College Capsules: No. 6 Oklahoma beats No. 11 Texas 78-63

NORMAN, Okla. - Blake Griffin and Oklahoma finally had enough of losing to Texas.

Griffin racked up his 14th double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the sixth-ranked Sooners to a 78-63 victory over the 11th-ranked Longhorns on Monday night, snapping a six-game losing streak to their Red River rivals.

Only two players on Oklahoma's team had ever beaten the Longhorns. Even third-year coach Jeff Capel didn't have a victory in the rivalry.

"For us to come in and get that first one, it feels good," Griffin said, "and hopefully it kind of sets the tone for the rest of the Big 12 season."

Oklahoma's last win in the series came in Norman in 2006, but the Longhorns routed the Sooners 72-48 in the rematch that season and went on to win each of the next five meetings by double digits as well.

Texas never even took the lead on Monday.

Willie Warren scored 17 points and Tony Crocker added 16 points and nine rebounds as the Sooners (16-1, 2-0) built a 16-point lead early and then thwarted a second-half rally.

"It means a lot to all of us just to get this win," said Crocker, who lost his first five games against the Longhorns.

Damion James brought Texas (12-4, 1-1) within 54-50 with a 3-pointer from the right wing with 11:13 to play, but the Longhorns then went 6½ minutes without scoring.

Warren's driving layup started a 12-0 run for the Sooners, and Taylor Griffin's two free throws pushed the lead to 66-50 with 5:05 remaining.

A.J. Abrams led Texas with 22 points on 8-for-27 shooting - including 3-for-15 from 3-point range - and James scored 12 points.

"Any time we're forced into a situation where A.J.'s got to take 27 shots, it's not going to be good," Texas coach Rick Barnes said.

James, the Longhorns' second-leading scorer, spent most of the first half on the bench as Barnes sought a group that could stick to his defensive game plan.

James and starting point guard Justin Mason both were taken out in the opening minutes, and Barnes hooked them again as the Longhorns continued to struggle. Barnes got all the way to the end of the roster, with Harrison Smith playing for only the fourth time this season, as Oklahoma built a 24-8 lead after Blake Griffin's two-handed alley-oop dunk on a pass from Crocker.

That made the Sooners 10-for-19 from the field and they had forced seven turnovers. It was a big enough edge that the Longhorns never could fully overcome it.

"The first 10 minutes killed us. We didn't come out with the right intensity, and they kind of brought it to us the first 10 minutes," Abrams said.

"I think we did a good job of fighting back, but late in the game it kind of got away from us."

The Longhorns would get as close as 25-19 on backup point guard Dogus Balbay's transition layup, but the Sooners were able to build their lead back to 11 by halftime.

Oklahoma then shot 65 percent from the field in the second half while holding Texas to 31 percent. The Sooners forced nine straight empty possessions by the Longhorns after the lead was cut to four.

Austin Johnson finished with 15 points for the Sooners, who had six players score.

"Hopefully it makes other people around the nation see that we're not just a mediocre team. We've heard so much talk about Texas - talk about their big guys, talk about their guards, talk about Abrams," Blake Griffin said.

"We personally, as a team, feel that people kind of disrespect us a little bit with the way they talk about our guards and the way they talk about our post defense and anything like that. For us to come out and make a statement like this was big for us and the program as a whole."

Oklahoma had been the preseason Big 12 favorite, but this was the first chance to assert itself on the court as the true conference front-runner.

"It does kind of put us on the path," Blake Griffin said. "But at the same time beating Texas isn't the end of the road for us."

Upheaval at top no surprise to Oklahoma's Capel

ST. LOUIS - Long before North Carolina's recent tumble, Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel believed the No. 1 ranking would be up for grabs. He includes his sixth-ranked Sooners in that mix.

"We always thought it was open," Capel said Monday on the Big 12 coaches teleconference. "No one's going to go undefeated anymore."

Capel, who starred at Duke as a player, was skeptical early in the season when North Carolina was a unanimous top pick and was being touted as perhaps that school's best team in a quarter century. Instead, the Tar Heels have lost their first two league games for the first time since 1996-97.

"I don't think it's necessarily the best Carolina team in the past six years," Capel said, pointing out the Tar Heels' NCAA championship in 2005. "I did think Carolina was playing better than everybody else for a while, but teams get better, teams improve.

"And sometimes when a team loses like North Carolina does, it kind of knocks that maybe air of invincibility off."

Headed into a Monday night game against No. 11 Texas (12-3, 1-0), Oklahoma (15-1, 1-0) had lived up to its billing as the Big 12 preseason favorite. The Sooners were the only conference team to open with a road victory, winning at Kansas State on Saturday.

