College Basketball Capsules: No. 6 West Virginia tops No. 22 Pittsburgh

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Several objects were thrown onto the court after Pittsburgh had nearly erased a double-digit deficit, prompting West Virginia coach Bob Huggins to grab the courtside microphone and tell the restless sellout crowd, "That’s stupid."

His players took over from there.

Da’Sean Butler scored 18 points, Kevin Jones added 16 and the pair stepped up their games after Huggins’ speech midway through the second half, carrying No. 6 West Virginia to a 70-51 win over the 22nd-ranked Panthers 70-51 on Wednesday night.

West Virginia (18-3, 7-2 Big East) used a steady diet of 3-pointers and fed off the energy of the third-largest home crowd in school history and the successful debut of suspended freshman Deniz Kilicli to earn its fifth straight win.

It marked the start of a tough four-game stretch in nine days for the Mountaineers that includes contests with St. John’s, No. 2 Villanova and at Pittsburgh on Feb. 12.

But some fans’ behavior cast a shadow over a solid win.

"It was uncalled for," Butler said. "There is a time and a place for stuff like that, but one place is not the basketball court. Take that outside if you’re going to do it. I don’t know what the fans are trying to prove whether they’re tough or not but it’s not what we do. I would appreciate it if they would stop. It might cost us a game."

Pittsburgh (16-6, 6-4) was outrebounded 45-31, shot an abysmal 30 percent from the field, made just six field goals after halftime and was held to its second-lowest scoring total of the season.

Butler’s 3-pointer put West Virginia ahead by double digits 4 minutes after halftime before Pittsburgh mounted a comeback.

Little-used freshman J.J. Richardson scored five points in the span of a minute and Pittsburgh pulled within 43-41 with 12:51 left. His previous season high was two points.

The Panthers got no closer and West Virginia steadily pulled away.

"They deserved to win," Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. "It was 43-41 and we didn’t get a rebound after that and that’s where we got beat."

Huggins grabbed a microphone and addressed the fans a short time after objects were thrown on the court with 12:08 left, telling the crowd, "don’t throw anything on the floor. That’s stupid."

As the crowd applauded him, Huggins then asked if someone did it again, "point him out so we can throw him out of here."

Someone didn’t listen.

With 5:14 left, as the officials were reviewing on the courtside TV a scuffle under the basket involving Pitt’s Gary McGhee and two West Virginia players, Pittsburgh assistant coach Tom Herrion was hit with what appeared to be a coin under his right eye. Huggins could be seen asking Herrion, who had a visible bruise under the eye, about it after the game.

"I think the fans throwing stuff out on the court was wrong," Huggins said afterward. "You want them to be enthusiastic and they’ve been terrific. I love them to death, but whoever threw things on the floor is dumb. You just can’t do that."

West Virginia’s students were sent several e-mails by a university official in recent weeks over their behavior at games. They were asked to tone down their language after profanities were heard on national TV in a Jan. 23 win over Ohio State. Against Louisville last Saturday, fans chanted the name of a woman that Cardinals coach Rick Pitino admitted having sex with outside his marriage.

"We knew they had a rowdy crowd," Pittsburgh’s Jermaine Dixon said. "But the best part is that we get to play them up at our place in a couple days."

After Pittsburgh nearly pulled even and the objects started flying, West Virginia went on a 15-4 run. Butler, Jones and Darryl Bryant hit 3-pointers and the Mountaineers pulled ahead 56-43 with 6:31 remaining. Jones scored 15 of his 16 points in the final 12 minutes.

The Mountaineers made 5 of 10 shots from beyond the arc after halftime and clinched their second straight win over the Panthers by going 10 of 10 from the free-throw line in the final five minutes.

Devin Ebanks had 16 rebounds for West Virginia and Kilicli provided a spark in his first action of the season after sitting out an NCAA-imposed 20 games for playing on a team in his native Turkey that included a professional player.

The 6-foot-9 Kilicli went 3 of 3 from the field and scored seven points in 4 minutes in the first half. The capacity crowd gave him a standing ovation when he entered the game and was mobbed by his teammates when he came out a few minutes later. He finished with nine points in 7 minutes.

"We needed that boost especially from the bench," Butler said before poking some fun at his teammates. "I think that’s the most points we’ve gotten from the bench all year — combined."

Dixon returned from an injury to lead Pittsburgh with 13 points. Ashton Gibbs added 11 points but second-leading scorer Brad Wanamaker was held scoreless on 0-of-4 shooting.

