honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, February 8, 2009

UConn beats Michigan to win 11th straight

Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Connecticut's Jerome Dyson makes a basket against Michigan as teammate Hasheem Thabeet, left, and Michigan's DeShawn Sims, right, close in on the play in the second half at Storrs, Conn.

BOB CHILD | Associated Press

spacer spacer

STORRS, Conn. — Connecticut played an unfamiliar foe yesterday that confused the Huskies on defense and had the shooters to stick with them on offense.

But Michigan didn't have Hasheem Thabeet, who scored 17 points and pulled down 12 rebounds as the top-ranked Huskies held off the Wolverines 69-61 for their 11th straight win.

It was the 11th double-double this season for the 7-foot-3 junior, who also had six blocks.

"The victory was so glorious for us today," Thabeet said. "We played great and we kind of now know what to expect during the NCAA tournament, and we're happy with this."

Jerome Dyson led UConn (22-1) with 19 points and Jeff Adrien had nine points and 14 rebounds. Adrien's final rebound, on the last shot of the game, gave him 1,000 for his career, just the fifth player in school history to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds.

Stu Douglas hit six 3-pointers and scored 20 points to lead Michigan (15-9), which was coming off a 71-51 victory Thursday over Penn State. Manny Harris added 15 for the Wolverines, who were hoping to improve on a season that already includes wins over UCLA and Duke.

"We feel like we let one get away," Harris said. "We could have beat the No. 1 team in the nation. We try not to look at the NCAA like that, but that would definitely have built our resume."

UConn opened the game on an 8-1 run, but the Wolverines fought back using several back-door cuts to beat UConn's half-court trap and full-court press.

The Wolverines switched from their normal 1-3-1 zone to a 2-3 and forced 10 first-half turnovers from the Huskies. Michigan went on a 9-0 run that turned a 21-20 deficit into a 29-21 lead.

The Huskies closed the half on a 12-5 run to cut the Michigan lead to 34-33.

The Huskies trailed 43-39 before scoring the next nine points take the lead for good.

No. 4 Duke 78, Miami 75: Gerald Henderson scored the go-ahead basket with 3:16 left in overtime, and the host Blue Devils (20-3, 7-2 ACC) rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit to beat the Hurricanes (20-3, 7-2 ACC).

Henderson had 18 of his 19 points after halftime for the Blue Devils, who struggled the entire way in bouncing back from a blowout loss at Clemson.

Jon Scheyer led Duke with 22 points, while Kyle Singler shook off a terrible shooting day to come up with a key overtime basket that helped the Blue Devils stay in front late.

Duke trailed by 13 at halftime and 38-22 early in the second half before rallying.

Jack McClinton scored 34 points to lead Miami.

No. 2 Oklahoma 77, Colorado 72: Blake Griffin had 26 points and 12 rebounds for his 20th double-double, and Tony Crocker added 24 points with a career-high seven 3-pointers to lead the host Sooners (23-1, 9-0 Big 12) over the Buffaloes (9-13, 1-7).

Colorado rallied within 73-70 on Cory Higgins' jumper with 12.2 seconds left, but the Sooners sealed it from the foul line for their 12th straight win.

Higgins finished with 20 points to lead the Buffaloes.

No. 3 North Carolina 76, Virginia 61: Wayne Ellington scored 20 points and the host Tar Heels (21-2, 7-2 ACC) earned their seventh straight win by beating the Cavaliers (7-12, 1-7).

Tyler Hansbrough had 15 points and 13 rebounds, Danny Green added 17 points and Ty Lawson scored all 10 of his points during the game-breaking run for North Carolina.

Jeff Jones scored 19 points to lead the Cavaliers.

No. 6 Pittsburgh 92, DePaul 69: DeJuan Blair scored a career-high 32 points with 14 rebounds, Levance Fields added a personal-best 16 assists and the Pirates (21-2, 8-2 Big East) won in a rout over the host Blue Demons (8-16, 0-11).

