Texas and Big 12 Basketball Capsules: No. 4 Kentucky outlasts Sam Houston State 102-92

LEXINGTON, Ky. — DeMarcus Cousins had 27 points and 18 rebounds to help No. 4 Kentucky outlast Sam Houston State 102-92 on Thursday night in the Cancun Challenge.

Patrick Patterson had 20 points and nine boards and John Wall added 21 points and six assists as the Wildcats (3-0) overcame a record-setting shooting performance by the Bearkats (2-1).

Sam Houston State (2-1) hung around deep into the second half behind stellar 3-point shooting, led by senior guard Corey Allmond, who poured in 37 points and made a Rupp Arena record 11 3-pointers. The Bearkats made 18 of 38 3-pointers and never let Kentucky get comfortable.

The Wildcats survived behind Cousins and Patterson, who had little trouble doing whatever they wanted against the shorter, smaller Bearkats. Kentucky outscored Sam Houston State 48-18 in the paint and held a 48-33 advantage on the boards while shooting 60 percent from the floor.

Still, it wasn’t exactly the kind of crisp performance coach John Calipari was looking for after Kentucky narrowly escaped an upset bid by Miami (Ohio) on Monday.

Wall hit a last-second jumper to lift the Wildcats to victory against the RedHawks.

There were no such heroics necessary this time, but the joy felt during Wall’s dynamic debut was replaced with a sense of unease as Kentucky allowed another opponent to go crazy from behind the arc.

Calipari called Miami’s performance — the RedHawks made 15 of 26 3-pointers — somewhat of a fluke and said he was "ecstatic" after the Wildcats rallied from an 18-point deficit to win.

He wasn’t quite so cheery when Kentucky failed to put away the Bearkats, a member of the Southland Conference.

The Wildcats never trailed, but the inability to slow down Allmond or get any production from the bench — Kentucky’s reserves did not score a single point — left Calipari in a frenzy.

He called timeout after timeout hoping to get his team to play with some defensive intensity. It never happened.

Allmond simply wouldn’t let it. He hardly seemed bothered while being guarded by Wall, considered the top freshman in the country. Allmond knocked down eight 3-pointers in the first half alone. Some of the shots were flat-out ridiculous, including a double-pump leaning 3-pointer with Wall all over him.

Kentucky still managed to lead 53-42 at the half then opened the second half on a 7-0 run to push the lead to 18. Yet they simply couldn’t get free.

Every time the Wildcats appeared to be ready to break it open, they would commit a turnover and the Bearkats would answer with another deep jumper.

Sam Houston State pulled to 81-73 with 6:58 remaining before one last burst by the Wildcats pushed the lead to 94-77. The Bearkats never got closer than 10 the rest of the way, but Kentucky’s sloppy play had Calipari leaving the floor in a huff visibly angry at his team’s lethargic defensive performance.

Texas Tech tops Northwestern State 94-75

TUCSON, Ariz. — Nic Wise had 15 points, seven assists and five steals and Jamelle Horne scored eight of his 13 in the final 5½ minutes to help Arizona pull away from Rice 66-49 on Thursday night.

Solomon Hill and Derrick Williams scored 12 and 10, respectively, for Arizona, which is now 2-0 under new coach Sean Miller.

Arsalan Kazemi, the first Iranian to play major college basketball in the United States, had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Owls (3-1). Tamir Jackson added 11 points for Rice.

The Owls, down 24-6 in the first half, narrowed the lead to six in the second, using a 9-1 run to make it 44-38 on Connor Frizzelle’s driving floater in the lane with 13:20 to play.

The teams traded baskets, then Arizona scored the next six. Hill made a baseline layup, Wise sank a 16-footer and Williams had a dunk. The Wildcats led 52-40 with 10 minutes to play and Rice never got it to single digits again.

The Wildcats scored the first nine points of the game against the Owls, who made just two of their first 20 shots.

Three-pointers by Wise and Kyle Fogg put Arizona up 24-6 with six minutes left in the half.

