College Basketball Capsules: Unbeaten Syracuse looks to match school record
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Jim Boeheim has been down this road too many times to let it affect his team. No big deal that his Syracuse Orange are undefeated 18 games into the season and every opponent is looking to be the first to knock them off.
"Teams always get ready for us anyway," Boeheim said. "They're not going to not be ready. We usually come in with a good record, a good team. But I think at the end of the day, when the game starts, after a couple of minutes, the best team wins."
Top-ranked Syracuse (5-0 Big East) puts its unblemished record on the line Saturday night against Providence (12-6, 1-4) in the Carrier Dome. A win will match the school record for consecutive wins at the start of a season, set by the 1999-2000 squad led by Etan Thomas.
The Orange defeated the Friars 87-73 on the road 10 days ago, but Providence is coming off its first conference win under first-year coach Ed Cooley, a stunning 90-59 win over No. 14 Louisville Tuesday.
"Providence is very confident right now," Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine said before practice on Thursday. "We beat them down at their home. We just have to play Syracuse basketball and we should come out with a victory.
"Don't forget, we were 18-0 last year. We just try to take it one game at a time and focus on our task at hand and forget the rest."
In its five conference games, the Syracuse bench is averaging 38.4 points, and has outscored the opposition's reserves, 192-77, with Wednesday night's 47 points in a 79-66 win at Villanova the top performance.
"We've been able to play eight, nine guys for the most part all year," Boeheim said. "We have different guys that come in and do different things."
In the first game against the Friars, the Syracuse bench outscored the Providence bench, 35-1, and yet Providence was within 70-64 with 5:33 left before Dion Waiters hit a scoop shot and a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 11.
"Providence is good. They play hard," Orange senior forward Kris Joseph said. "They're well coached. They don't have as much talent as they've had in the past, but they try to make up for that by playing tough for 40 minutes."
Syracuse has had several impressive spurts that have helped overcome some sporadic play — a 23-0 run at North Carolina State, 19-0 tears against Tulane and Marquette, and a 20-2 spurt against Villanova.
Boeheim has freely rotated 10 players in and out of the lineup depending on what he sees on the court, and the team has rarely skipped a beat.
"They've got guys that didn't even get in the game that are pretty good basketball players," Cooley said. "There are not too many weaknesses. You've got to try to capitalize on things when you're playing against a team like Syracuse.
"The talent level on their team is really, really impressive. They can beat you in so many ways. That's probably one of the most impressive things about Syracuse right now — their depth and the multiple players in different positions that can beat you. And they're having fun playing together. You can see the way they play. They look like they have really good team chemistry."
Last year, Syracuse lost its 19th game, and that started a four-game losing streak. The team that set the school record 12 years ago had the streak snapped at home by Seton Hall. And yet despite hitting just 2-of-13 3-pointers, shooting 37.3 percent, and getting only seven points combined from starters Damone Brown, Ryan Blackwell and Tony Bland, Syracuse hung in until the end of a 69-67 setback.
This Syracuse team is much different with all its interchangeable parts, and Boeheim realized its potential early. Before the season he broke character, telling the players they had the talent to win the national championship.
"Coach is a mastermind knowing what type of talent that we have, what type of team we'll have before the year even starts," said Jardine, a fifth-year senior. "When he said it to me as a leader, I believed in it from day one. That's the reason I came back to school because I knew we had a national championship-caliber team. We can do something special. We just have to keep believing in ourselves, keep believing what coach is teaching us."
So far, it's working in spite of all that's gone on away from the court, with the firing of former associate head coach Bernie Fine amid sexual abuse allegations.
"We could see it. It was just a matter of us believing in it," said Joseph, the team's leading scorer at 13.8 points. "I think, as the season has gone on, and we see how much talent we have, and how hard we're working, we could see that dream becoming a reality."
Notes: There's been a bigger demand for tickets to Syracuse home games lately. The Carrier Dome box office announced Thursday that it was extending hours for this weekend. Pittsburgh visits on Monday night.
Davis close to Kentucky shot-blocking mark
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis is closing in on the school's all-time single-season blocking record — with nearly half this season to play.
The 6-foot-10 forward leads the nation with 78 blocks for the second-ranked Wildcats and needs five more to match the school record of 83. Melvin Turpin had 83 blocks during the 1982-83 season and Andre Riddick matched the mark in 1993-94.
"I think 100 percent of it is just instinct. It's all about timing," said Davis, who can also set the school's freshman record with two blocks to pass Jamaal Magloire's mark set in 1996-97. "You never know when a guy is going to shoot so you have to time it and use your instincts to go up and block it."
Kentucky coach John Calipari agrees Davis' knack of swatting shots could have come after he grew from a 6-foot-3 guard at the beginning of his junior year of high school into a 6-foot-10 post player before his freshman year in Lexington.
