Kansas Foils No. 1 Jinx, Routs Rice

College basketball

Kansas, unable to win its first game after being ranked No. 1 in three previous seasons, broke the trend Thursday night as Jacque Vaughn tied his career best with 13 assists in leading the Jayhawks to an 83-63 victory over Rice at Houston.

In each of the last three seasons, Oklahoma last year, Kansas State in 1994 and Long Beach State in 1993, the Jayhawks lost their next game after becoming No. 1.

But Rice (2-3) wasn’t up to the upset as Kansas bottled up the slower Owls with a clinging man-to-man defense and its offense warmed. The Jayhawks pulled away early in the second half after taking a 36-27 halftime lead.

Kansas won on a night when Vaughn, the team’s leading scorer, didn’t take a first-half shot and the Jayhawks hit only one of eight first half free throws. They finished 8 for 23.

Freshman Paul Pierce led Kansas with 13 points and Vaughn finished with 10.

Kansas scored the first eight points of the second half and the Owls couldn’t get close again.

Rice shot 49 percent from the field, the 35th straight Kansas foe to shoot under 50 percent.

(13) N. Carolina 85, Georgia 74

Jeff McInnis scored 14 of his 21 points after returning from a first-half fall as the Tar Heels (6-1) jumped out to a big lead, then held off the previously unbeaten Bulldogs (3-1) at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Georgia shot 29 percent in the first half and trailed by 17 points at intermission, but mounted a furious second-half comeback behind Katu Davis, who scored a career-high 31 points. Georgia got within six before falling short.

(17) Cincinnati 82, North Carolina-Wilmington 47

Damon Flint scored 17 first-half points as the host Bearcats (2-0) built a 22-point lead and coasted over the Seahawks (1-4).

Boise St. 78, Colorado Springs 64

Sophomore Shane Flanagan scored 19 points and junior forward J.D Huleen chipped in 10 as the Broncos (1-3) withstood a second-half surge to down University of Colorado-Colorado Springs (3-6) at Boise.