The Panthers were outrebounded 45-31 and have dropped four of five conference games after starting 5-0 in the league and reaching the Top 10.

South Florida stuns No. 7 Georgetown 72-64

WASHINGTON — With a minute to play in perhaps the biggest win in South Florida history, the star player bellowed to the Georgetown crowd: "Y’all come watch Dominique Jones play!"

When the horn sounded, Jones flexed his muscles, extolled the virtues of his school to anyone within earshot and told the school’s radio crew his "heart was beating too fast" with excitement to do a postgame interview.

Give Jones some slack in the right-to-brag department. After four years as a pushover, South Florida is a Big East doormat no more.

The Bulls’ 72-64 victory over the seventh-ranked Hoyas on Wednesday night gives them their first road victory over a ranked team in 18 years and pushes their record to .500 in the toughest conference in the country.

"I’ve done been everywhere the past two years — Big East — they see us lose and they just say all kind of things," the junior guard said. "I’m not a person of revenge, but it feels good to look in those same people’s faces, like, ‘Hey, I’m laughing at the end of it."’

Jones scored 22 of his 29 points in the second half as the Bulls (15-7, 5-5), who had never won more than two straight Big East games before this season, now have a run of four that also includes a 70-61 win over then-No. 17 Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The Bulls have five Big East wins in a season for the first time since joining the conference in 2005. Their last road win over a ranked team came against a No. 15 Tulane team on Feb. 24, 1992, but that one pales compared to the comeback victory against a Georgetown team that had dispatched No. 10 Duke just a few days earlier.

"I’ll be brutally honest — I’m really amazed with our team," South Florida coach Stan Heath said. "It’s the best win in our school history, to beat an outstanding team like Georgetown. I have no idea if they were enjoying Duke or looking at Villanova, but we played really well, really hard. We became the more aggressive team in the second half."

Greg Monroe had 21 points and eight rebounds — none in the second half — before fouling out with 2:52 to play for the Hoyas (16-5, 6-4), who blew a 13-point first-half lead. Georgetown stumbled in a trap game sandwiched between the president-attended win over the Blue Devils and an upcoming Saturday showdown against the second-ranked Wildcats.

Monroe cited a lack of focus for the loss, but he said it wasn’t because of the two games surrounding it.

"I don’t know exactly what happened," Monroe said. "We definitely wasn’t looking backward and we definitely wasn’t looking forward. As a team, we have to be more focused to win games like this."

Austin Freeman scored 21 points for the Hoyas, who shot 36 percent in the second half — 24 percent worse than in the first. The Hoyas also missed half of their free throws, making only 11 of 22 for the game, and committed 14 turnovers.

"We didn’t control the things we can control, being foul shots and some of those turnovers," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said in terse postgame comments.

The Bulls trailed 35-22 late in the first half and 35-26 at halftime due to 60 percent shooting by Georgetown, but the Hoyas went cold in the second half and Jones began to show the flair that has him averaging 35 points during the winning streak.

Jones, who recently scored a school-record 46 points against Providence, went 6 of 9 in the second half, played 39 of 40 minutes, and finished with eight rebounds and four assists for the Bulls, who shot 65 percent after halftime.

That was quite a change of pace from the first half, when Jones missed his first three shots before scoring on a putback more than 12 minutes into the game.

"He got off to a really slow start. I’m pulling out my hair — all the hair that I have," said Heath, who is bald. "And saying ‘What play can I run?’ Because if we don’t get him involved, we’re done — we’re toast. Once he got going, boy, he was really hard to stop. Obviously we feed off of him."

Early in the second half, Jones scored seven straight points for his team with a driving layup, a steal and dunk and a three-point play. Mike Mercer tied the game at 42 with two free throws with 12:28 to play, and Jones made a free throw following a steal to give the Bulls their first lead since 10-9.

At one point, South Florida had outscored Georgetown 30-13 in the second half and held a 56-48 lead with 6:28 to play. Here’s an idea how things were going: Jones banked in a 3-pointer at one end, while at the other Monroe had a free throw wiped out by a lane violation.

The Hoyas finally stopped the visitors’ momentum with a jumper from Freeman and a basket and two free throws by Monroe to cut the deficit to two.

But Monroe was soon gone from the game, getting his fifth foul for contact on Jarrid Famous when Famous was trying to make a putback after catching an air ball. Georgetown never regained the lead, and South Florida had its landmark win, one that had Jones bouncing around with joy.