"A lot of times those bigger guys that have always been bigger don't have that (instinct)," Calipari said. "But those guys that grew from 6-3 to 6-10 have guard instincts and guard reaction to things — a quicker reaction, a quicker twitch."
Davis' ability to block shots has already saved Kentucky once. In the Wildcats' Dec. 3 victory over North Carolina he rejected John Henson's game-winning attempt. The blocks have also led to a lot of on-court chatter.
Davis said his favorite rejection so far was when South Carolina guard Bruce Ellington, in the midst of 3 for 13 performance, approached him.
"He was telling me, 'I don't know why my teammates keep going in there, they know you're going to block it.' That was really funny," Davis said. "He was talking to me, 'You're really long, you block everything. I've never played against anybody like that.' That's why he wasn't going to the hole and shooting all jumpers."
Never mind Davis blocked one of Ellington's 3-point attempts and has gotten a hand on six other shots from behind the arc this season in what's shaping up to be an impressive year.
"'Ant' is something else," teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist said.
Davis is aware that his defensive abilities are part of the reason Kentucky (16-1, 2-0) leads the nation in blocked shots (156) and is second in the nation in field goal defense (35.3 percent) behind Wisconsin. He's also averaging 12.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.
"I know I make a lot of difference. When I'm out of the game I see a lot of guys driving to the hole, getting layups and coach Cal even said, 'He means a lot to us on defense,'" Davis said. "Now, they're shooting more jumpers, (there are) more rebounds that we can get and outlet the ball for fastbreak points.
"When I'm out of the game, they really try to drive and get easy layups."
It took Turpin 31 games to reach 83 blocks and Riddick 34. Davis is averaging 4.6 blocks per game, meaning he's on pace to block 156 shots if the Wildcats play as many games as Riddick's squad did.
The Wildcats also are on pace set the NCAA team record for blocks over Connecticut's 2004 title team that finished with 315. The NCAA first started counting blocks in 1985-86.
Davis' first chance at the school record comes Saturday at Tennessee, where the Wildcats have lost three out of the previous five meetings.
"Our approach won't change," Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin said. "I think when you're dealing with shot blockers, I think you have to take the game to them. I think when you're hesitant with your playing, you're floating on the perimeter quite a bit against really good defenders, really good shot blockers and it can be a long night."
This year's Kentucky squad, which starts three freshmen and two sophomores, can match the number of conference road wins that last year's squad had with a victory against the Vols.
Tennessee (8-8, 1-1) has split their first two conference games by a combined five points, losing at Mississippi State late Thursday night before Saturday's matinee.
"It's real tough," Tennessee forward Jeronne Maymon said. "We've got to refocus and we've got to get a different type of intensity up again because it's a home game. We've just got to get our focus back together."
-- Colin Fly
No. 3 UNC hits the road for first time in a month
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina has spent the past month at home, racking up lopsided wins and trying to fix some problems that lurked early in the season. Now the third-ranked Tar Heels will find out how much they accomplished as they return to the road.
The Tar Heels (15-2, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) won all nine games during that home stand, showing improvement on defense and rebounding after those areas lagged in early losses to UNLV and Kentucky. They travel to Florida State on Saturday for their first game away from the Smith Center since losing to the Wildcats at Rupp Arena by a point on Dec. 3, a span of 42 days.
The Tar Heels have rarely been pushed since, even though coach Roy Williams was irked at times by the team's wandering focus in those easy wins.
"I think we definitely got better," Williams said Friday. "We had better rebound moments than we did early, had more balance, different guys scoring and not just depending on one or two guys. So I think there were many, many ways that we did get better."
Now, as the Tar Heels prepare to play four of six on the road, Williams wants to see a team that has "a better attention span and maybe a higher level of attention to what we need to do."
"Everyone had to find their identity," sophomore Harrison Barnes said. "I think guys are really starting to step up."
Among that group is junior Dexter Strickland, who had 14 points and led the defensive effort that shut down Miami's Malcolm Grant and Durand Scott in Tuesday's win. But Williams said Strickland and freshman reserve Desmond Hubert each suffered sprained ankles during workouts Wednesday and missed Thursday's practice, which could cut into the Tar Heels' depth as they go for a sixth straight win against the Seminoles (10-6, 1-1) in Tallahassee.
Strickland practiced Friday, though the 6-foot-9 Hubert missed practice again.
The biggest problems early in the season were bouts of inconsistent defense and a lack of aggression on the boards. After flying west for the Las Vegas Invitational, the Tar Heels were outrebounded against both South Carolina and UNLV — a surprise considering their potential NBA talent on the front line. And UNC struggled to contain dribble penetration or defend the perimeter in the 90-80 loss to the Runnin' Rebels.
Against Kentucky, North Carolina led by nine in the first half and by five at the break before Kentucky shot 56 percent in the second half. North Carolina shot just 35 percent in that half and was outrebounded in a game that ended when freshman Anthony Davis blocked John Henson's jumper on the final play.
