Thursdays Top 25 Capsules
January 17th, 2009 Posted in NCAA basketball news(6) NORTH CAROLINA 83, VIRGINIA 61
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia It took three games, but North Carolina finally played like the team everyone in the Atlantic Coast Conference was expecting.
Tyler Hansbrough had 28 points and 12 rebounds and Ty Lawson scored 19 as sixth-ranked North Carolina earned its first ACC win of the season with an 83-61 victory over Virginia.
Danny Green and Wayne Ellington each scored 13 for the Tar Heels (15-2, 1-2 ACC), who had lost their first two conference games for the first time since the 1996-97 season.
North Carolina came out with terrific defensive intensity and had better efficiency on offense, opening a 14-2 lead 5:06 into the game. Virginia missed eight of its first nine shots.
The Cavaliers answered with a 12-1 run to cut the deficit to 15-14, but the Tar Heels responded to push the lead back to 26-16 on Ellingtons layup with 8:33 left in the first half.
North Carolina finished the half strong, making six of its final seven shots and held a 50-36 advantage at the break. The Tar Heels were 17-of-20 from the foul line over the opening 20 minutes.
The Tar Heels continued to pour it on early in the second half as Lawson capped a 10-0 run on a 3-pointer to give the visitors a 62-38 bulge with 15:23 left to play.
It was too much for Virginia to overcome as the Cavaliers never got closer than 16 the rest of the way.
Hansbrough finished 6-of-13 from the floor and 15-of-17 from the foul line, passing Dukes Christian Laettner for sixth on the all-time ACC scoring list with 2,465 points.
Jamil Tucker scored 12 points to pace the Cavaliers (7-7, 1-2), who shot 30.5 percent (25-of-82) from the floor, including 4-of-27 from the arc.
(4) CONNECTICUT 67, ST. JOHNS 55
NEW YORK Jeff Adrien scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half as fourth-ranked Connecticut overcame an inconsistent start for a 67-55 victory over St. Johns.
Freshman Kemba Walker scored 21 points for the Huskies (15-1, 4-1 Big East), who pulled away in the second half to do something that had never been done during coach Jim Calhouns tenure.
Combined with victories at then-No. 22 West Virginia and Cincinnati over the past 10 days, Connecticut has won three consecutive league road games for the first time with Calhoun on the bench.
Clinging to a 31-30 edge at the break, the Huskies took control with a 14-2 run that extended their lead to 51-38 with 9:32 remaining. Walker had seven points, including a 3-pointer he banked in, and Adrien added five.
The Red Storm (10-6, 1-3) got no closer that nine points thereafter.
Paris Horne scored 24 points for the Red Storm, who were outrebounded, 34-22.
(7) UCLA 83, ARIZONA 60
LOS ANGELES UCLA utilized its home-court advantage to continue its dominance against a Pac-10 foe.
Nikola Dragovic scored 15 points to lead five players in double figures as the seventh-ranked Bruins claimed their 10th straight win with an 83-60 victory over Arizona.
Josh Shipp had 13 points, Darren Collison scored 12 and Alfred Aboya added 12 and 11 rebounds for UCLA (14-2, 4-0 Pac-10), which extended its winning streak at Pauley Pavilion to 15 games while downing the Wildcats for the eighth consecutive meeting.
Jordan Hill poured in 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Chase Budinger contributed 15 and five for the Wildcats (11-6, 2-3), who won each of their previous two games but never led in this one.
The Bruins, who had all 11 players hit at least one shot from the field, scored the first five points of the game and never looked back, opening a 14-5 advantage on Dragovics first of two 3-pointers 3:53 into the contest.
The Wildcats narrowed the deficit to 26-20 after Nic Wise hit a pair of free throws with 8:43 remaining in the first half.
However, Arizona was held scoreless over the next 3:46 as UCLA doubled its advantage.
Hill hit the first of two free throws to end the drought, but the Bruins carried a 42-28 advantage into the locker rooms courtesy of Aboyas dunk at the buzzer.
The Bruins started the second half with a 12-5 run, opening a 21-point bulge with 15:56 remaining in the game.
Arizona never got closer than 14 points for the rest of the contest as UCLA finished shooting 60 percent (28-of-47) from the field and hit 7-of-17 shots (41 percent) from the arc.
USC 61, (15) ARIZONA STATE 49
LOS ANGELES Southern California bedeviled James Harden and used a second-half surge to upend No. 15 Arizona State, 61-49, in a Pac-10 Conference clash.
The Trojans stifled Harden, the Sun Devils star guard, holding the 6-5 sophomore to 0-of-8 from the field. He didnt score until 7:43 remained in the game, connecting on a pair of free throws. Harden finished with four points after coming in averaging 23.1 per game.
USC used an 9-0 run to break away from a 40-40 tie and did not look back. After Harden hit two free throws, Taj Gibson, Keith Wilkinson and DeMar DeRozan each had three points in the tear that broke the game open.