"He’s an emotional kid. He’s a great kid, too," Heath said. "It’s not about him. It really is about doing something special at SF. We haven’t done anything — he wants to lift the program up."

-- Joseph White

Turner has 27 points for No. 13 Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It wasn’t a memorable game for Jon Diebler — until the very end.

The Ohio State guard had misfired all night and didn’t have an assist or a rebound in 40 fruitless minutes. But the last shot he took, and the only one he made, saved the day for the 13th-ranked Buckeyes.

Evan Turner scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half and Diebler hit a critical 3-pointer to lead No. 13 Ohio State to a 75-62 victory over Penn State on Wednesday night.

Diebler had not scored and was 0 for 6 from the field until he hit a shot from behind the arc with 1:29 left to give the Buckeyes some breathing room after Penn State (8-14, 0-10 Big Ten) had cut what was once a 13-point lead to 65-62.

"I was thinking, ‘This one’s bound to go in,"’ said Diebler, Ohio’s career prep scoring leader with 3,208 points. "I always feel that the next one’s going to go in."

His basket started the Buckeyes (17-6, 7-3) on a 10-0 run to close the game and handed the Nittany Lions their 10th straight loss.

"It was just one of those games where they weren’t falling," Diebler said. "We didn’t play our best, but you have to give Penn State credit. Still, we won. That’s all that matters."

William Buford added 19 points and David Lighty had 12 for the Buckeyes, who have won their last six conference games and have beaten the Nittany Lions in their last 12 meetings.

Talor Battle had 24 points and David Jackson 12 for luckless Penn State.

"History kind of repeats itself," said Nittany Lions coach Ed DeChellis, whose team has played on even terms with almost every team in the conference but has yet to pull out a win. "We hung in there as long as we could. We’re down three and what’s-his-name hit a big shot — his only shot of the game."

Ohio State improved to 14-0 at home this season, where it is shooting 54 percent from the field.

The Buckeyes scored eight of the first 10 points and never trailed, then got big buckets from Turner time and again in the second half whenever the Nittany Lions threatened to slice into the lead.

But Penn State, down 12 at halftime, never really went away. The Nittany Lions cut the lead to seven points four times before finally narrowing it to 65-62 on two free throws by Jackson with 1:53 remaining.

Ohio State worked the ball around before Turner — who added 10 rebounds and six assists — found Diebler open in front of the Buckeyes bench. The junior hit nothing but net.

Turner then added three free throws and Buford four to close out the game.

Battle and Turner were teammates on the U.S. World University Games team this summer. They guarded each other off and on throughout the game and seemed to enjoy attacking each other.

"It’s tough. He’s been losing," Turner said of the losses piling up on his friend. "I know when we lost a couple around here it seemed like there were some gray clouds over our heads. He probably feels like it’s a thunderstorm or a lightning strike."

Battle, like Turner, also flirted with a triple-double, adding nine rebounds and seven assists.

Asked if anyone can guard Battle, DeChellis said, "I don’t know. Can anyone stay in front of Turner? Both kids make their teammates better. It was fun to see two top players in the league go at each other like that."

The Buckeyes built their early lead on a 3-pointer by Lighty, three points from Turner and a vicious tomahawk dunk by Buford — and never trailed again.

Penn State’s Bill Edwards, an Ohio native coming off a career-best 10-points, 13-rebounds effort in a loss at No. 10 Purdue on Sunday, limped off the court at the 11:26 mark with Ohio State on top 15-8 at the time. He twisted an ankle and did not return.

Buckeyes coach Thad Matta didn’t have any doubts when he saw Diebler go up for his last shot.

"I knew the odds were he had to make it," he said. "We didn’t shy away from Jon. He’s a shooter."

DeChellis saw the most recent game as similar to the nine losses before it.

"That’s kind of the way things have gone," he said.

-- Rusty Miller

No. 18 Vanderbilt beats Mississippi State 75-72

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt Commodores are really comfortable playing at home in Memorial Gym. Against Mississippi State on Wednesday night, they almost got too cozy.

Jermaine Beal scored 17 points, and No. 18 Vanderbilt held off the Bulldogs 75-72 on Wednesday night, the Commodores’ 11th win in 12 games.

"That was a little more interesting at the end than we wanted it to be," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said.

Vanderbilt (17-4, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) bounced back after losing their first league game last weekend at then-No. 1 Kentucky. The Commodores had been on the road for four of the first six games in SEC play, and they looked very happy to be back home before a sold-out crowd where they hadn’t lost this season.