But during the nine-game home stand, North Carolina's biggest opponent was often its own boredom.
The Tar Heels won eight of the nine by at least 15 points, including a 49-point win against Evansville in the first game and a 50-point win against Nicholls State — during which the Tar Heels showed just enough spark in the second half to talk Williams out of an early morning practice the next day. They followed that with probably their most focused performance of the month, leading by as many as 24 points in an easy win against Texas.
The only "close call" was a six-point win against Long Beach State, though they led by double figures in the second half of that one, too. North Carolina was never threatened in the past two ACC games, beating Boston College by 23 and Miami by 17. The most noticeable improvement has come on the boards, where North Carolina has outrebounded its last seven opponents by at least seven per game.
Still, despite the long and comfortable stay at home, Williams thinks his players have enough experiences in tough environments to draw on from earlier this year.
"I mean, we played on an aircraft carrier, we played at Kentucky, we played at Vegas and a wild crowd," Williams said. "It's not like this is the first time."
-- Aaron Beard
Freshman Burke making big impact at Michiga
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The game had been a nightmare for Jordan Taylor. The Wisconsin star couldn't seem to shake free against Michigan's defense, and he was outplayed for significant stretches by Trey Burke, the new point guard for the Wolverines.
After Michigan pulled away and won by 18 points, Taylor gave Burke perhaps the biggest compliment possible.
"The thing with Michigan is that they lost an NBA-caliber player in Darius Morris, and they've actually gotten better," Taylor said.
Indeed, the Wolverines have hardly missed a beat following Morris' departure. Burke, a freshman, has stepped in and guided 13th-ranked Michigan to an impressive start. Although the Wolverines have an experienced group around him, it's no exaggeration to say Burke has been their best player at times. He's averaging 14.1 points and 5.1 assists while avoiding the types of mistakes a young player might make while adjusting to such an important role.
"At the beginning of the season, I would get nervous," Burke said. "The more I'm playing now — we're playing two or three games a week now — I'm pretty much used to it."
Michigan made the NCAA tournament last season thanks to a late-season run. Morris was the leader of that team, averaging 15 points and 6.7 assists, but he played so well he was able to leave school after his sophomore season. Morris was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Wolverines had high hopes for 2011-12 anyway. The other four starters returned, but it wasn't clear how they would replace Morris, the 6-foot-4 point guard who seemed to have the ball in his hands on every possession.
Burke put those concerns to rest almost immediately.
"Here's Darius, he's playing with Kobe the other night," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "Trey already has more assists in this season than Darius had his whole freshman year, and Darius is a heck of a player."
Burke has started all but one game this season. He's a different type of player than Morris — shorter and perhaps less adept at creating his own shot in the lane — but he has looked comfortable in Michigan's offense. The Wolverines rely a lot on their 3-point shooting, and in that respect, Burke has actually outperformed his predecessor.
Burke has made 26 shots from 3-point range this season, more than Morris made in his entire two-year career with the Wolverines.
"I think Burke can hit a few shots that Darius couldn't, and he can do some other things," Taylor said. "I was really impressed."
At 5-foot-11, Burke could have his problems against bigger guards, but the 6-foot-1 Taylor couldn't take advantage last weekend. He scored only 12 points, most of them after Michigan had taken control en route to a 59-41 win.
Burke scored 14 points in that game and followed it up with 19 points, seven assists and seven rebounds Wednesday night, playing 45 minutes in a 66-64 overtime win over Northwestern. Burke scored Michigan's final eight points and made several key free throws to help hold off the Wildcats.
The Wolverines (14-3, 4-1 Big Ten) play at Iowa (10-8, 2-3) on Saturday. Aside from a 4-for-15 night at Indiana last week, Burke has held his own against tough competition within the conference. Burke credits his coaches, who have kept him prepared without overwhelming him.
"Sometimes they throw a lot at me, but they do a great job of continuing to remind me all the defensive principles, everything on offense," Burke said. "We go over all our plays, all the time."
The remarkable thing about Burke is that he's only a freshman. Even Morris didn't turn into a real standout until his sophomore season. When he went to the NBA, Beilein turned over the point guard duties to a player in his first college season, but Burke has been up to the challenge.
"It's not normal," Beilein said. "It's rare, and it's been very good. Our hope is it doesn't have to happen too often."
-- Noah Trister
No. 14 Louisville's Kuric out with ankle sprain
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville's leading scorer Kyle Kuric will not play in Saturday's game against DePaul after sustaining a high left ankle sprain in practice, coach Rick Pitino said Friday.
The senior forward was hurt early in Thursday's practice when he apparently stepped on a teammate's foot. Pitino said he's not sure how long Kuric might be out.
"When Kyle went down everybody was in shock, it was just a surprise," Louisville guard Chris Smith said. "We were all surprised because Kyle never gets hurt. ... Now everybody else has to step up."
