Fast Break

College basketball

Knight within one of Dean Smith

Texas Tech played like a Bob Knight team and moved him within one victory of Dean Smith’s all-time coaching record.

The Red Raiders moved the ball patiently, shot well from the perimeter and shut down host Arkansas’ stagnant offense during an 18-0 first-half run and went on to a 71-56 victory Saturday.

Knight has 878 victories and he can tie Smith’s Division I mark Saturday when Texas Tech hosts Bucknell – although he downplayed the accomplishment.

“Doesn’t mean anything to me,” Knight said of catching the former North Carolina coach. “It means I’ve coached a long time. You guys think too much about records.”

The Red Raiders (9-3) play their next four games at home, giving Knight a good chance to break the record in Lubbock.

Figure skating

Two U.S. stars miss competition

France’s Brian Joubert won the Grand Prix Final in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday while U.S. national champion Johnny Weir withdrew because of a hip injury.

Kim Yu-na, a 16-year-old South Korean in her first year on the seniors circuit, won the women’s gold with Japan’s Mao Asada second and Switzerland’s Sarah Meier third.

Joubert was followed by Nobunari Oda and Daisuke Takahashi, both of Japan. Alban Preaubert of France was fourth in a field that shrank from the original six.

U.S. skater Evan Lysacek pulled out before Friday’s short program because of an ailing hip. Weir complained of pain in his right hip from a fall in the short program.

China’s Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won the pairs, with Rena Inoue and John Baldwin of the U.S. fourth. The ice dancing gold went to Bulgarian world champions Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski while the American team of Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov was sixth.