But this hasn’t been an easy series for the Commodores with Mississippi State having won seven of the past 10.

The Bulldogs (16-6, 4-3) almost did it again, fighting back from a 14-point deficit to get within 73-72 with 28.6 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Dee Bost. Vanderbilt’s John Jenkins made two free throws with 6.8 seconds remaining, then Bost missed a 3 before Romero Osby of the Bulldogs missed two free throws with 1 second left.

"We had some dumb plays, but at the same time they were making shots," Beal said. "We have a lot of improvement that we can work on in that area."

Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said his Bulldogs never panicked because it doesn’t take long to catch up these days, especially with the Bulldogs hitting an SEC-best nine 3s per game.

"We never gave up. When it comes down to one play on the road — winning or losing — as a coach you’ll take that. We just couldn’t make the right play at the right time," Stansbury said.

A.J. Ogilvy added 16 points for Vanderbilt, while Jenkins had 12 and Brad Tinsley 11. The Commodores are 6-1 in SEC play for the first time since 1992-93.

Jarvis Varnado had 12 points, 14 rebounds and nine blocks — seven in the second half — for the Bulldogs. Kodi Augustus had 15 points, Barry Stewart 13 and Bost 12. Varnado and Stewart set the school record by playing in their 127th game. The Bulldogs have lost three of four.

"He has really good timing," Ogilvy said of Varnado, a Tennessee native. "Long arms, sees the ball really well and he is able to block a lot of shots."

The Bulldogs brought in the nation’s third-stingiest scoring defense, holding opponents to 36.5 percent shooting. Vanderbilt features the SEC’s best shooters in league play, and the Commodores shot 44.6 percent despite going cold late, not scoring from the field after Festus Ezeli’s dunk with 4 minutes left.

The Commodores did hit 4 of 6 at the free throw line to preserve the win.

Stallings said his team committed 11 different mistakes as they started playing not to lose.

"We got tentative with the basketball and got careless with our passes and had our turnovers. We just had no flow going on offense," he said.

Jenkins made what he called a freshman mistake at the end. He was supposed to dribble back out, trying to run out the clock.

"It won’t happen again," Jenkins said.

Vanderbilt led 38-31 at halftime and led twice by 14 points — matching the Bulldogs’ biggest deficit this season. Beal’s bucket matched the Commodores’ biggest lead at 69-55 with 4:40 left. That’s when Stewart got going, scoring the next 11 points for the Bulldogs including three 3s.

"The crowd got quiet, they got on the edge of their seats," Stewart said of his spurt. "It felt good. But unfortunately we didn’t pull it off."

Bost hit the first of two free throws to pull Mississippi State within 73-69 with 1:27 remaining. Varnado got the rebound, but Stewart missed a jumper with 1:11 to go. Bost stole the ball from Beal, then came down and hit a 3 from the right corner with 28 seconds left to trim the lead to 73-72.

That was as close as they could get.

Vanderbilt looked ready to blow out the Bulldogs in the opening minutes, jumping out 9-3 lead. Mississippi State settled down, and the teams gave a glimpse of the furious finish with six ties and six lead changes. The last tie came at 29 when Phil Turner scored on a putback with 4:04 left.

-- Teresa M. Walker

Allen scores 14, No. 19 Temple tops Duquesne

PHILADELPHIA — Trailing 5-0, Temple coach Fran Dunphy was as furious with the Owls as he had been all season. He called a fast timeout and lit into the Owls, his face as cherry red as the stripes on Temple’s uniforms.

About two hours later, a considerably calmer Dunphy explained his timeout outburst.

"Pay attention to your details, be focused and rebound with discipline," Dunphy said. "So yeah, I was a little disappointed by that."

He had little to complain about the rest of the way.

Lavoy Allen had 14 points and 15 rebounds and No. 19 Temple again got plenty of points off the bench to beat Duquesne 76-60 on Wednesday night.

Ryan Brooks and Juan Fernandez, Temple’s two leading scorers, were non-factors for the second straight game. Dunphy used his key subs, and even a seldom-used one, to lead the Owls (19-4, 7-1 Atlantic 10) to their eighth win in the last nine games.

"It was a statement by the coaches to say we’ve got to have our act together a little more than we did," Dunphy said.

Temple’s bench scored 25 points in the first half. Ramone Moore led the Owls’ reserves with 15 points.