The 14th-ranked Cardinals (13-4, 1-3 Big East) have lost four of their last five and have had seven players miss at least a game with health or eligibility issues.
Kuric is averaging 13 points and had scored in double figures in 10 of his last 11 games, including 11 points in a 90-59 loss to Providence on Tuesday night.
"Once you take a loss by 31 points, you have to be positive and get your team back on track," Smith said.
The poor performance prompted a players' only meeting and Smith said everyone was involved in airing out what's gone wrong since a 12-0 start. Louisville was ranked as high as fourth before losing against Georgetown and Kentucky.
After winning at St. John's, the Cardinals dropped a double overtime game to Notre Dame before being blown out by the Friars.
"We met without the coaches and met as just a team and we pretty much brought our heads together and pretty much resolved the problem," Smith said. "The problem pretty much was a lack of confidence in each other and having each other's backs."
Smith said the team responded with one of some of its best practices of the season even though Kuric was injured in Thursday's session.
"We know what we need to do to win and last game was pretty much a lack of effort on the whole team's behalf, but we'll never see that again," Smith said.
Pitino said that his team's goal now is to win nine more conference games, including the final seven at home this season before heading into the Big East tournament.
"We took a major shot with Kyle being out," Pitino said. "DePaul, as we saw with Providence, is capable of beating us. So losing is not an option. We've got to win."
UConn benches Boatright amid eligibility questions
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut has benched freshman guard Ryan Boatright for the second time this season as the NCAA investigates his eligibility.
The school announced Friday night that Boatright will not play Saturday at Notre Dame and will remain inactive while the school works with the NCAA during its review.
The point guard from Aurora, Ill., who is generously listed at 6-foot in the team's media guide, was suspended for the first six games of the season for an infraction that involved accepting a plane ticket last year while he was playing AAU basketball.
The school, in a statement, said the latest development "arises from additional information provided by the NCAA that pertains to conditions and events that predate the university's relationship with Boatright."
Boatright will be allowed to sit on the bench during the games and may practice with the team, but he will not dress and will not play while the joint review takes place, the school said.
Phil Chardis, a spokesman for the team, said the university would have no further comment on the issue during the review.
Boatright has averaged more than 10 points and three assists in 10 games for No. 17 UConn (13-3).His presence has allowed UConn to speed up its offense with a three-guard look that has Boatright playing alongside sophomore point guard Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb.
Boatright said Thursday he was looking forward to playing Saturday near his hometown, and that over 400 friends and family had purchased tickets for the game.
Connecticut could also be missing forward Tyler Olander for the game. Coach Jim Calhoun said Olander suffered a bruised right heel in the Huskies' win Monday against West Virginia was being evaluated day-to-day.
Calhoun returned to the bench last Saturday after serving a three-game suspension of his own. The NCAA found last year that he had failed to create an atmosphere of compliance within his program.
That was one of several violations stemming from an investigation into recruiting that dated to the mid-2000s, well before Boatright's involvement with the program.
-- Pat Eaton-Robb
Florida hopes to end road woes at South Carolina
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida guard Erving Walker knows what's coming.
If the 19th-ranked Gators win at South Carolina on Saturday, Walker believes coach Billy Donovan will continue the intense practices he put the team through this week. If the Gators lose, Walker says Donovan will ratchet it up even more.
"We're in a lose-lose situation," Walker said Friday.
Maybe so. But Florida (13-4, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) needs to turn things around on the road to reach its lofty goals. The Gators are 0-4 on the road, including surprising losses at Rutgers and Tennessee.
They hope to end the trend against the Gamecocks (8-8, 0-2).
"That's the big issue with our team right now: We haven't won on the road," center Patric Young said. "I forgot what it feels like to win on the road, going into someone else's place and being able to beat them in their own house. I want that feeling again. I know our guys want that feeling again. We just want people to know that we're able to do it."
Florida was one of the best road teams in the country last year, going 8-2 away from home. That helped Donovan's team earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.
But with three new faces in the starting lineup and several more players in difference roles, the Gators have found it difficult to carry over that success.
"I didn't realize how hard it's going to be playing somewhere else or how much more focused and together your team need to be to win on the road," Young said.
The Gators dropped games at Ohio State and Syracuse in the first month of the season, hardly cause for concern considering they are two of the top teams in the country. But losses at Rutgers and Tennessee were eye-openers.
Nonetheless, there have been similar problems in all four losses.
Florida averaged 17 turnovers in those games and shot a lower percentage than normal. In three of them — all but Syracuse — the Gators allowed their opponent to shoot nearly 50 percent from the field.
"I think there's a learning process," Donovan said. "As much I want that to be expedited and sped up and have it all figured out, there's certain things they've got to get better at. When you go on the road and play against good teams, if you do turn it over, if you do shoot a real low percentage, if you do give up a high percentage, that's a problem.
