Wake Forest at 6-2 in the ACC, a half-game behind the 6-1 North Carolina Tar Heels.
#9 Louisville 77 #18 Cincinnati 70
The Cardinals did what was expected, beating the Cincinnati Bearcats for the second time this season. Louisville beat the Bearcats in Cincinnati on January 15th, 69-66.
The win was Louisville's 8th straight as they improved to 18-3 and 1st place in Conference-USA standings.
The Cardinals received inspired play from freshman Juan Diego Palacios, who had 17 points on 8-10 shooting. Taquan Dean paced the Cardinals with 19.
Louisville can now look ahead to finishing the regular season with 25 wins or more and a ranking in the top 5 or 6, as they play no ranked teams the rest of the way and are a force to be reckoned with, as their three losses were by a combined 10 points, the closest being against Kentucky, 58-60.
#23 Connecticut 81 #24 Villanova 76
There seems to be a pattern to being in the Top 25 this season. It goes something along the lines of "get ranked or move up on Monday, go on the road and lose."
It happened to Maryland on Tuesday, and it happened to the Villanova Wildcats tonight.
Facing the UConn Huskies in their own arena, especially after they've just lost, is not for the faint of heart as the invaders from Philly found out.
The Huskies shot the lights out, hitting on 22 of 43 shots from the field, including 7 of 12 threes. Meanwhile, Villanova struggled at a 39% clip and was 11-32 from beyond the arc.
The loss dropped 'Nova to 12-5 and 4-4 in the rugged Big East conference.
Life gets a little easier for the 'Cats as they play Providence and at St. Joseph's this week. February 12 will be a real test of just how good they are as they travel to play #8 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
UConn hosts St. John's on Saturday, is at Syracuse on Monday and home against #2 North Carolina on February 13.
Elsewhere in the Top 25...
In a couple of squeakers, #25 Georgia Tech outlasted Florida, 64-61; while Oklahoma defeated Texas A & M, 69-65.
Playing in Norman before a home crowd, the Sooners are 14-0 this season. Normally led by forwards Kevin Bookout and Taj Gray, the Aggies double and triple-teamed Bookout and held him to 1 point.
However, Gray picked up the slack, hitting for 24 and hauling down 13 rebounds. The Sooners were down by 16 at one point, but once they figured out the Aggie defensive scheme, Gray and his teammates took over and won gong away.
In the blowout category, #10 Oklahoma State bombed Kansas State, 77-57, and #19 Wisconsin easily handled Northwestern, 73-58. The Badgers built a 16-point lead by halftime and coasted at home.
February 1, 2005
Illini March On
Judging by the way they played against Michigan State, the #1 ranked Illinois team is not about to lose to anybody. Whatever is needed this team finds a way to get it done and make it look easy.
Tonight, on the road against #12 Michigan State, it was the backcourt that provided overwhelming offense and enough defensive pressure to ensure another win.
Guards Luther Head and Dee Brown scored 22 and 18, respectively, as the Illini ran away from the Spartans, 81-68. After the first ten minutes, the game was never really in doubt. Brown and Head also combined for 8 steals and together with sub Deron Williams, connected on 11 of 20 three-pointers.
The Illini blistered from the field at a 57% clip and shot 83% from the line.
Illinois improved to 22-0 while the Spartans fell to 14-4.
Elsewhere, #5 Boston College won their 19th straight without a loss in a 62-50 home win over West Virginia.
Just a day after re-entering the Top 25 at #22, Maryland was ambushed in South Carolina by the Clemson Tigers, 88-73. The game was essentially over by halftime, as Clemson built a 45-29 lead, mostly the fault of ice-cold shooting by the Terps.
Maryland shot 39% from the floor, including a horrid 2-11 performance from 3-point range. Life is never easy nor predictable in the ACC, something the Maryland squad now knows all too well.
Not much different in the SEC, either, where Mississippi State, one day after dropping out of the Top 25, rambled past the up-and-coming Florida Gators, 71-57.
