COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Kansas Struggles to Victory; Villanova Holds Off Bradley

It wasn’t pretty, simply effective. And results were all that mattered to No. 2 Kansas.

The Jayhawks (2-0) went without a basket the final 3:25 of the game, but Jerod Haase, Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce hit clutch free throws and they held off No. 15 Virginia for a 72-66 victory in the Great Eight basketball festival Wednesday at Auburn Hills, Mich.

“I’m extremely pleased with the way we played the last three minutes of the game,” Jayhawk Coach Roy Williams said. “I was really pleased with the way our kids executed down the stretch.”

The Cavaliers (2-1) trailed by as many as 19 early in the second half. But they came back behind the shooting of Harold Deane, who scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half.

“I thought my team showed some real character the way we never quit and kept coming back,” Virginia Coach Jeff Jones said.

LaFrentz led Kansas with 18 points.

No. 3 Villanova 70, Bradley 63--Kerry Kittles scored 22 points as the Wildcats (4-0) survived a scare by the Braves (0-2) in a game marred by a fight at Villanova, Pa.

Kittles, scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the first half, and Eric Eberz combined to score 10 of the Wildcats’ last 12 points as Bradley managed only one basket after taking a 61-60 lead with 1:56 left.

A fight near the end of the first half led to the ejection of three players--Bradley’s Ben Coupet and Villanova’s Jason Lawson and Chuck Kornegay.

No. 6 Georgetown 96, Southern New Orleans 65--Despite shooting poorly and suffering 36 turnovers, the Hoyas (4-1) got 25 points, eight assists, eight rebounds from Allen Iverson in a rout of the NAIA Jaguars (6-1) at Landover, Md.

No. 9 Connecticut 86, Northeastern 39--Ray Allen scored 13 points and Kirk King and Rashamel Jones each added 11 as the Huskies (3-1) opened at home with a rout at Hartford, Conn. Northeastern is 0-2.

No. 10 Wake Forest 69, Oklahoma State 53--Tim Duncan had 22 points and 17 rebounds as the Demon Deacons (2-0) defeated the Cowboys (1-1) in the Great Eight basketball festival at Auburn Hills, Mich.

No. 14 Utah 70, Texas 69--Ben Caton took an inbounds pass under the basket from Terry Preston and hit a layup with 2.5 seconds left, capping a comeback from a 13-point deficit that carried the Utes (1-1) past the Longhorns (1-1) at Austin, Tex.

Keith Van Horn scored 15 points in helping end Texas’ 26-game home winning streak.

No. 21 Cincinnati 101, Wyoming 51--Danny Fortson scored 26 points and had 12 rebounds as the Bearcats beat the Cowboys (2-1) for their most lopsided season-opening victory in Coach Bob Huggins’ seven seasons.

No. 24 Michigan 80, Ball State 52--Louis Bullock made all three of his three-point attempts and scored 14 points as the Wolverines (4-2) overcame 34 turnovers in routing the Cardinals (0-1) at Muncie, Ind.

PACIFIC 10

California 112, Texas Southern 73--Freshman Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 29 points as California (2-0) routed Texas Southern (0-2), 112-73, at Houston in the third-highest scoring binge in the Golden Bears’ history.

OTHER GAMES

Koy Smith made six three-pointers and scored 27 points at Norman, Okla., as Texas Tech (2-0) beat Oklahoma (1-2), 81-69, in a game that included the first-half ejection of Sooner star Ryan Minor for arguing calls. The loss ended Oklahoma’s 16-game home winning streak. . . . Brian Currie and Jermaine Watts each had 15 points as DePaul (2-1) defeated Stetson (1-2), 90-57, at Chicago. . . . Justin Jennings scored 14 points and Brandon Brantley’s layup with four seconds left gave Purdue (1-1) a 78-76 victory over Central Michigan (1-1) as the Boilermakers avoided losing a game they led by 11 with two minutes left at Mount Pleasant, Mich. . . . DeMarco Johnson had 25 points and 12 rebounds and North Carolina Charlotte (1-0) posted the greatest rally in school history by coming from 26 points down with 15 minutes left to defeat Tennessee (1-1), 79-76, at Knoxville, Tenn. The previous school record had been a 23-point comeback against Florida in 1990. . . . Ronnie Henderson scored 28 points as LSU (1-2) won, 109-100, to hold off visiting Southern University (1-1) after leading by 26 points in the crosstown rivalry at Baton Rouge, La. . . . Devin Davis scored 23 points and Miami of Ohio (3-0) closed the first half with a 27-10 run to coast to a 74-53 victory over La Salle (0-4) at Cleveland. . . . Carlos Strong scored 21 points and had 12 rebounds to lead Georgia (2-0) to a 91-71 victory over Western Carolina (0-3) at Athens, Ga. . . . Freshman Chauncey Billups posted 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead Colorado (2-1) to an 86-72 victory over Tennessee State (0-2) at Boulder, Colo.