"It becomes very, very difficult to win on the road when you're giving up 48, 49 percent from the field, you're shooting anywhere from 38 to 42, and then on top of that, you're averaging 15, 16, 17, 18 turnovers in a game. That's not a formula on the road to really, really be able to win."
After losing at Tennessee to open conference play last Saturday, Donovan put his team through two grueling practices the following day and then a week of intense and physical workouts.
"Coach D has been pretty much handing it to us in practice," Walker said.
Clearly, Donovan got his players' attention. They responded with a 22-point victory against Georgia at home Tuesday. Now, he wants to see them do the same on the road.
"As much I want them to figure it all out, it's something they have to go through," Donovan said.
-- Mark Long
No. 22 San Diego St prepares to open league play
SAN DIEGO (AP) — No. 22 San Diego State will quickly have an idea where it stands in the Mountain West Conference.
Last season's defending co-regular season and MWC tournament champions, the Aztecs (14-2) open conference play at home Saturday against No. 12 UNLV. On Wednesday, San Diego State travels to Albuquerque, N.M., to face New Mexico.
The Runnin' Rebels (16-2) and Lobos (14-2) were the only programs picked to finish ahead of the Aztecs, who lost four starters and one key reserve off a team whose school-record 34 wins included SDSU's first two NCAA tournament victories.
SDSU coach Steve Fisher knows his team will immediately face its biggest challenges in conference play.
"It doesn't matter whether I like it or not, I'd rather not play either one of them at all," Fisher joked. "But we've got 'em. We're jumping into probably the best two that we will play."
Fisher is a little surprised by the way his team has responded this season considering it lost Kawhi Leonard and Malcolm Thomas to the NBA and graduated senior starters Billy White and DJ Gay. Senior Brian Carlwell was also expected to return, but wasn't granted an extra season of eligibility by the NCAA last August.
Those players accounted for nearly 70 percent of SDSU's minutes played last season.
But the emergence of junior guard Chase Tapley and the immediate impact made by sophomore transfer Xavier Thames at point guard have helped the Aztecs offset those losses. SDSU posted victories over Pac-12 opponents USC and Cal at home and at Arizona in nonconference play. The team's only losses are to No. 4 Baylor and No. 23 Creighton.
"Having all the guys that are not here who were here, and looking at the schedule we had, especially that seven-game stretch, I'm very pleased with where we are both in our record and the way we've achieved that record," Fisher said. "But this league is good. There's not a team in the league with a losing record. ... There are no gimmes in this league. We're going to have roll up our sleeves and play our best basketball."
San Diego State has won its last five meetings against UNLV, which defeated then-top-ranked North Carolina 90-80 on Nov. 26. The Aztecs played a tough nonconference schedule early, but have gone relatively untested over the last month of their schedule. SDSU's past five opponents have included UC Riverside, Elon, Division III Redlands, NAIA San Diego Christian and winless Chicago State.
Tapley realizes conference play signals a step up in competition.
"The level of intensity is greater by 10 times," he said. "You're playing teams that kind of know your plays. Every game is going to be a barnburner. The competiveness in our league is getting greater and greater each year. You have to really be on you're A-game when you're playing in league. Every game counts and as long as we keep playing hard and keep listening to Coach, we'll be fine."
Capsules: McDermott helps No. 23 Creighton top Illinois St.
NORMAL, Ill. (AP) — Doug McDermott scored 20 points to help No. 23 Creighton escape Illinois State with an 87-78 victory Friday night.
The Bluejays were clinging to a three-point lead with 24 seconds left when Illinois State freshman Johnny Hill committed a hard foul and was given two technicals. Fans then littered the court with debris, causing a third tech to be called on the Redbirds (11-6, 3-3 Missouri Valley Conference).
Hill made two big 3-pointers in the final five minutes. His second one cut Creighton's lead to 77-75 with 59.8 seconds left.
Ethan Wragge made two 3-pointers shortly after halftime to help the Bluejays (15-2, 5-1) get out to a 64-46 lead.
Bryant Allen scored 29 points for Illinois State.
SOUTH FLORIDA 56, SETON HALL 55
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Ron Anderson scored 14 points and South Florida rallied to beat Seton Hall. Anderson had six points in a game-ending 14-3 run, Jawanza Poland made a long 3-pointer to tie it at 53 and Toaryln Fitzpatrick's three-point play put the Bulls (10-8, 3-2 Big East) ahead for good with just under a minute to go.
Seton Hall, ranked for the first time in 11 years, trimmed its deficit to one on its only field goal in the final 6 minutes. Jordan Theodore led the Pirates (15-3, 4-2) with 16 points, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity with a chance to put his team ahead with 3.8 seconds remaining.
UNC's Williams: McDonald plans to redshirt
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina coach Roy Williams says junior guard Leslie McDonald plans to redshirt after suffering an offseason knee injury.