January 31, 2005
Undefeated and Unanimous
For the first time this season, the undefeated Illinois Illini were awarded all 72 first-place votes in the latest AP Top 25 poll.
Illinois has been dominant, compiling a 21-0 record, including wins over 4 ranked teams - Wake Forest, Gonzaga, Cincinnati and Wisconsin.
Rounding out the top 5 are North Carolina, Kansas, Duke, and Boston College. BC is the only other Division 1 school without a loss, at 18-0.
Louisville moved up from #12 to the #9 spot, while Maryland and Villanova debuted on the Top 25 at 22 and 24, respectively. Iowa and Mississippi dropped out.
Big East rivals Pittsburgh and Connecticut went in opposite directions after the Panthers defeated Syracuse while UConn lost to Notre Dame over the weekend. Pitt moved up from #20 to #16, while the Huskies dropped from #19 to #23.
KU Dumps Mizzou
#6 Kansas shot 7-22 in the first half and Wayne Simien was 3 of 9 from the floor as Missouri took a 36-28 lead at the break.
Despite being down by 8, the Jayhawks had plenty of firepower - shooting 16-26 in the second half and outdistancing their hosts, 73-61.
With 16:05 left in regulation, Missouri led 45-37, when Kansas went on a 11-2 run over the next 2:37 to grab a 48-47 lead. The Mizzou battled right back, with consecutive jumpers by Jimmy McKinney and Linas Kleiza for a 3-point lead.
But the Jayhawks went on another, decisive run, outscoring Missouri 18-4 and had a comfortable 66-55 lead with under 5 minutes to play. They closed it out from there, improving to 17-1 and 7-0 in the Big 12.
Elsewhere in the Top 25, #16 Pitt took an early lead at Providence and rolled to a 86-66 win. Pitt was led by the inside play of Chris Taft and the outside gunning of Carl Krauser. Taft shot 11 of 15 from the floor, tallying 25 points. Krauser clicked for 19, on 7 of 13 shooting including 3 threes.
The Panthers improved to 15-3 on the season; 7-2 in Big East play.
January 30, 2005
Road Gets Rougher for Huskies
The #19 Connecticut Huskies dropped another important game, losing to Notre Dame, 78-74, and dropping them to 12-5 overall. The loss also was their third in the conference, against 4 wins, with a trying schedule ahead.
The Huskies have to play Villanova, St. John's, Syracuse and North Carolina in succession over the next two weeks. Villanova is close to a Top 25 ranking while North Carolina and Syracuse are ranked #s 3 and 4.
The Huskies haven't beaten a ranked team this season, having already fallen to Boston College, Oklahoma and Pitt.
Coach Jim Calhoun may find just getting his team into the NCAA tournament more difficult than winning it, which he did last year.
More ACC Antics
Maryland stunned #2 Duke on Wednesday. #22 Georgia Tech knocked off #5 Wake Forest on Thursday, so today, something had to give.
Naturally, the ranked team came up short.
The revitalized Maryland Terrapins stung the Yellowjackets, 79-71, and will look to the polls on Monday for their place in the rankings. The Terps had previously lost their three games against ranked opponents this season, but seem to be putting it together at the right time.
As for the Blue Devils, well, maybe they were just a little bit inspired - or angry - after the mid-week home loss to Maryland. They took it out on Virginia Tech, building a 25-point lead at the half and cruised home a winner, 100-65.
With Syracuse and Wake Forest losing this week, Coach K's kids will probably fall only one spot, if at all. Duke plays at Wake Forest on Wednesday before hosting Georgia Tech on Feb. 5 and North Carolina on Feb. 9.
Rounding out the Top 25 games, #10 Washington handled Arizona St., 79-70; #9 Oklahoma State was a winner over Colorado, 104-86; and #14 Alabama defeated Georgia, 75-47, in a game that was postponed a day due to icy conditions in the deep South.
January 29
Kentucky Wildcats Living Dangerously
With just under a minute to play, Arkansas' Jonathon Modica hit a tough runner at the edge of the lane, was fouled and converted the free throw to bring the Razorbacks to within two, at 66-64.
