NCAA Single-Game Leaders
Through Sunday's Games
Scoring
40 -- Stephen Curry, Davidson vs. Gonzaga, first round
38 -- Jack McClinton, Miami vs. Saint Mary's, Calif., first round
35 -- Joe Crawford, Kentucky vs. Marquette, first round
34 -- Charles Rhodes, Mississippi State vs. Oregon, first round
33 -- Tyrone Brazelton, Western Kentucky vs. Drake, first round
33 -- Stephen Curry, Davidson vs. Wisconsin, regional semifinals
31 -- Josh Akognon, Cal State-Fullerton vs. Wisconsin, first round
31 -- Tyrone Brazelton, Western Kentucky vs. UCLA, regional semifinals
31 -- Sonny Weems, Arkansas vs. Indiana, first round
30 -- 4 tied
Rebounds
22 -- Luke Harangody, Notre Dame vs. Washington State, second round
16 -- Jonathan Cox, Drake vs. Western Kentucky, first round
16 -- Damion James, Texas vs. Miami, second round
15 -- Kelly Biedler, Mount St. Mary's, Md. vs. Coppin State, opening round
14 -- Luke Harangody, Notre Dame vs. George Mason, first round
14 -- Kevin Love, UCLA vs. Western Kentucky, regional semifinals
13 -- Michael Beasley, Kansas State vs. Wisconsin, second round
13 -- Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina vs. Louisville, regional final
13 -- Andrew Lovedale, Davidson vs. Gonzaga, first round
13 -- Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, UCLA vs. Xavier, regional final
Assists
16 -- Mitch Johnson, Stanford vs. Marquette, second round
14 -- Adam Emmenecker, Drake vs. Western Kentucky, first round
13 -- Jason Richards, Davidson vs. Wisconsin, regional semifinals
10 -- Dominic James, Marquette vs. Stanford, second round
10 -- Taylor Rochestie, Washington State vs. Winthrop, first round
9 -- 6 tied
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
No. 3 UCLA 88, W. Kentucky 78
PHOENIX -- UCLA can make a double-digit victory look difficult.
With Kevin Love scoring a career-high 29 points, the Bruins nearly frittered away a 21-point halftime lead and hung on to defeat Western Kentucky 88-78 in the NCAA West Regional on Thursday night.
Top-seeded UCLA (34-3) will play No. 3 seed Xavier on Saturday for a trip to its third consecutive Final Four.
The Bruins were more relieved than happy to survive the Hilltoppers, who took advantage of UCLA's sloppy play to pull within four points late in the game.
"Unacceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable," Love said. "That's all I can say.
"It was unacceptable the way we played in the second half. If we're going to keep playing like that, we're not going to be in this tournament very long."
The Bruins routed overmatched Mississippi Valley State in the first round but haven't resembled a No. 1 seed since. They sweated out a two-point victory over Texas A&M in the second round.
"That was another exciting game for all the Bruin fans out there," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "We want to keep you guys awake and on the edge of your seat."
Without Love, the Bruins would be in hibernation already. Love had 14 rebounds and hit 10-of-14 shots from the floor.
Love had help from James Keefe, who had 18 points and 12 rebounds, both career highs. Russell Westbrook added 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Keefe, a sophomore who has battled back from shoulder surgery last August, played sparingly most of the season.
"I mean, this is why I came back, you know?" Keefe said.
Tyrone Brazelton scored 31 points -- 25 in the second half -- and Courtney Lee added 18 for 12th-seeded Western Kentucky (29-7).
"We just dug ourselves too big of a hole in the first half," Western Kentucky coach Darrin Horn said. "I'm unbelievably proud of my team."
Early on, the Bruins looked primed for a blowout, blitzing the Hilltoppers with a 23-4 run midway through the first half.
UCLA led 41-20 at halftime, but Western Kentucky wouldn't go away. The Hilltoppers began pressing, and the Bruins started to unravel. They had 12 turnovers in the first 15 minutes of the second half and finished with 19, a season high.
The Bruins appeared in trouble when point guard Darren Collison fouled out -- for the first time this year -- with 5:39 to play. Collison had four points and four turnovers.
"They came out in some different angles," Collison said. "We didn't read the plays right. Everybody was sped up."
As the U.S. Airways Center crowd got behind them, the Hilltoppers went on a 19-6 run to whittle the lead to 61-57 with 6:50 to play. Brazelton capped the run by scoring eight unanswered points in less than a minute, on back-to-back 3-pointers and a layup.