McDonald had surgery in August to repair a torn right anterior cruciate ligament and damaged meniscus suffered during a summer league game a month earlier. He has returned to some practice drills and 5-on-5 work, and Williams said Friday that McDonald is about a month ahead in his recovery. But he said McDonald still isn't ready to play in a game, so sitting out this year and concentrating on his recovery is "the smartest thing to do."
McDonald averaged about seven points off the bench and shot 38 percent from 3-point range last season.
Women's Top 25
Liston helps No. 7 Duke women beat FSU
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Tricia Liston scored 20 points and No. 7 Duke held off Florida State 73-66 on Friday night.
Elizabeth Williams added 18 points with eight rebounds and Chelsea Gray scored 11 points for the Blue Devils (13-2, 4-0 ACC), who won their 33rd straight game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Natasha Howard led FSU (10-8, 2-2) with 17 points while Cierra Bravard added 16, Chasity Clayton added 15 and Chelsea Davis 10.
Duke shot 45.6 percent from the floor to 51.9 for the Seminoles, while each team had 34 rebounds. FSU committed 25 turnovers to Duke's 15.
Men's News & Notes
Arkansas looks to stay perfect at home against LSU
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Mike Anderson refused to call Arkansas' 71-63 loss at Mississippi a full step back. The Razorbacks coach admittedly would have preferred to win his first road game of the season against the Rebels, but he showed his humorous side while discussing the setback.
"I think it was a half-step back," Anderson said.
Arkansas (12-4, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) has its next chance to take a step forward when it returns home to face LSU on Saturday night. The Razorbacks are 12-0 in Bud Walton Arena this season, including a win over then-No. 15 Mississippi State last week.
The Ole Miss loss kept Arkansas winless in four games away from home this season. It also placed an added importance on keeping its home winning streak alive against the Tigers (11-5, 1-1), particularly with a trip to No. 2 Kentucky looming on Tuesday.
Anderson did his best to downplay the significance of the LSU game, preferring to focus on the bigger picture of the overall SEC race. However, there's no denying how crucial a win on Saturday is to an Arkansas team with only nine scholarship players — including four talented freshmen who are still finding their way in the SEC.
The Razorbacks were outrebounded 48-26 by the Rebels, one game after staying within four rebounds of the Bulldogs. While rebounding isn't one of the strengths for Arkansas, which is next-to-last in the SEC in rebounding margin, it did manage to outrebound defending national champion Connecticut 47-35 last month in a loss.
Anderson said the SEC road environment served as a wake-up call for the freshmen, who entered the game averaging a combined 33.6 points and 16 rebounds per game. The four (BJ Young, Hunter Mickelson, Ky Madden and Devonta Abron) had just 23 points and six rebounds against the Rebels.
"We're a young basketball team," Anderson said. "You look at it and obviously I think our young guys are really playing well. There are some things they've got to learn as well, especially when you talk about winning on the road."
He's also counting on the experience to pay off back at home.
"I think it opened their eyes up," Anderson said. "So, now at home, you're going to play with a different swagger. Let's hope that's a learning experience for our guys, but we've got to play like a team that's going to play all out. Every minute a guy's on the floor, they've got to give everything they've got."
LSU enters the game following a 69-53 loss at Alabama on Wednesday, a game in which the Tigers allowed 25 points to the Crimson Tide through 15 turnovers.
That's a recipe for problems against an Arkansas team that has showed glimpses this season of returning to the frenetic "40 minutes of Hell" pressing defense made famous by Anderson's mentor, former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson.
The Razorbacks lead the SEC by forcing an average of 18.5 turnovers per game in Anderson's first season, and they scored 23 points off 18 Mississippi State turnovers last week. Arkansas also leads the league in turnover margin, which comes as no surprise to LSU coach Trent Johnson.
"There's never been a question that (Anderson's) going to get it done (at Arkansas), and there never was a question to me that they were going to be playing at this level this fast," Johnson said. "Again, this will probably be without a question in my mind, the toughest type of pressure and fastest-pace that we'll play."
-- Kurt Voigt
Illini rebound with OSU upset, now ready for break
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — On New Year's Eve, the sky was falling for Illinois basketball. A blowout loss at Purdue seemed to confirm what skeptical fans feared about their team — that an impressive early record might have been built mostly on close wins over inferior competition.
Funny how a big win can fix what ails a dragging team, and Tuesday's upset of No. 5 Ohio State has the Illini bouncing back.
The 43 points from Brandon Paul — the third-best game in Illini history from a player who had annoyed some fans with his scoring struggles — was just icing on the cake.
"We slipped up at Purdue, and we had some couple rough games, with the crowd booing us and whatever," sophomore center Meyers Leonard said. "We fight for each other, and it's a big confidence booster."