Allen, a 6-foot-9 forward, was Temple’s lone productive starting scorer. He made some nice spin moves in the paint, two right-handed layups down the lane and stabilized the offense when the other starters couldn’t find the basket.

Allen scored six points during Temple’s 13-2 run early in the second half that put the Owls in control. They built a 20-point lead without much offense from Brooks (15.9 ppg) or Fernandez (12.6). They combined for 11 points.

The bench bailed out the Owls like they did in Saturday’s win against La Salle. Moore hit a string of big baskets to close the first half. Rahlir Jefferson scored 11 points and T.J. DiLeo had seven.

Temple’s role players were needed early against the Dukes. Dunphy was nose-to-nose with every rapt Owl in the huddle in that early 30-second timeout before sending them back onto the court.

When the Dukes took a 10-4 lead, an unusually animated Dunphy turned and started clapping in the faces of every bench player.

"Coach just wasn’t having it today," Moore said. "He brought the bench in early and whoever made a mistake was coming out. I think we had to get our act together and I think in the second half we did that."

Allen said he’d seen Dunphy blow up before, "but this time was the worst of them all."

Dunphy is about as mild-mannered as any coach. But when the Owls fail to box out and allow easy layups, he won’t hold back.

"I think if you came to some of our practices, you’d see another side of me," Dunphy said. "I get very unhappy when I don’t think guys are working as hard as they possibly can."

Dunphy turned to DiLeo, who had played only 85 minutes in 15 games this season, to send a message and spark the Owls. DiLeo was a hit in his 14 minutes. He hit a 3-pointer, then stole the ball at midcourt and dunked for a 31-23 lead.

"When he plays, he plays well, and when he doesn’t play, you never hear about it," Dunphy said.

His father, Tony DiLeo, is the Philadelphia 76ers assistant general manager/VP of basketball operations.

Moore scored seven of Temple’s last nine points of the first half to take a 42-34 lead. The lead would have been bigger except Clark nailed a buzzer-beating 3 for the Dukes that made Dunphy smack his hands in disgust.

Bill Clark and Eric Evans led Duquesne (11-11, 2-6) with 12 points. This was the first game between the teams since last season’s A-10 championship game, won by the Owls.

"It was a little disheartening on my end because I didn’t think we played that poorly and we still got blown out pretty good," Dukes coach Ron Everhart said.

Temple committed seven turnovers in the first half — an atypical number for a team that ranked sixth nationally in fewest turnovers per game (10.5).

Fernandez sat glumly on the bench with a towel over his shoulder, while Brooks sat nearby with little chance of playing. Brooks and Fernandez, who took a severe blow to the head against Fordham, did not score a point in a combined 8 minutes as the Owls scored their most points in a first half this season.

No worries. The bench had the game under control.

"It’s been unbelievable what they’ve given us," Dunphy said.

-- Dan Gelston

No. 24 Northern Iowa beats Wichita State 59-56

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Northern Iowa insisted its win over Wichita State on Wednesday night was just another game, one the surging Panthers will quickly put behind them.

The rest of the Missouri Valley knows better.

Kwadzo Ahelegbe scored 18 points, 15 in the second half, and No. 24 Northern Iowa hung on to beat the Shockers 59-56 and take a commanding three-game lead atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings.

Jordan Eglseder added 15 points for the Panthers (20-2, 11-1), who avenged a 60-51 loss in Wichita on Jan. 19 and put the second-place Shockers in a hole that might be too deep to climb out of.

"I don’t talk about that with our guys. I really don’t," Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said. "We talked about being tougher than we were at their place on the defensive end of the floor, being tougher on the offensive end of the floor, finishing plays."

It might have been a good thing that Jacobson didn’t bring up all the benefits of a victory, because it almost didn’t happen.

Wichita State (19-5, 8-4) buried consecutive 3-pointers to pull within 58-56 with 1:54 left, then got the ball back with 31 seconds left. But Toure’ Murry missed a 3 from the elbow, and Clevin Hannah’s desperation heave bounced off the rim.

Murry had 17 points to lead Wichita State, which came in ranked ninth in the nation in free-throw percentage but shot just 10 of 17 from the line.

"We had our chances. We just couldn’t make the plays at the end, those shots at the end," Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said.

It was a typical Valley slugfest, with baskets and style points in short supply. But that’s exactly the kind of play the pesky Panthers excel at.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that Ahelegbe shook off a terrible first half and carried the Panthers offense down the stretch.