But A.J. Slaughter missed a 3-pointer that would have pulled Western Kentucky within one point, and then Love scored from close range. Josh Shipp, an erratic long-range shooter, hit a 3 to push UCLA's lead to 68-59 with 4:30 to play.
"That in a nutshell was the game," Horn said. "It changed all the momentum. We had spent so much energy to get back into it, played so hard to get back, if that three goes down and we cut it to one, it's a totally different situation down the finish."
Howland was so desperate to stem the tide that he called his final timeout. Steadied, the Bruins did not let the Hilltoppers draw closer than six the rest of the way.
Perhaps it was no surprise that UCLA let the scrappy Hilltoppers back in the game. The Bruins rolled into the desert on a 12-game winning streak, but they hadn't been dominant. Five of their last eight wins had been by three points or less, and another came after they forced overtime.
The Hilltoppers had won eight straight games and reached the round of 16 for the first time since 1993, when Horn was a sophomore guard. At No. 12, Western Kentucky was the lowest remaining seed in the tourney, along with Villanova.
Early on, Western Kentucky looked the part of a 12th seed. The Hilltoppers came out jittery, with four turnovers in the first three minutes. And they had more turnovers (nine) than field goals (six) in the first half.
Lee made two of his first 13 shots from the floor.
Things were no better at the other end, where Western Kentucky had no answer for Love.
D.J. Magley and Jeremy Evans each fouled Love in a 5-second span in the first minute, and Evans went to the bench with his second foul three minutes into the game.
UCLA has had trouble generating offense recently -- Love and Darren Collison scored 40 of UCLA's 51 points in the second-round victory over Texas A&M -- but that all changed during the 23-4 run midway through the first half.
Four players scored during the burst, including Shipp, who hit a 3-pointer to snap an 0-for-11 slump from beyond the arc over the last three-plus games. Western Kentucky called timeout, and several Bruins greeted a relieved Shipp on his way back to the bench.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Calipari: Tuning out family, friends allows Tigers unselfish play
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Try splitting one basketball among five players. Now imagine finding enough playing time to keep 12 happy.
Welcome to No. 2 Memphis, where it's share and share alike.
"We have guys coming off the bench that would start around the country in bigger leagues than ours," coach John Calipari said. "They've accepted their roles on this team, and it's unique and special. That's why we're ... 33-1. You've got that many guys and they're capable of doing what they're doing."
Don't believe it's possible?
Well, No. 1 seed Memphis heads into Friday night's first-round game in North Little Rock, Ark., with Texas-Arlington (21-11) in the South Regional of the NCAA tournament stocked with talent.
Ten Tigers average at least 9.7 points per game. The balance is why only junior Chris Douglas-Roberts ranks among the top 100 scorers in the country, with 17.3 points. Yet six different Tigers have led Memphis in scoring in separate games this season.
Sophomore guard Doneal Mack said these Tigers truly are friends first, which keeps any problems from becoming so bad that they spill onto the court.
"Last year, I'm not going to say we had a lot of personal problems. But we weren't combined like we are this year. We weren't friends before team. This year, we're really friends before team. We really look out for each other, and it shows on the court," Mack said.
That unselfishness was on full display in the Conference USA tournament championship.
Freshman point guard Derrick Rose had the ball in his hands with his choice of driving to the basket or putting up a jumper. Instead, he passed to Antonio Anderson so the junior could try and hit a third consecutive 3-pointer.
Calipari had all five starters ready to go back into that game, but the reserves were playing so well the starters encouraged the coach not to pull them.
Usually, Calipari subs in two or three Tigers at a time. But Douglas-Roberts said it's easier when they go in and out five at a time.
"That's how we practice, and they're much more comfortable with each other as opposed to playing with us. ... Both teams are real unselfish, so whoever has it going no matter whether it's starters or subs, that's the person who's getting the ball," Douglas-Roberts said.
Really?
"It's a better way to play," Anderson said of the wholesale substitutions. "You get a lot more rest, and it gives the other guys opportunities to go out as well."
Calipari credits his talented and deep roster for tamping down egos and tuning out family and friends that prefer to see a loved one putting up 20 shots a game.
"It's natural for family to care more about the player than the team. It's a natural thing. If the kid's getting 20 shots, and they're 0-19, Mom and Dad's happy. If you're 19-0 and they're not playing enough and not getting enough shots, then Mom and Dad's not happy," Calipari said.
Now the only question that has mattered all this season is whether that unselfishness can help the Tigers reach the Final Four for the first time since 1985 and win the school's first national championship in the sport this city loves so much.
