Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

College Roundup: Second half saves Jayhawks

Kansas looked a lot more like a No. 1 team after halftime.

The Jayhawks trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half against No. 4 Cincinnati on Wednesday night before righting themselves in a 72-65 victory in the final game of the Great Eight in Chicago.

"They intimidated us in the first half. The way we played in the first half we were soft, and I don't think we're a soft team," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "In the second half, we became more aggressive and got the ball to the basket instead of dribbling from side to side like we did in the first."

The Bearcats (2-2), who held the preseason No. 1 ranking and stayed on top for the first polls of the regular season, blew the 35-23 halftime lead when they couldn't overcome Danny Fortson's foul trouble and some terrible shooting from their veteran guards.

Fortson, who finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds, picked up his third foul early in the second half. While he sat out for 5:17, Kansas capped an 18-2 run.

"It was terrible, it was sickening to watch," Fortson said. "That's the No. 1 team in the country and if we had played the second half as hard as we played the first, we would have won the game."

Paul Pierce had all but two of his 17 points in the second half for the Jayhawks, who shot 27 percent in the first half while committing 12 of their 16 turnovers.

"I knew we'd come out strong in the second half. We're a veteran club and we're not going to give up on anybody," Pierce said. "I don't think I was being aggressive enough like I should have been in the first half. I was losing the ball, I wasn't going to the boards like I should have."

Damon Flint was 3-for-14 from the field and Darnell Burton was 2-for-17 for Cincinnati, which lost the No. 1 ranking after losing at home last week to Xavier, Ohio.

"We can't expect Fortson to score on every possession," Bearcats coach Bob Huggins said. "Kansas is No. 1. They deserve to be No. 1. But, I'm concerned about us, not Kansas."

* NO. 3 UTAH 60, SOUTHERN UTAH STATE 40: Keith Van Horn had 14 points and 15 rebounds as the Utes (4-0) struggled offensively (35 percent overll, 2-for-14 on 3s), but still cruised. Don Faux had 13 points and eight rebounds for the visiting Thunderbirds (2-2).

* NO. 5 VILLANOVA 75, PROVI DENCE 64: Freshman Tim Thomas made his Big East debut with 29 points on 9-for-14 shooting, including 2-for-3 on 3s. Jason Lawson had 16 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks for the Wildcats (4-0), who led by double figures for the last nine minutes. Derrick Brown had 20 points and Austin Croshere 14 for the visiting Friars (4-2).

* TEXAS TECH 77, NO. 11 NEW MEXICO 68: The Red Raiders (5-0) won their 33rd straight at home and their second over a ranked team in a five-day span. Cory Carr had 25 points and seven assists for Texas Tech, which beat then-No. 25 George Washington on Saturday. Kenny Thomas and Charles Smith each had 19 points for the Lobos (5-1), which closed to 60-58 with 10:08 left. New Mexico's starters scored all but two its points.

* NO. 12 CLEMSON 82, FURMAN 55: The Tigers (5-1) rebounded from their loss to Minnesota on Sunday with the easy home win, but starters Terrell McIntyre and Harold Jamison were injured in the first half and didn't return. McIntyre hurt his right forearm and Jamison twisted his right ankle. Coach Rick Barnes described the injuries as "not serious." Greg Buckner had 15 points for Clemson, while Chuck Vincent had 14 for the Paladins (2-2), who have lost 21 in a row in the intrastate series.

* NO. 18 TEXAS 82, FLORIDA 64: Reggie Freeman had 22 points for the visiting Longhorns (3-0), who are off to their best start since 1990. The Gators (3-3) closed to 63-53 with 5:37 left, but Freeman hit one of his six 3-pointers to end the rally. Greg Stolt had 20 points for Florida.

* WEST VIRGINIA 101, NO. 19 SYRACUSE 79: Gordon Malone had 25 points and Damian Owens and Adrian Pledger each had 24 for the Mountaineers (2-1), who had an 18-0 second-half run in matching the most points scored by an opponent in the Carrier Dome (Notre Dame, 1992) and becoming just the fourth team reach the 100-point mark against the Orangemen in coach Jim Boeheim's 21 years. Jason Hart had 22 points for Syracuse (3-2), which has lost two games by a combined 56 points.

* NO. 20 BOSTON COLLEGE 73, RUTGERS 64: Antonio Granger was 5-of-7 from 3-point range and had 19 points for the Eagles (3-0) in their Big East opener. Danya Abrams added 13 points and nine rebounds for Boston College, which took control with a 14-3 second-half run that featured consecutive 3s by Granger. Geoff Billet had 18 points for the Scarlet Knights (1-2).

* HOUSTON 79, NO. 21 TULSA 77, 2 OT: Damon Jones scored a career-high 35 points, including a short jumper with 13 seconds left that put the Cougars (3-1) ahead 78-77. Houston trailed by 14 points in the second half and six in the first overtime. Shea Seals had 28 points for the visiting Golden Hurricane (4-2).

* NO. 25 VIRGINIA 75, WILLIAM & MARY 64: Norman Nolan scored 22 points for the visiting Cavaliers (4-1), who closed the first half with a 10-2 run to take a 33-31 lead and then opened the second half with a 28-8 burst. David Grabuloff and Bobby Fitzgibbons led the Tribe (3-3) with 14 points each.

WAC

* WEBER STATE 97, BYU 80: At Ogden, Utah, Alex Fisher scored 25 points, 22 of them in the first half, and Damien Baskerville added 13 of his 20 points in the second half to lead Weber State over Brigham Young. Weber (2-2) led the entire game. In the first half, Fisher led the Wildcats with six 3-pointers. The Wildcats' widest lead of the half came with 3:07 left to intermission as Fisher hit a 3-pointer to make it 46-28. Weber led 51-36 at the half. Brigham Young's Grant Berges scored 12 of his team-high 22 points before the break. Fisher hit the first bucket of the second half, but BYU (0-4) then outscored Weber 13-4 over the next six minutes and drew within 57-49 with 14:14 left on a shot by Matt Montegue. That was as close as the Cougars came as over the nesxt 11 minutes Weber outscored BYU 33-19. Weber took its widest margin at 90-68 with 3:27 left as Greg Emery made a breakaway layup. Jeff Campbell and Montegue scored 14 and 13 points respectively for the Cougars. Campbell had nine rebounds. Ryan Cuff had 11 points for Weber, all in the first half.

* UTEP 79, NEW MEXICO 73: At El Paso, Texas, Jeff Spillar made five of six free throws with 3.4 seconds left to lift Texas-El Paso over New Mexico State. Spiller went to the free throw line after he was fouled by the Lobos' Louis Richardson. New Mexico coach Neil McCarthy then was ejected on a double technical foul for bumping a referee while protesting Richardson's foul.

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