Ahelegbe drilled a pull-up 15-footer and muscled a tough layup in traffic to put Northern Iowa ahead 44-41 with 8:34 left. Eglseder’s three-point play off a steal by Ali Farokhmanesh gave the Panthers a 47-41 lead. Wichita State quickly cut it to one, but Ahelegbe followed a 3 with yet another mid-range jumper to give Northern Iowa a 53-46 lead with just under 4 minutes left.

Ahelegbe was 1 of 9 from the field in the first half but finished 8 of 18, helping rescue an offense that shot just 38 percent from the field. But Jacobson also pointed to the contributions of reserve forward Lucas O’Rear, who finished with nine rebounds — five offensive — and helped set the tone in the paint.

"I thought (O’Rear) was probably the difference," Jacobson said. "He’s a worker. He finds a way to come up with loose balls, come up with rebounds."

Gabe Blair added 12 points for the Shockers, who fell to 5-4 on the road.

The Panthers missed 12 of their first 15 shots and fell behind by as much as 18-10. But after a hot start, Wichita State could only muster four points during a 9½-minute stretch late in the first half, allowing Northern Iowa to jump ahead 25-22.

Murry and Hannah responded with 3s in the final 1:18 to give the Shockers a 28-27 halftime lead — despite the fact that Northern Iowa outrebounded them 10-0 on the offensive glass.

The loss at Wichita State is the only hiccup in the Valley so far for the Panthers, who now seem poised to run away with the league title.

Northern Iowa hasn’t been flashy — in fact, it needed a late rally to steal a 55-54 win at Missouri State last weekend — but its suffocating defense was once again enough to help the Panthers survive.

Northern Iowa entered play second in the nation in scoring defense at 55.1 points per game.

"We just talk about being more aggressive in everything we do," Jacobson said. "I just thought we were a much more aggressive team (Wednesday) than we were at Wichita."

Though Wichita State has rattled off one of the better starts in school history, it still lacks a signature road win. Its biggest wins to date, against Northern Iowa and Texas Tech, both came at home.

The Shockers do have a chance to finish strong, though. They play four of their final six conference games at home and have two games left against last-place Evansville.

"We’re going to try and win games and do what we can do,’ Marshall said. "Obviously we need a lot of help at this point."

-- Luke Meredith

Women’s Top 25

Harris’ 18 and Phillips’ 16 lead No. 7 Xavier

WASHINGTON — Two days after earning the highest ranking in school history, No. 7 Xavier jumped out to a big first-half lead and cruised to an easy win over George Washington.

That doesn’t mean the Musketeers were pleased with their performance.

Xavier used a devastating combination of inside play and outside perimeter shooting to open up a 24-point halftime lead and cruised to a 72-56 win against the Colonials Wednesday.

The Musketeers were led by the inside combination of Amber Harris, with 18 points and seven rebounds, and Ta’Shia Phillips who had 16 points and 11 rebounds. When they weren’t getting points in the post during the first-half run, Tyeasha Moss and Katie Rutan were hitting shots from outside. Moss had 16 points and four 3-pointers, and Rutan had 10 points and made three 3s.

"Tonight we were good at times, but we were also a little lackadaisical. I was a little disappointed with the second half," Xavier coach Kevin McGuff said. "I’m happy with the result but certainly was hoping we could play a little bit better."

It’s hard to see how the Musketeers (17-3, 7-0 Atlantic 10) could do any better than they did while opening up the big lead.

After falling behind 6-2 in the opening four minutes, Xavier dominated the rest of the game. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Moss started the Musketeers on a 25-4 run, pulling ahead 27-10 midway through the first half. At halftime, the lead was 48-24 and Xavier simply cruised the rest of the way.

The Musketeers have now won eight straight games and have tied the second-best start to conference play in school history. Last season Xavier won its first 12 conference games. The Musketeers won for the second time in 13 tries at George Washington and the first since 1998.

"When you’ve got to focus on their two bigs on the inside, trying to come up with double-team schemes, ways to take them out of their comfort zone, what it does is give those wings and guards an extra second to really focus on the rim," George Washington coach Mike Bozeman said. "Right when you think you have them kind of figured out, someone else steps up."

Tiana Myers scored 18 points, Sara Mostafa had 12 and Shi-Heria Shipp 10 for George Washington (5-16, 2-6).

Rutan’s three 3-pointers gave her 59 this season, one shy of the freshman school record. Rutan’s night was cut short when she hit the floor hard after battling for a rebound with 11:50 left in the game. After staying down for a couple minutes, Rutan walked to the bench and did not return. The team said she suffered a mild concussion and is day-to-day.