Pittsburgh ended the first half on a 13-0 run to grab a 42-33 lead after a slow start, then pulled away early in the second to send DePaul to its 11th straight loss — the longest slide since a 13-game skid at the end of the 1996-97 season.

The lone winless team in Big East play, the Blue Demons are one loss away from matching their worst league start in 13 years.

Duquesne 72, No. 9 Xavier 68: Aaron Jackson made five foul shots in the final minute and had 21 points, and the host Dukes (15-7, 6-3 in Atlantic 10) beat the Musketeers (20-3, 8-1) and snapped their 11-game win streak despite going the final 7:44 without a basket.

Bill Clark scored 18 points and hit a series of big shots for Duquesne. Freshman Melquan Bolding added 12 points in one of the Dukes' biggest victories since they were a national power in the late 1960s.

The upset was Duquesne's first against a top 10 team since a 91-84 win over then-No. 9 Florida State on Dec. 15, 1992, and ended the Dukes' 24-game losing streak against ranked teams since they defeated then-No. 16 Xavier on Jan. 25, 1997.

Florida State 65, No. 10 Clemson 61: Toney Douglas had 23 points and the Seminoles (18-5, 5-3 ACC) rallied from 19 down in the second half to stun the host Tigers (19-3, 5-3) three days after their own rout of No. 4 Duke.

Clemson led 44-25 with 15 minutes to go before the Seminoles came back. Solomon Alabi had 17 points, including a turnaround jumper with 2:03 left that put Florida State ahead for good.

Trevor Booker and Demontez Stitt had 11 points each to lead Clemson.

No. 11 Butler 69, Wright St. 51: Zach Hahn scored a career-high 17 points to help the Bulldogs (21-2, 12-1 Horizon League) finish off a week on the road with a victory at Dayton, Ohio, home of the Raiders (14-10, 8-5).

Butler had dropped seven straight at the Nutter Center, but a young, balanced team broke through to finish a stretch of three road games in six days.

Wright State had been on the upswing — 12 wins in the last 14 games — despite injuries to guards Vaughn Duggins and John David Gardner.

No. 13 Michigan St. 75, Indiana 47: Chris Allen scored 16 points and Draymond Green had season highs with 15 points and 12 rebounds to help the host Spartans (19-4, 9-2) win without an ill Raymar Morgan against the Hoosiers (6-16, 1-9).

Verdell Jones Roth led the Hoosiers with 13 points.

Indiana, which was coming off its first Big Ten win, lost leading scorer Devan Dumes with 2:11 left when his fifth foul was ruled to be flagrant.

No. 14 Memphis 68, No. 18 Gonzaga 50: Tyreke Evans scored 22 points as the Tigers (20-3) beat the host Zags (17-5) in a showdown of teams dominating their conference races.

This was a last chance for each to impress the NCAA selection committee, and Memphis sure did, holding the Zags to a season low in points. Robert Dozier added 18 points and 10 rebounds for Memphis, whose 14-game winning streak is second longest in the nation.

Micah Downs scored 13 points to lead Gonzaga, which saw its nine-game winning streak snapped.

No. 15 UCLA 89, Notre Dame 63: Alfred Aboya scored 19 points to help the host Bruins (19-4) send the Irish (12-10) to their seventh consecutive loss for the first time since 1992-93.

It was the fourth straight blowout victory for UCLA, which has won those games by an average of 22.7 points. Darren Collison added 17 points.

Tory Jackson scored 17 and Kyle McAlarney 16 for the Irish, who dropped to 2-7 against ranked opponents this season.

Nebraska 58, No. 16 Texas 55: Ade Dagunduro made a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left and finished with 17 points to help the host Huskers (15-7, 5-4 Big 12) overcome a 12-point second-half deficit against Texas (15-7, 4-4).

Nebraska took sole possession of fourth place in the league with its third straight win.