Now Illinois (15-3, 4-1 Big Ten) gets a break. The Illini don't play again until a Jan. 19 date at Penn State. And that could give a team that's won three straight since the 75-60 Boilermaker loss in spite of injuries a chance to get healthy.
Starting point guard Sam Maniscalco has been out most of January with an ankle injury, the same one that sidelined him almost all of last season at Bradley before he transferred to Illinois. And another starter, D.J. Richardson, has played through a wrist injury that limited him in one game to an almost entirely defensive role.
"It's so good," Weber said of the time off. "We need practice, we need Sam back and we need a break."
But the 79-74 win over the Buckeyes and Paul's big game sent Illinois into that break in a better mood than they might have expected.
Unhappy fans have been a headache for Weber since last season, when many called for the coach to be fired after the team's up-and-down Big Ten season and second-round NCAA tournament exit.
Early wins this season were too close for many fans' comfort — 48-43 over St. Bonaventure and 64-60 against Cornell — and a 16-point loss to UNLV really set them off.
But in their close wins — even against teams the fans want to see blown out — Weber has said he's seen something in his young team he likes, something he can build on.
Up and down the roster, which includes six freshmen, they play defense and fight for loose balls. And they never seem to give up.
The Ohio State win, Weber pointed out, was a perfect example.
Illinois went down by 11 early in the second half, with the Buckeyes scoring quickly on four straight possessions. Without a senior on the floor and with their offense running through one of those freshmen, point guard Tracy Abrams, the Illini scrapped back.
"We've got something going for us," Weber said. "I'd like to win by 30, but I don't think that's in us just yet."
Starting with that Missouri game, the Illini have found a scorer that they lacked in redshirt freshman Joseph Bertrand.
Bertrand put up 19 points in the Missouri game, then a career high for a player who as often as not sat near the end of the bench.
Including that game he's averaged 14 points over a six-game stretch — including 25 in a win over Nebraska — on 72 percent shooting.
Illinois' search for a scorer was to great degree a search for someone to produce what a struggling Paul wasn't providing.
The junior was averaging 12 points a game for Illinois, but frustrated with his tendency to shoot and miss on long 3-pointers when the Illini needed points.
Then came Tuesday.
Paul started slow but finished 11-15 on field goals — including 8-10 on 3-pointers — and an unreal 13-15 form the free throw line. He tossed up sky-high shots that fell straight down and found nothing but net. And the 6-4 Paul had four blocks, one of them a late rejection that frustrated and stunned the 6-9 Jared Sullinger as Illinois locked the game away.
Buckeye coach Thad Matta said afterward that he'd only seen a couple of other performances quite like it, when the ball found the bottom of the basket
"That thing was as big as the ocean to him tonight," Matt said.
Weber said the game, he hopes, helps turn Paul's offensive game around.
"He's struggled. He's done a lot of great things for us, but he's really struggled offensively," Weber said.
-- David Mercer
Binghamton still struggling on the hardwood
VESTAL, N.Y. (AP) — Jimmy Gray spots Binghamton teammate Rob Mansell open in the corner and zips him a pass. In the blink of an eye, Mansell swishes a 3-pointer.
Less than a minute later, freshman Chris Longoria hits another 3. Then another.
The small crowd in the Binghamton Events Center erupts in appreciative applause — the hometown Bearcats have the lead again midway through the second half and victory seems within their grasp.
The glee vanishes just as quickly, though. Stony Brook goes on a 10-1 run and hands Binghamton another loss. The 60-54 win last week was the first on the road this season for the Seawolves. The loss was the 14th in a row for the winless Bearcats, who are struggling mightily in the aftermath of their darkest days. Just an hour's drive north up Interstate 81 sits the No. 1 team in the nation.
So close and yet so far. The Syracuse Orange are unbeaten and have the top Ratings Percentage Index in the country. The Bearcats are 0-16 with an RPI at 344. That's next to last, folks.
With six freshmen, four sophomores and no seniors, Binghamton coach Mark Macon is disappointed, but he's not surprised. He lost both captains and three starters from last year's team, which won only eight games.
"It's tough," Macon said. "I can't get frustrated anymore because I have an inexperienced team that's getting experience every day."
As experiences go, the previous two years for the Bearcats were polar opposites.
In March 2009, former coach Kevin Broadus and stars Tiki Mayben, Malik Alvin, and D.J. Rivera were in tears after the Bearcats won the America East Conference tournament to give the school its first-ever berth in the NCAA tournament.
The Bearcats were cheered by a raucous green-and-white-clad, standing-room-only home crowd of 5,342 as they celebrated the first title of any kind for the program, which began in 1946. The ensuing first-round, 86-62 pounding at the hands of Duke in the NCAA tournament didn't matter one bit.
"That was great," said Macon, an assistant on that team. "That whole season for me was just a great season because you had players. They were rough and rugged. They were hard-nosed players. They proved that they were capable of coming here."