Xavier took advantage of the Colonials’ lack of depth — the Colonials were reduced to seven active players by a rash of injuries — with full-court defensive pressure. The Musketeers’ intensity, though, noticeably dropped off in the second half.

"Sometimes it’s challenging when you know you have that kind of a lead," Phillips said. "You’ve been sitting for a while at halftime, it takes some time to warm up, get back mentally into it."

McGuff said he’d like to see his team keep pushing after gaining the lead in future games, and Harris said being unable to keep George Washington down in the second half showed why.

"We should continue pushing the tempo for the game," Harris said. "When those teams are down, they have nothing to lose. They’re going to keep pushing it, so we might as well push it back at them."

Men’s News & Notes

Huskies have home court, Holiday against Arizona

SEATTLE — Defending Pac-10 champion Washington got routed in games at Arizona and Arizona State last month, the Huskies’ first dual losses in the desert in seven years.

In key return games this weekend, Washington (14-7, 4-5 Pac-10) has two huge differences going for it as it tries to preserve its conference title and postseason hopes.

The Huskies will be enjoying home court, on which they are 32-2 the last two seasons.

They will also have defensive stopper Justin Holiday this time. Holiday missed that Arizona trip because of academic technicalities, but he will start Thursday night’s game against conference co-leader Arizona (11-9, 6-3).

"I’m ready for it. We need these wins, of course. And not being able to play last time, hopefully I can put my mark on this game," Holiday said.

The Huskies are counting on it. The 6-foot-6 junior has the long arms and the tenacity to prevent a repeat of Washington’s 87-70 loss at Arizona on Jan. 10. The Wildcats’ Jamelle Horne stunned the Huskies with career highs of 22 points, including five 3-pointers. Washington’s characteristic, in-your-chest defense was nonexistent as Arizona shot 47 percent on 3s and 50 percent overall from the field.

At Arizona State two days before that, the Sun Devils’ Rihards Kuksiks also fired away at will. He was 5 for 8 on 3s and had a career-high tying 27 points in a 68-51 win over Washington.

It was so bad for Holiday watching the games back in Seattle, he almost turned off the TV.

"Seeing Kuksiks and Jamelle go off like that, I felt like I could’ve helped," he said.

Holiday returned from the academic issue the following weekend. Coach Lorenzo Romar immediately inserted him into the starting lineup for the first time in his career, because Romar said Holiday has an endless supply of the two things his team lacked most: energy and defense.

Washington has won four of six since then, the only losses a last-second one at UCLA and a corresponding dud at Southern California.

Quincy Pondexter is Washington’s leading scorer at 20.3 points per game. But the team’s only senior says Holiday is the most important player.

"Oh, he provides so much energy for this team on the defensive end," Pondexter said. "He gets us going. He gives the ability to contest long-range shooters that we were lacking in Arizona.

"It all starts with defense. And he’s really the key for us."

With Holiday starting and swarming opponents, the Huskies have been vibrant and attacking, a contrast from the team that slogged through a post-Christmas lull that left them in a season-jeopardizing hole.

"With the exception of the USC game, we’ve played with quite a bit of energy with him in there," Romar said of Holiday, emphasizing how his value goes far beyond his five points and three rebounds per game.

Jumping out to stop the opponent’s long-range shooters are Holiday’s specialty. He did it in his first game back following his Arizona hiatus, throttling Stanford’s leading scorer leading scorer Landry Fields to 5 of 12 shooting. Washington won by 33, its largest win over the Cardinal.

Last weekend, Romar put Holiday on Washington State’s Klay Thompson, who came in sixth in the nation in scoring at 22.3 points per game. Thompson left humbled by 2 for 15 shooting, tying his season low of seven points while Holiday’s Huskies romped 92-64.

Now comes this chance to get back at Arizona and into the Pac-10 title race.

The Wildcats are 16-15 against the Huskies in Seattle. UCLA is the only other team to enter raucous Hec Edmundson Pavilion more than three times and emerge with a winning record.

"They beat us by 17, so it’s definitely a payback game," said Huskies guard Venoy Overton, another defensive pest. "They’re coming into our home, so we’ve got to defend that too.

"It’s a big game."

-- Gregg Bell

Michigan State’s Lucas suffering from ankle sprain

MADISON, Wis. — Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas has a sprained right ankle and it isn’t yet known whether he’ll be available for the fifth-ranked Spartans’ next game.

