No. 2 Tar Heels rout Seminoles

Tyler Hansbrough scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half and No. 2 North Carolina beat Florida State 84-58 on Sunday night in Chapel Hill, N.C., for the Tar Heels’ 11th straight victory.

Freshman Brandan Wright had 20 points, and North Carolina (14-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) got the dominating victory it needed to perhaps ascend to No. 1 when The Associated Press Top 25 is released Monday.

Al Thornton had 29 points to lead Florida State (12-4, 0-2).

(9) Kansas 70, South Carolina 54: At Columbia, S.C., Mario Chalmers scored 19 points and Darrell Arthur added 17 to help the Jayhawks win their seventh straight with a victory over the Gamecocks (10-3).

Chalmers had 13 of his points in the first half when the Jayhawks (13-2) opened a 14-point lead.

The effort helped Kansas escape with the win, something No. 1 UCLA, No. 5 Duke, No. 7 Arizona and No. 8 Alabama all couldn’t do on Saturday.

(10) Pittsburgh 69, South Florida 48: At Pittsburgh, the Panthers overcame another ineffective game by star Aaron Gray, turning to a smaller unit to open an 11-point lead over the Bulls (9-7, 0-2) in the first half and Pitt (14-2, 2-0) was never pushed after that in its victory.

The 7-foot Gray, the Big East preseason player of the year, scored in single digits for the fourth game in a row – he had seven points on 2-for-7 shooting in only 20 minutes.

Syracuse 70, (15) Marquette 58: At Milwaukee, Eric Devendorf scored a season-high 20 points to help the Orange upset the Golden Eagles.

It was the first victory in four games against ranked teams this season for the Orange (12-4, 1-1 Big East).

Marquette (13-4, 0-2) has lost its first two conference games for the first time in eight seasons under coach Tom Crean.

Jerel McNeal led Marquette with 16 points in his return to the starting lineup.

(19) Tennessee 92, Mississippi State 84: At Knoxville, Tenn., Chris Lofton scored 21 points and Duke Crews added 18 to help the Volunteers open the Southeastern Conference slate with a win over the Bulldogs.

Jamont Gordon was one assist shy of a triple-double, but it wasn’t enough for the Bulldogs (9-5), who have not won on the road in the SEC since the end of the 2004-05 season.

The Volunteers (13-2) have won nine in a row.