Kentucky's Patrick Sparks hit a short jumper after the Wildcats had run the shot clock down to improve their lead to four. Eric Ferguson then hit a desperate three-pointer to cut the lead to one.
Chuck Hayes was fouled and missed the front end of a 1 and 1 with 5.5 seconds left, but Ferguson missed at the buzzer and the invading Wildcats emerged with a 1-point win, 68-67.
The Wildcats, ranked #7 nationally, were outrebounded and allowed the Razorbacks 20 more attempts from the field. Arkansas grabbed 19 offensive rebounds, but shot a sub-par 36%.
Kentucky used everybody in this one. 11 different players scored. Kelenna Azubuike had 13 and Rajon Rondo with 12 were the only players in double figures for the 'Cats.
Orange Crushed
At the mid-point of the first half, the Syracuse Orangemen thought they were on their way to their 21st win of the season.
The home Pittsburgh Panthers thought otherwise.
Syracuse opened the game with a 22-5 run. While the Orangemen were running up the big lead, Pittsburgh couldn't buy a bucket. The Panthers were 1-12 from the field during the opening run.
Things began to change as the Panthers began to grind into the lead, cutting it to 34-29 by halftime. In the second half, Pitt continued to peck away, and with 11:24 left in the game the Panthers took a 45-44 lead and then, over the next three minutes, upped it to 51-44 on a Chevon Troutman tip in, and jumpers by Carl Krauser and Troutman. Over a roughly 20 minute span, the Panthers had outscored the 4th-ranked Orange 46-22.
The Orange could not recover, as Pitt held their lead, finishing with a 76-69 win.
Krauser and Troutman led the way for the Panthers, with 19 and 18, respectively. Gerry McNamara tossed in 26 and Hakim Warrick added 25 for Syracuse.
The win was the 2nd straight over a ranked opponent for the Panthers. They had dispatched UConn, in Storrs, last Saturday, 76-66.
Elsewhere in the Big East, Villanova continued their winning ways with a 94-61 romp at Rutgers. Look for Villanova to gain some respect and a Top 25 ranking this Monday.
Boston College continued unbeaten (18-0) with a 64-49 win over Georgetown. With the Syracuse loss, they also took sole possession of first place in the Big East at 7-0.
No Love In the Big 12
It's not easy being a Big 12 basketball powerhouse. Unless you're the Kansas Jayhawks, that is.
Forward Wayne Simeon scored a game-high 27 points as #6 Kansas thumped #16 Texas, 90-65 and improved to 16-1 and 6-0 in the conference, good enough for first place.
The Oklahoma Sooners were stunned at Iowa St., losing their first conference game, 66-74. It was Iowa State's first conference win. The Cyclones ran the floor and pestered the Sooners on defense, who usually depend on a solid half-court style.
Iowa St. had 13 steals and only 8 turnovers. They also went to the free throw line 39 times to the Sooners 10, which provided more than enough opportunity for the win.
Elsewhere, 2 days after knocking off #10 Washington, Arizona came up flat at home, losing to unranked Washington State, 63-70. #1 Illinois continued undefeated, putting it to Minnesota, 89-66. #21 Cincinnati hammered Houston, 87-68.
Icy roads caused the Georgia-Alabama tilt to be postponed and will be played on Sunday. #15 Michigan State upended Oakland, 92-75; #18 Wisconsin cruised by Penn State, 76-50; #17 Gonzaga was a winner over Portland, 91-79; #23 Iowa took out Indiana 72-57.
#12 Louisville powered past Tulane, 105-69. The Cardinals put six players in double figures. Road warriors North Carolina roughed up Virginia, 110-76. 13 different players scored for the Tar Heels. #4 Wake Forest defeated Miami, 94-82, and remain undefeated at home.
#24 Mississippi State was stunned by LSU, 69-62.
On Monday, the Bulldogs probably won't be present in the Top 25, their place likely to be taken by 13-4 Florida, winners of five of six conference games. These two meet on Tuesday, at Miss. St.
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