Last season’s Big Ten player of the year was injured halfway through the second half of Michigan State’s 67-49 loss to No. 16 Wisconsin on Tuesday night. X-rays taken Wednesday confirmed the ankle sprain.

The school says Lucas’s status for Saturday night’s game between Michigan State (19-4, 9-1 Big Ten) at Illinois (14-8, 6-3) will depend on how the ankle responds to treatment, and that won’t be known until at least Thursday.

Lucas is averaging 16 points a game this season.

Villanova-Syracuse to set NCAA attendance record

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — 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.

White released from Minnesota basketball team

MINNEAPOLIS — Freshman forward Royce White has left the Minnesota basketball team without ever playing a game.

The university said Wednesday that White wants out of his scholarship and his request will be granted.

University spokesman Dan Wolter says White has withdrawn from school.

Coach Tubby Smith says the team is "deeply saddened by the entire chain of events" involving White over the last few months.

He was suspended last fall after an incident at the Mall of America, later pleading guilty to theft and disorderly conduct. On Monday, he was charged with trespassing in connection to an alleged theft of a laptop computer from a university dorm.

White was Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball last season.

Numerous suspensions result from postgame fight

OKLAHOMA CITY — Ten players from two Lone Star Conference basketball teams have been suspended after a fight broke out following a game.

The NCAA Division II conference on Wednesday announced the penalties assessed after a review of the fight, which happened after Southeastern Oklahoma won 55-52 at Cameron on Jan. 27.

Cameron has suspended five players for the rest of the season and another for two games. Southeastern suspended one player for six games, two players for two games and another for one game.

The conference did not release the identities of the suspended players.

Conference Commissioner Stan Wagnon says the league will take no further action beyond the suspensions leveled by the two universities.

Women’s News

Tennessee to start freshman Kamiko Williams at PG

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Kamiko Williams’ role in Tennessee’s difficult win over South Carolina convinced coach Pat Summitt to give the freshman more responsibility.

Like playing point guard in her first start for the No. 5 Lady Volunteers, Thursday night against Arkansas.

"I’m just going to take this opportunity and embrace it and take on the new leadership role and the challenges that come with it and do my part in helping us win a championship," Williams said.

The Lady Vols struggled shooting early against Gamecocks on Sunday, but Williams led them with a career-high 17 points and four assists in their eventual 60-55 win.

Summitt has been unhappy with the ball handling by Tennessee (19-2, 7-1 Southeastern Conference), which has averaged 18.6 turnovers and 13.6 assists in its past six games.

Former starting point guard Shekinna Stricklen is more natural as a shooting guard or forward. Struggling in her converted role, Stricklen was averaging 4.3 turnovers in the past six games while her scoring slipped.

Stricklen will start as a guard or forward when Tennessee hosts Arkansas (9-12, 1-7).

"I think (Williams) is an answer for us, to have a guard that can get to the paint, score off the pull up, even hit a 3," Summitt said. "That will take a lot of pressure off Stricklen."

Williams was a more natural fit having played point guard in high school, but admits she didn’t know Summitt’s plays well enough to run the offense until earlier this week.

After the 5-foot-11 guard had watched a lot of tape, Summitt called her into her office. She had Williams draw up plays, write down what her options were for each play and then explain them as if the freshman was coaching the team.

Then the pair went to the court for a test. Summitt called out the plays while Williams ran them.

"(Before), I knew the names, I knew the signals, but I didn’t know who does what, what the posts are supposed to do, who to look for first, who to look for second," Williams said. "Now I know the order. I know what the posts are supposed to do. Now I can lead people."

To be sure the Clarksville, Tenn., native is ready for the new role, Summitt made her practice in both the first- and second-team rotation on Tuesday.

And even though she hardly got a breather in practice, Summitt made her run laps with the rest of her teammates after it was over in something the coach called "the Kamiko Drill."

Summitt knows Williams won’t be able to play a full 40 minutes, so she still expects Stricklen to play some minutes at the point. She also wants to see sophomores Briana Bass, who was recruited as a traditional point guard, and Alicia Manning expand their roles as backup point guards.

Williams knows she still has plenty of work ahead to keep Bass or Manning from permanently stealing her newly acquired leadership role.

"I’ve still got to go out there and work hard because the position could be taken from me at any moment," she said. "If anything, I’ll work harder to keep it."

-- Beth Rucker