But they didn't stay. The program imploded almost overnight and Binghamton, one of the crown jewels of the State University of New York, had a big, black eye — a symbol of what can go wrong when a small school (undergraduate enrollment is just under 12,000) dreams big and compromises academics for athletic success.
Broadus was suspended with pay that fall for recruiting violations after six players were dismissed from the team, some for committing criminal acts — Mayben pleaded guilty to a felony drug-dealing charge in his hometown of Troy, N.Y. — others for behavioral issues — Alvin was charged with stealing condoms from a Wal-Mart and knocking over an elderly woman and giving her a concussion while fleeing the store.
Athletic director Joel Thirer resigned and a State University of New York investigation found dubious enrollments and lax enforcement of academic standards for athletes.
That's old news now. Broadus is gone, former university president Lois B. DeFleur resigned, and Patrick Elliott is the new athletic director.
Though there are still reminders of what happened — "Let the rain wash away the pain of yesterday" from the song "I'm Coming Home" are the first words heard on a team highlight video — it's back to the way we were for a school where the average SAT score range for incoming freshmen is 1190-1340.
"For us here, it's an educational place. We're like the Princeton of public universities. You have to be a student first, then an athlete," said Macon, a star in college at Temple. "Am I going to get the greatest athletes? I hope so. But I want to get the greatest students and be able to teach them how to play basketball.
"I would love to have a great student who is a great athlete as well, but I may not be able to get that. But I do want kids to come here and be able to go on in the next stage of life and do something. Basketball is not going to last but so long."
Last year's team finished the regular season on a 1-12 tailspin, but stunned UMBC, 91-65, in the first round of the America East tournament and pushed regular-season champion Vermont to the closing minutes in an 11-point loss.
This season started with a 78-74 loss to Colgate before a near-sellout crowd of 4,760. Since then, the losses have gotten ugly — 88-59 at Missouri, 94-51 vs. Manhattan, 92-56 at Syracuse — and they have taken a toll.
"The losing does sting, but a loss is a loss to me," said Gray, a star at Binghamton High who decided to stay home and try his luck as a walk-on instead of playing Division III ball. "We see ourselves getting better, and we've got to remain positive."
Despite all the negatives — before Thursday night's loss at Vermont, the Bearcats were shooting a league-low 36.9 percent, getting beat by an average of 18.3 points, and had a rebounding margin of minus-3.8 — Macon finally sees some progress.
"Wins will come," he said. "We've got guys here that are working their butt off for me. The score doesn't sting anymore. A couple of games ago, I wasn't sleeping. Now, I'm getting more sleep. I had to change my focus. I had to focus on improving little things.
"A lot of the teams are much better than us, don't get me wrong. But I think hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard, and I think we're starting to work harder. We don't have as much talent as a lot of the teams we play, but we do have talent."
Such as Mansell, one of Macon's first recruits. The sophomore guard leads the Bearcats in scoring at 14.3 points per game.
"We need to keep improving, and we have so far," Mansell said. "But we need this first win. It's extremely frustrating at times."
Elliott, who took over in the fall, senses that frustration. It doesn't help that the Bearcats will play seven games in the Events Center — more than half the home season— while the student body is on vacation. The BU Zoo could use some bodies.
"For the players and the coaches, a win would be a sense of relief," Elliott said. "It's hard when you come in, night in and night out, and you don't get that 'W.' And you've got to keep playing hard, keep competing."
One can sense the frustration sitting in the stands — a shoulder shrug and arms raised in despair when a play goes awry — but the fans remain loyal. Binghamton has led the America East in attendance the past eight seasons and is averaging a league-best 2,671 through eight dates.
"We have tremendous, tremendous community support here," Elliott said. "That's one of the things that's really so special about Binghamton. At other schools, when the students aren't here, there's nobody here. Night after night, we see the same folks in the community come out and support our program."
Folks like Roy and Mary Jewett, who have had front-row seats just behind the scorer's table since the Events Center opened in 2004.
"It was great when they were on top, but they'll come back," Roy said. "Everybody's a little down when they're not winning, but I think the fan base is pretty happy. It's (the program's troubles) just one of them things. It's part of Division I basketball, I guess."
Gnawing animal knocks out basketball broadcast
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — They didn't blame it on a tiger, but officials with a Lexington television station say a gnawing animal disrupted the broadcast of the Kentucky Wildcats' 68-63 win over the Auburn Tigers.
WKYT Vice President of Operations Mike Kanarek says an animal ate away at a line on the station's property in Lexington on Wednesday and caused an electrical outage. Kanarek told the Lexington Herald-Leader that a backup generator came on within a minute, but it took 10 to 12 minutes for its transmitter to cycle back up and resume broadcasting the game.
Coverage of the game was out from 9:27 to 9:42 p.m. Kanarek said the station received only a handful of calls from viewers and no emails about the outage.
