Oregon State fires John
Oregon State fired basketball coach Jay John, whose team is 6-12 this season and winless in the Pac-10. Attendance is reaching record lows at Gill Coliseum and the school has had only one winning season since 1989-90.
Assistant Kevin Mouton will run the team after the rare midseason coaching change, which was announced Sunday night by athletic director Bob De Carolis. De Carolis did not rule out Mouton as a permanent replacement.
“Sometimes things just don’t work out and that’s the case here,” De Carolis said. “We needed to move on. I think the weight of some of the speculation of whether it was going to happen, when it was going to happen, started weighing heavily on John and his family.”
John had a record of 72-97 and a conference mark of 26-68, including 0-6 this season.
Also, center C.J. Giles was dismissed from the team on Monday.
No reason was given for the decision, but Giles was benched for the Jan. 3 game against Arizona because he was late more than once for practice.
Memphis No. 1
Memphis replaced North Carolina as the No. 1 team in college basketball Monday, the Tigers’ first appearance in 25 years at the top of The Associated Press poll.
Kansas, the nation’s only other undefeated Division I men’s team, moved up to No. 2 while the Tar Heels dropped to fifth after their loss to Maryland. Drake and Baylor were two new entries to the rankings, joining the Top 25 for the first time in a long time.
Memphis’ only other appearance at No. 1 was as short as possible — a one-week stint in 1983.
Drake (16-1), which came in at No. 22, is ranked for the first time since the final poll of the 1974-75 season, while No. 25 Baylor (15-2) was last in the rankings in February 1969.
(9) Georgetown 64, Syracuse 62 (OT): The Hoyas (15-2, 5-1 Big East) had to rally from a seven-point deficit over the final five minutes of regulation then outscored the Orange (13-7, 3-4) 4-2 in a ragged overtime to escape with the victory at Washington.
Roy Hibbert scored 15 points for Georgetown.
(12) Texas 63, Oklahoma St. 61: D.J. Augustin scored 26 points and Damion James added 12 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Longhorns (15-3, 2-1 Big 12) over the Cowboys (10-8, 1-3) at Stillwater, Okla.