A.J. Abrams led Texas with 16 points. Damion James added 13 and Johnson 12.

No. 17 Villanova 102, No. 20 Syracuse 85: Dante Cunningham matched a career high with 31 points to help the host Wildcats (19-4, 7-3 Big East) roll to their fifth straight win by beating the Orange (18-6, 6-5).

Corey Stokes scored 16 points for Villanova, which led by 20 in the first half. Shane Clark had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Corey Fisher had 14 points.

Jonny Flynn scored 22 points and Eric Devendorf had 21 for the Orange.

Ohio St. 64, No. 19 Minnesota 58: Evan Turner made seven free throws in the final 64 seconds, leading the host Buckeyes (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten) over the Gophers (18-5, 6-5) and to their fourth straight win and fifth this season over a ranked opponent.

Turner finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for Ohio State, coming off an 80-72 win over No. 12 Purdue.

Blake Hoffarber scored 19 for Minnesota.

No. 21 Kansas 78, Oklahoma St. 67: Cole Aldrich had 12 points and a career-high 18 rebounds to help the host Jayhawks (19-4, 8-0 Big 12) stretch the nation's best home winning streak to 37 by beating the Cowboys (14-8, 3-5).

The 6-foot-11 Aldrich, wearing a face mask to protect his broken nose, had 10 rebounds by halftime as the Jayhawks raced to a 37-24 lead. Mario Little added 13 points for Kansas.

Oklahoma State got 19 points from Obi Muonelo and 18 from Moses Marshall.

No. 24 Arizona State 49, Oregon State 38: Jeff Pendergraph scored 15 points, all in the second half, and the Sun Devils (17-5, 6-4 Pac-10) won their fourth consecutive conference road game by beating the host Beavers (10-11, 4-6).

The streak is the longest for Arizona State since 1980-81.

Rickey Claitt had 13 points for Oregon State, which hit just 32 percent of its shots from the floor.

No. 25 Utah St. 60, Louisiana Tech 52: Gary Wilkinson scored 16 points and Tyler Newbold had 13 points, seven rebounds and a crucial steal at the end as the host Aggies (23-1, 11-0 Western Athletic Conference) held off the Bulldogs (9-15, 3-8) and extended their winning streak to 18.

The Aggies let a 17-point lead slip to four, and Newbold finally clinched it for Utah State in the final minute when he made two free throws with 26 seconds left to put the Aggies up 58-52, then made a steal and added two more foul shots to put the game out of reach.

Kyle Gibson scored 14 to lead the Bulldogs.

WAC

New Mexico State 62, Nevada 60: Jahmar Young scored 17 points and Wendell McKines hit a 3-pointer with 58 seconds left to lift the Aggies (12-12, 6-5 WAC) over the host Wolf Pack (13-10, 6-4).

McKines had 10 rebounds and 13 points, including the game-winning shot for the Aggies. Hamidu Rahman had 11 points for New Mexico State.

Armon Johnson has 16 points for the Wolf Pack and hit a driving layup with 1:28 left that put Nevada on top 60-59.

But the Aggies responded with Mc-Kines long 3-pointer from the top of the key. Nevada had a chance to win the game in the final seconds, but Luke Babbitt's 3-point attempt bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

Boise State 89, San Jose State 83: Ike Okoye scored a career-high 22 points and Anthony Thomas made a pair of clinching free throws with 41 seconds left as the Broncos (16-6, 6-3 WAC) held on to beat the host Spartans (10-11, 4-6).

Okoye, who went into the game averaging just 8.7 points this season, went 8 of 12 from the floor and was 6 for 10 from the line. He also had six rebounds.

Thomas finished with 15 points and five assists for the Broncos, who have won four of five after stumbling with back-to-back conference losses to Nevada and Utah State.

Adrian Oliver scored a career-high 37 points for San Jose State. The Spartans sophomore guard missed two shots in the final 30 seconds, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

• • •