Kansas Rally Stuns Ucla

Top 25

Take one bold idea by the coach. Add a liberal dose of wounded pride. Then stir in an earsplitting home crowd and let simmer for 20 explosive minutes and you get the biggest second-half turnaround in the history of Kansas basketball.

Trailing defending national champion UCLA by 15 points at halftime Saturday, the second-ranked Jayhawks (3-0) went to a seldom-used zone defense and shocked the No. 23 Bruins (2-3) with a 30-point rally, storming to an 85-70 victory that will probably make them No. 1 in the next Associated Press poll.

“To have a 30-point turnaround like that, if you just say it’s because of the zone, that’s not right,” said coach Roy Williams. “It gives the coaches too much credit. Those players were really working their hearts out.”

“You practice on this floor every day,” said point guard Jacque Vaughn, who engineered the comeback for the Jayhawks (3-0). “You put so much hard work and so much sweat on this court every day, nobody should be able to come in and outwork you and outplay you and dive on the floor more than you do. That’s what pride is.”

The loss stunned UCLA, which had never lost to Kansas in eight previous games and hadn’t lost to a Big Eight team since 1962 (22 games).

(1) Kentucky 89, Indiana 82

At Indianapolis, Antoine Walker scored 24 points and Derek Anderson added 18 as the Wildcats, rebounding from a loss to Massachusetts, held off repeated surges by the Hoosiers.

Kentucky (2-1) took leads of 14 points in the first half and 10 points in the second half. Indiana (2-3) closed within one point 10 times but couldn’t take advantage of several opportunities for the lead.

(3) Villanova 83, St. John’s 68

At Philadelphia, Kerry Kittles had 28 points and 10 rebounds as the Wildcats, playing without 6-foot-11 center Jason Lawson and 6-9 power forward Chuck Kornegay, still had enough to beat the Red Storm.

Lawson and Kornegay were serving one-game suspensions for fighting in Wednesday’s 70-63 victory over Bradley, but St. John’s was unable to exploit Villanova’s lack of size.

(4) Arizona 73, Houston 69

At Houston, Joseph Blair had 18 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to a hard-fought victory over the Cougars.

The outmanned Cougars stayed close until the final minute against Arizona (5-0). Houston (2-2) suited up only seven scholarship players because of academic problems. The Cougars led midway through the second half before Arizona went back ahead.

(5) UMass 50, (19) Maryland 47

At College Park, Md., Marcus Camby scored the game’s final three points and the Minutemen held the Terrapins to one basket in the final 11 minutes in a comeback win.

UMass (2-0), coming off a season-opening victory over No. 1 Kentucky, trailed 28-12 in the first half and by 13 points with 15 minutes left before rallying to win. Maryland, which will play GW in the consolation game, fell to 1-2 for the first time since the 1985-86 season.

(6) Georgetown 86, W. Virginia 83 (OT)

At Morgantown, W.Va., the Hoyas overcame a 12-point deficit in the final 2:34 of regulation and Boubacar Aw had five points and two steals in overtime to spoil the Mountaineers’ Big East Conference debut.

West Virginia (0-1 Big East, 1-2) led from the 15:38 mark of the first half and by as many as 13 before Georgetown (5-1, 1-0) used a 19-7 run to send the game into overtime at 76-76 on a layup by Allen Iverson with 5 seconds left.

(8) Mississippi St. 79, Brigham Young 74

At Starkville, Miss., Whit Hughes made four free throws in the final 36 seconds and the Bulldogs barely survived their first real test of the season, beating the Cougars (1-2).

Mississippi State (3-0) didn’t have another field goal after building a 19-point lead with two baskets in 2 seconds. Marcus Bullard drove the baseline for a layup and missed a free throw, but Dontae Jones got the rebound and made a layup that made it 71-52 with 5:39 left.

(10) Wake Forest 68, Lehigh 53

At Winston-Salem, N.C., Tim Duncan scored 21 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked six shots as the Demon Deacons beat the Engineers (0-4).

Wake Forest (3-0) survived sustained scoring droughts in both halves.

(11) Iowa 79, Colgate 59 At Iowa City, Iowa, Russ Millard went inside for 14 points and Chris Kingsbury went outside for 10 more to lead the Hawkeyes (5-1) over the Red Raiders (1-3) in the championship game of the Hawkeye Shootout.

Illinois 75, (12) Duke 65

At Durham, N.C., Kiwane Garris made three key steals in the final moments as the Fighting Illini built a big first-half lead then hung on in one of college basketball’s more hostile environments to down the Blue Devils (4-1).

The Fighting Illini (3-0) snapped Duke’s 95-game winning streak against non-conference teams in Cameron Indoor Stadium by forcing seven turnovers in the final 2:17.

(13) Missouri 117, Chicago State 45

At Columbia, Mo., the Tigers had runs of 23-1 and 14-0 and tied their largest margin of victory ever in walloping the Cougars (0-3).

Derek Grimm scored 13 points and had a career-high 14 rebounds for Missouri (4-0).

(17) North Carolina 87, (16) Stanford 63

At Charlotte, N.C., Dante Calabria gave the Tar Heels their second injury scare in as many nights before limping back to lead North Carolina to a win over the Cardinal (3-2) in the Tournament of Champions title game.

Calabria collapsed in agony with a twisted left ankle less than 3 minutes into the game. But the Tar Heels’ lone senior starter got the ankle taped and hobbled back in for a 17-point, three-assist performance that helped North Carolina (5-1) capture the tournament title for the fourth consecutive year.

(18) Louisville 79, Michigan St. 59

At Louisville, Ky., Alvin Sims and DeJuan Wheat each hit a 3-pointer during a 12-0 run as the Cardinals (3-2) snapped a two-game losing streak over the Spartans.

Michigan State (2-3) rallied from a 34-22 deficit in the first half to pull to 43-42 on Antonio Smith’s two free throws with 15:24 remaining in the game.

(20) Georgia Tech 89, Appalachian St. 65

At Boone, N.C., Matt Harpring scored 21 points as Bobby Cremins returned to his college coaching roots and led the Yellow Jackets (5-1) to a whipping of the Mountaineers (1-2).

(22) Virginia Tech 71, William & Mary 66

At Williamsburg, Va., Damon Watlington scored 15 points, and the Hokies (2-0) repulsed a second-half rally to defeat the Tribe (1-3).

(24) Michigan 68, Detroit Mercy 48

At Detroit, Maurice Taylor scored 19 points as the Wolverines (5-2) pulled away late for a win over the Titans (2-1).