Rice, though, responded with a 14-4 run to cut it to 28-20 1:55 before the break on Kazemi’s put-back after an Arizona turnover. The Wildcats scored the last five of the half. Brendon Lavender made two free throws with 1:37 to go, then Fogg’s 3-pointer with 8 seconds left gave Arizona a 33-20 lead at the break.

Kazemi scored 11 of Rice’s 20 first-half points on 4 of 4 shooting. The rest of the Owls made 2 of 27 shots. The Owls shot 29 percent to Arizona’s 45 percent for the game.

Next up for the Wildcats is a trip to Hawaii and a game against Wisconsin Monday in the first round of the Maui Invitational. Rice is home against Furman on Tuesday, then hosts No. 3 Texas on Nov. 29.

-- Bob Baum

Middle Tennessee holds off Lamar 74-66

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — James Washington scored 19 points and had six assists to lead Middle Tennessee to a 74-66 victory over Lamar on Thursday night.

Washington made four of his 11 free throws in the final 29 seconds as the Blue Raiders (2-2) held off a late charge after leading by as many as 14 points in the second half.

Lamar’s Lawrence Nwevo hit a free throw to cut the lead to 68-63 with 33 seconds left before Washington hit two to increase the advantage to 70-63 with 16 seconds left. Washington hit two more with 7 seconds left.

After falling behind by eight early, Middle Tennessee took a 16-14 lead on Monatarrio Haddock’s 3-pointer with 11:24 remaining in the first half.

Haddock finished with 17 points and Theryn Hudson added 10 for the Blue Raiders.

Anthony Miles led Lamar (2-1) with 19 points and Charlie Harper had 17 points and 15 rebounds. Kendrick Harris added 14 points.

Grambling State defeats Paul Quinn 75-61

GRAMBLING, La. — Ariece Perkis had 17 points and seven steals to lead Grambling State to a 75-61 victory over Paul Quinn College on Thursday night.

The first half was tied three times before Grambling (1-1) pulled ahead 24-23 on a Donald Qualls free throw with 4:03 left. Grambling then outscored Paul Quinn 9-1 the rest of the half.

Paul Quinn (2-4) was hampered by 27 turnovers, 15 in the first half.

The NAIA school pulled within 52-47 with 10:55 left, but Grambling countered with an 8-0 run. When Paul Quinn threatened again, trailing by seven with 4:41 left, Lance Fuertado hit two straight jumpers for Grambling and finished with 15 points.

Perkis, who had 11 first-half points, scored the final three points of the game on a dunk and a free throw.

Jason Kavros scored 15 points to lead Paul Quinn. Nigel Grisham had nine rebounds as Paul Quinn outrebounded Grambling 40-34.

Centenary defeats Texas College 95-76

SHREVEPORT, La. — Daman Starring scored 27 points and David Perez added 21 in Centenary’s 95-76 win over Texas College on Thursday night.

Starring put the Gentlemen (2-1) ahead 20-11 on back-to-back jump shots and two free throws as they won for the fifth-straight time against the Steers (3-2).

Texas College would pull within 29-21 with 5 minutes left in the half, but Centenary went on a 6-0 run, featuring four points by Starring, for a 19-point lead.

Roman Tubner added 18 points, including making 10 of 12 from the free-throw line, and Maxx Nakwaasah added 12 points for the Gentlemen.

Centenary shot 52.9 percent in the first half (18 of 34), and 47.6 percent in the game (30 of 63).

Deandre Martin led Texas College with 15 points and Tre Manning added 13.

The NAIA Steers turned the ball over 12 times on eight steals.

Big 12

Jayhawks sharp in 94-44 rout over Central Arkansas

LAWRENCE, Kan. — The wakeup call over, Kansas is back to rolling.

Tyrel Reed hit four 3-pointers for 12 points and No. 1 Kansas scored 23 straight points in the first half to overwhelm Central Arkansas 94-44 Thursday night.

Coming off a tight victory over Memphis two days earlier, Kansas (3-0) dismantled Central Arkansas from the start. Spreading the ball around on offense, the Jayhawks shot 57 percent, had four players score 12 points and had just seven turnovers for their 43rd straight home win.

"I’m proud of the way we bounced back," Reed said. "After having a close game, we brought a lot of energy. We could have been a little deflated after playing Memphis, but we did a good job of executing."