Sophomore forward Blake Griffin, who capitalized on Kansas State's decision not to double-team him with 29 points and 15 rebounds, on Monday was named Big 12 player of the week for the fourth time this season.

"We like where we are, we like our thing," Capel said. "We're trying to get better every day."

Texas coach Rick Barnes said it's far too early to worry about the rankings.

"I don't get caught up in all that, wondering who's going to run the table," Barnes said. "It's a long time and you'll see some teams come out of nowhere right now that you might think are dead that'll raise up and get new life.

"And sometimes it goes the other way, teams that you think can't be touched will fall back a little bit."

Thus far, pretty much the entire conference has thrived as evidenced by a .780 winning percentage against non-conference opponents that's the best in Big 12 history. The Big 12, ACC and SEC are the only conferences with no losing teams.

Oklahoma State (12-3, 1-0) is one of the early success stories under new coach Travis Ford, and opened conference play with a victory over Texas A&M. The Cowboys, trying to end three straight seasons of settling for the NIT, rode sophomore Marshall Moses' first career double-double.

Ford said Moses was a disappointment early in the season because he allowed limited playing time to affect his attitude "rather than doing something about it." A talk with the coach got Moses on track

"He was kind of taking the other approach, sulking, complaining, and that's not going to work," Ford said. "I think life is much easier for him when he's not worried about everything, and just having fun."

Decision time also has arrived at Kansas (11-4, 0-0), with coach Bill Self weighing whether to have 6-5 junior guard Mario Little keep trying to play through injuries or apply for a medical redshirt hardship. Players can't get one if they play in the second half of the season, which starts Tuesday at home against Kansas State.

Self said he'd make the call by Tuesday morning with Little, one of the best junior college players in the country last season and the preseason Big 12 newcomer of the year. He's played only two games because of a stress fracture in his leg and a broken hand.

"We're rolling the dice, but you'd be rolling the dice no matter what," Self said. "I'm going to wait until after practice (Monday) to see if he can go hard."

Texas A&M is looking for a bounceback effort from guard Josh Carter, held scoreless for the first time in 66 games against Oklahoma State. Carter is the Aggies' leading scorer heading into Wednesday's game against No. 21 Baylor.

"We do a lot to get Josh the ball, but Josh has got to create his own shot," coach Mark Turgeon said. "He's got to get himself going, that's what great players do."

Colorado (8-6, 0-0) is the exception to the conference's strong start. The Buffaloes' struggles have been no surprise to coach Jeff Bzdelik.

"I've said this from Day 1: We're extremely young and very inexperienced, and it's going to be a very challenging year," Bzdelik said. "It's not a doom and gloom statement, it's just a statement of fact."

Pittsburgh still No. 1, Wake Forest jumps to No. 2

Pittsburgh will start its second week as the No. 1 team with a new No. 2 in Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons jumped from fourth to second in The Associated Press college basketball poll Monday following its victory over North Carolina.

The Panthers (14-0) beat St. John's 90-67 on Sunday in their first game as a No. 1 team and just hours later Wake Forest (14-0) handed North Carolina its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference loss, 92-89.

Pittsburgh received all but two first-place votes from the 72-member national media panel and the Demon Deacons got the others in reaching their highest ranking since their only two weeks as a No. 1 team in November 2004.

Duke (14-1), which beat Davidson and Florida State last week, fell one place to third, while Connecticut (14-1), which won road games against West Virginia and Cincinnati, moved up one spot to fourth.

North Carolina (14-2), the unanimous No. 1 from the preseason poll until last week's voting, dropped to fifth.

Oklahoma was sixth, followed by Michigan State, Syracuse, UCLA and Clemson (16-0), the nation's only other unbeaten other than Pitt and Wake Forest.

Texas was 11th, followed by Notre Dame, Georgetown, Marquette, Xavier, Arizona State, Butler, Minnesota, Purdue and Louisville.

Baylor, California, Villanova, Tennessee and Michigan were the last five ranked teams.

California (15-2) moved into the rankings for the first time since March 2003. The Golden Bears have won nine straight, including their first four Pac-10 games, under first-year coach Mike Montgomery - and they're headed into their rivalry game at Stanford on Saturday in Montgomery's return to the place he coached 18 seasons.

"It's definitely a nice sign for our team and what we've accomplished so far," Cal guard Patrick Christopher said Monday of receiving a ranking. "We can't be satisfied with our play in January. We're definitely focused on the long term. Sometimes it's just about respect. This is the first time in my collegiate career being in the Top 25. It's definitely something to be excited about. We want to keep what we have going."

Michigan (13-3) was ranked in two polls before falling out last week, but the Wolverines are back in following wins over Indiana and Iowa.

Boston College (13-4) dropped out after a one-week appearance. The Eagles jumped in at No. 17 after their win at North Carolina and they were gone just as fast after home losses this week to Harvard and Miami.