Overall, USC outscored Arizona State, 42-23, in the final 20 minutes to overcome a 26-19 halftime deficit.
DeRozan, a 6-7 freshman, paced the Trojans (11-5, 2-2 Pac-10) with 22 points. Dwight Lewis added 18.
The Sun Devils (14-2, 3-2) were paced by Rihards Kuksiks with 16 points.
Overall, Arizona State hit only 15-of-44 (34 percent) of its shots from the field.
(16) XAVIER 67, RHODE ISLAND 65
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island Freshman Terrell Holloway collected 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Dante Jackson hit a key 3-pointer to lead No. 16 Xavier to a 67-65 victory over Rhode Island.
Derrick Brown finished with 12 points and eight rebounds and C.J. Anderson scored 11 before fouling out late in the second half for the Musketeers (14-2, 3-0 A-10), who shot 20-of-26 from the free-throw line.
Xavier trailed, 61-60, with 1:45 left when Jackson took a pass from Holloway and drained a 3-pointer. The Rams (11-5, 0-2) missed their next two shots before Holloway hit a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 65-61 with 31 seconds left.
Jimmy Baron led the way with 19 points for Rhode Island.
(17) MINNESOTA 78, WISCONSIN 74 (OT)
MADISON, Wisconsin Lawrence Westbrook poured in a career-high 29 points and Paul Carter collected 10 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 17 Minnesota to a 78-74 overtime win over Wisconsin.
Westbrook scored 22 of his points in the second half and overtime and forced the extra session with a 3-pointer at the end of the second half. He shot 10-of-16 from the floor, 2-of-2 from beyond the arc and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line.
The Golden Gophers trailed, 52-40, with 4:53 left in the second half and did not even appear to have enough possessions remaining to make up the deficit with Wisconsin employing its four corners offense and running down the clock on each of its possessions.
But Minnesota (16-1, 4-1 Big Ten), which had not won in Madison since 1994, went on a 22-10 run over the final 4:43 to force the extra session.
Westbrooks free throws with 44 seconds left cut the deficit to 60-56, and the Gophers denied the Badgers (12-5, 3-2) on two straight possessions before Damian Johnsons 3-pointer cut it to 60-59 with 19 seconds left.
Joe Krabbenhoft was fouled and hit two free throws with 14 seconds left. Minnesota then worked the ball around the top of the key and Westbrook pump-faked and moved to the 3-point line on the left wing before drilling the game-tying shot.
(18) BUTLER 78, LOYOLA-CHICAGO 55
CHICAGO Freshman Shelvin Mack scored 20 points and Matt Howard added 18 and 11 rebounds as No. 18 Butler cruised past Loyola-Chicago, 78-55, in a Horizon League contest.
Fellow freshman Gordon Hayward chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds for the Bulldogs (15-1, 6-0 Horizon), who are off to their best start in conference play since beginning 7-0 during the 1990-91 season.
Butler took control of the game early with a monster 22-0 burst to open up a 24-4 lead with 10:26 left in the first half. The Bulldogs maintained a double-digit advantage for the remainder of the contest.
Ross Forman scored 13 points to pace the Ramblers (10-8, 2-4), who shot 34 percent (19-of-56) from the field, including 10-of-27 from the arc.
(19) PURDUE 63, NORTHWESTERN 61
EVANSTON, Illinois JaJuan Johnson knocked down a pair of free throws with 2.2 seconds left to cap a second-half comeback as No. 19 Purdue scraped out a 63-61 win over Northwestern.
Robbie Hummel scored eight of his 15 points over the final 5:46 and Johnson finished with 13 for the Boilermakers (13-4, 2-2 Big Ten), who scored 42 points in the second half and used a 20-7 run over the final 6:50 to clinch the victory.
Keaton Grants 3-pointer with 1:12 left gave Purdue its first lead of the game, 61-59. The Wildcats (8-6, 0-4) tied it at 61-61 on Kevin Cobles layup and had a chance to regain the lead, but Jeremy Nash failed to convert a layup on a 3-on-1 fast break and Purdue got one more chance.
Johnson took the ball in the low post and was shoved in the back by Craig Moore with 2.2 seconds left, leading to the winning free throws.
(25) SAINT MARYS 78, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT 53
MORAGA, California Diamon Simpson and Ian OLeary both scored 14 points as No. 25 Saint Marys celebrated its first appearance as a ranked team with a 78-53 victory over Loyola Marymount.
Omar Samhan had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Patrick Mills chipped in 11 points and seven assists for the Gaels (16-1, 3-0 WCC), who extended their school-record winning streak to 13 games.
Saint Marys came out firing right from the start, scoring 13 of the games first 15 points and taking a 28-12 advantage on two free throws by Samhan with 7:49 remaining.
The Gaels, who next will face Pepperdine on Saturday, led 44-23 at the break before cruising thereafter.
Jarred DuBois scored 17 points for the Lions (1-17, 0-2), who dropped to 0-9 on the road this season.