Too bad for Central Arkansas (1-2). The Bears never stood a chance in their first game at Allen Fieldhouse.

Central Arkansas struggled defensively, unable to match up inside with the bigger, stronger Jayhawks, not quick enough to rotate out to their perimeter shooters on kickouts.

The Bears were even worse on offense, struggling to find shots, missing when they did. Central Arkansas went 12 minutes without a field goal during Kansas’ big first-half run, shot 25 percent overall and had one player — Jared Rehmel with 11 — score in double figures.

"We had a few open looks and I thought that at times we were shooting to avoid a block instead of shooting to make a basket," Central Arkansas Randy Chappell said.

Kansas eked out a 57-55 win over Memphis in a rematch of the 2008 NCAA title game Tuesday in St. Louis, surviving a sloppy offensive performance and a last-second shot by the Tigers. The Jayhawks had 21 turnovers in that game, most on ill-advised passes and from dribbling into trouble, and had their fewest points in a win since 2000.

The small-conference Bears were just what Kansas needed to recover.

Kansas had a good defensive game against Memphis was, not surprisingly, even better against Central Arkansas. Closing out on their shooters and allowing virtually nothing inside, the Jayhawks forced 15 straight misses in the first half and held the Bears to 1-of-14 shooting from 3-point range.

Offensively, the Jayhawks moved the ball around the perimeter for open jumpers and deep postups, looking nothing like the team that played too fast and had coach Bill Self shaking his head in St. Louis. Nine players with at least seven points and four players with at least three assists was more of what Self has in mind from his team.

"We took care of the basketball; that’s a positive after pitching the ball all over the building Tuesday, so there were some good things," Self said. "A lot of guys got a chance to play and play significant minutes, get a little rhythm. Some guys played pretty well, so I was happy about that."

Senior guard Sherron Collins seemed to be clear of the leg cramps that plagued him against Memphis, but turned his right ankle early in the second half and limped to the locker room. Turned out to be a minor sprain and Collins returned a few minutes later, quickly hitting a jumper on his way to 12 points.

There was plenty to go around.

Twins Marcus and Markieff Morris had their way inside, scoring on power moves and rebound slams. Marcus had 12 points, Markieff eight. Reed was 4 for 5 from 3-point range after 18 scoreless minutes against Memphis and freshman Xavier Henry had 12 points following a 3-for-11 night.

Henry’s older brother, C.J., showed no signs of the knee injury that’s plagued him, scoring eight points in his first game with Kansas. Tyshawn Taylor recovered from his seven-turnover performance with a solid, no-turnover night at the point and freshman Thomas Robinson had eight points and 11 rebounds.

So what if the Jayhawks got outrebounded by two. This was a big turnaround from the Memphis game.

"We watched the (Memphis) tape and learned from it," Robinson said. "Everybody got better from the tape and we showed who we are."

Central Arkansas certainly knows now.

The Bears want to play the big programs at the big venues and had already been to Connecticut, Kentucky and Vanderbilt in previous years. Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse may be the top of the list — even in a 50-point loss.

"I told the kids that some older gentlemen pay thousands of dollars to go to a fantasy camp and play somewhere like this," Chappell said. "I think that we will take a neat experience from here."

-- John Marshall

McGruder leads Kansas State over Boston U, 80-70

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Rodney McGruder scored 20 points in 22 minutes and Kansas State beat Boston University 80-70 Thursday night in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Jacob Pullen had 14 points, five assists and three steals, and Curtis Kelly scored 12 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for the Wildcats (3-0). McGruder shot 4 of 5 from 3-point range and 5 of 6 overall and pulled down five boards for Kansas Sate, which led 39-35 at halftime.

Boston University (0-3) was led by John Holland, who scored 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Guard Corey Lowe had five assists but also committed five turnovers.

Kansas State outrebounded the Terriers 39-29 and held Boston University to 35.8 percent shooting (19 for 53) from the field and 33.3 percent for 3s (8 for 24). The Wildcats shot 44.9 percent (22 of 49) from the field, 8 for 19 beyond the arc (42.1 percent).