West Virginia (11-4) also fell out after a one-week appearance. The Mountaineers, who lost to Connecticut and Marquette this week, gave the Big East a record nine teams in the Top 25. Now the 16-team conference is down to eight ranked teams.

There are eight games between ranked teams this week and one matches two of the three unbeatens - Wake Forest, which plays at Boston College on Wednesday, at Clemson on Saturday.

-- Jim O'Connell

AP poll: Lady Vols hold lowest ranking in 23 years

Tennessee keeps dropping in the women's basketball poll, falling to its lowest ranking in 23 years.

Connecticut remained the unanimous No. 1 choice for the seventh straight week Monday in The Associated Press Top 25.

North Carolina is No. 2 and plays Connecticut next Monday in Chapel Hill. Oklahoma, Duke and Baylor round out the first five.

The Lady Vols' streak of 211 consecutive weeks in the top 10 ended earlier this season. They fell six spots to No. 13 and hold their lowest ranking since the final poll of 1986 when they finished 15th. Tennessee lost at Vanderbilt 74-58 on Sunday.

The Blue Devils beat Maryland 68-65 on Monday night.

Auburn moved up three spots to sixth - its highest ranking since Jan. 3, 2000. Louisville climbed three places to seventh. Texas A&M dropped five spots to eighth after losing to Florida State.

Stanford moved up two places into ninth after routing Washington and Washington State. Notre Dame finished off the first 10.

The Irish were followed by California, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia and Ohio State.

Texas, which was No. 4 two weeks ago, dropped eight places to No. 16 after losing to Purdue and Texas Tech. The Longhorns had started the season 12-0 before losing three of their last four games.

Kansas State (14-0), which is off to the best start in school history, moved up three places to 17th. The Wildcats visit Oklahoma on Wednesday.

Vanderbilt made the biggest leap, climbing six spots to No. 18. Florida was 19th. Iowa State entered the poll for the second time this season at No. 20 after beating Oklahoma State on Sunday. The Cyclones were ranked 25th in the third poll of the season before falling out a week later.

Marist moved up four places to equal its highest ranking ever at No. 21. The Red Foxes have won 12 straight games.

Oklahoma State, Rutgers, Georgia Tech and New Mexico rounded out the poll. Rutgers fell six places after losing at Syracuse and Louisville. New Mexico rejoined the Top 25 a week after falling out.

Pittsburgh and South Dakota State fell out of the poll this week.

-- Doug Feinberg

Football

Kindle to return to Texas in ‘09

AUSTIN - Texas linebacker Sergio Kindle says he will return to the Longhorns for his senior season in 2009.

Kindle, who struggled with injuries as a freshman and sophomore, thrived under first-year defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, recording 10 sacks, many of them coming when he was lined as a pass rusher opposite All-America defensive end Brian Orakpo.

He had been considering entering the NFL draft after Texas went 12-1 and finished the season ranked No. 4, their best finish since winning the 2005 national championship.

Also announcing they would return next season were junior linebacker Rodderick Muckelroy and junior defensive tackle Lamarr Houston.

"They are terrific kids who are on schedule to earn their degrees and can be great leaders for our team," coach Mack Brown said. "Lamarr, Sergio and Roddrick took a good hard look at everything and talked with our coaches and their families in coming up with the decision they feel is right for them."

Florida's Tebow has shoulder surgery

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Florida quarterback Tim Tebow had surgery on his right shoulder Monday and was expected to be ready for spring practice in April.

The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner had surgery at Shands Florida Surgical Center to remove a bone spur and hopefully reduce chronic inflammation.

Tebow announced Sunday that he will return for his senior season.

He injured his non-throwing shoulder against Kentucky in October 2007 and re-aggravated it earlier this season. He had painkilling injections before each of the final six games last season. It was unclear whether he received shots this season.

"The surgery went well," team physician Dr. Pete Indelicato said in a statement. "He should be able to begin throwing in the next three to four weeks and a full recovery is expected."

Tebow threw 32 touchdown passes in 2007, ran for 23 more scores and became the first sophomore to win the Heisman. He did less this season, but accomplished more by leading the Gators to their second national title in three years.

Tebow completed 64 percent of his passes for 2,746 yards with 30 touchdowns and four interceptions this season. He also led the team in rushing for the second straight year, gaining 673 yards and scoring 12 times.

He earned the offensive MVP award in the Bowl Championship Series title game against Oklahoma. Tebow was 18-of-30 passing for 231 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions in the 24-14 victory. He also ran for 109 yards, most of it in the second half.

Florida coach Urban Meyer said Sunday that receiver Louis Murphy and guard Carl Johnson also were going to have knee surgery.