The Tigers average 80 points a game and won games this season by an average of 18.9 points per game that was second only to Kansas. But they also play defense.
Memphis ranked 10th in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot only 38.4 percent, and the Tigers were 23rd in scoring defense in giving up 61.2 points per game.
"The only way we lose is if we beat ourselves," Mack said.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Low leads Cougars past Ducks, 75-70 in Pac-10 tournament
LOS ANGELES -- Washington State played nearly perfect basketball for the first 19½ minutes against Oregon, building a 20-point lead.
It's a good thing, because the Cougars needed almost every bit of that advantage by the time the game was over.
Derrick Low scored 18 points, Taylor Rochestie added 16, and No. 21 Washington State held off the Ducks 75-70 Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament.
"That's one of the best starts we've had against a talented team," Cougars coach Tony Bennett said. "We needed that cushion at the end."
The Cougars face No. 11 Stanford in Friday night's semifinals. The second-seeded Cardinal (25-6) advanced by beating seventh-seeded Arizona 75-64. Stanford swept WSU by a combined nine points during the regular season.
Kyle Weaver had 14 points and seven assists and Robbie Cowgill added 12 points and six rebounds for the third-seeded Cougars (24-7), who won for the seventh time in nine games following a three-game losing streak.
The Cougars led 42-22 before a basket by Malik Hairston and a 3-pointer by LeKendric Longmire in the final 30 seconds of the first half cut their lead to 15.
The Ducks, who never led, drew within four points on Tajuan Porter's fourth 3-pointer of the game with 1:25 left in the game. But Oregon would get no closer as the Cougars were successful enough at the foul line down the stretch to earn the victory.
"I think the game was lost in the first half," Hairston said. "That's too good of a basketball team to get down that much."
The Cougars advanced to the conference semifinals for the second straight year. Before that, they had a 2-7 record in Pac-10 tournament action.
"I just hope we can add to this by making it past the semis," Low said. "That would make it more special."
The Cougars have put together back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in 66 years. They had gone 10 years without a winning season before going 26-8 last year.
Porter scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half, and Hairston had 20 points and seven rebounds for Oregon (18-13), whose final hope for an NCAA tournament berth might have been snuffed out. Maarty Leunen added 11 points and six rebounds for the sixth-seeded Ducks.
Oregon had been the only team that advanced to the semifinals in every Pac-10 tournament since the event resumed in 2002.
"I would have never thought we would have come down here and played a half so poorly," Ducks coach Ernie Kent said. "We played a great second half of basketball. They did enough to close the game out."
Both teams made more than half their shots -- Oregon shot 53.2 percent and WSU 52.1 percent. The Ducks committed 13 turnovers to only seven for the Cougars.
Oregon returned four starters from a team that won the Pac-10 tournament last year before reaching the final eight in the NCAA tournament. The Ducks started 8-1 this season, but losses to Nebraska and upstart Oakland (Mich.) at home in December signaled their downfall.
"I'm just going to wait and see what happens," Kent said regarding his team's NCAA tournament hopes.
"I just look around and see that quality of our league," Bennett said. "I would be disappointed if a 9-9 team in this league doesn't get an NCAA tournament bid."
The Ducks won their final three games of the regular season to raise their conference record to 9-9. No Pac-10 team has been invited to the NCAA tournament with less than 10 league wins.
The Cougars had what appeared to be a comfortable 54-37 lead early in the second half, but Porter scored the last 10 points of a 14-4 Oregon run, trimming Washington State's lead to seven points with nine minutes remaining.
The Ducks used a three-point play by Hairston and a Churchill Odia's 3-pointer -- his only basket of the game -- to draw within five with 4:16 left. The game was in doubt after that until the final 40 seconds.
WSU shot 16-for-26 including 5-for-7 from 3-point range in the first half and committed only two turnovers. Oregon was 10-for-21 including 4-for-11 from beyond the arc with seven turnovers.
Washington State beat Oregon by nine points in each of their regular-season games to end the Ducks' record 13-game winning streak in the series.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Beasley scores 33 points to lead Kansas State past Colorado 78-72
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Throughout what may or may not have been Michael Beasley's final game in Bramlage Coliseum, fans yelled, "One more year, Michael," and "Please don't leave, Michael."
"Who couldn't hear it?" the star freshman said smiling. "I heard it, but I don't pay attention to it."
Beasley, the likely overall No. 1 pick should he decide to go into the NBA draft after one year of college ball, had 33 points in a 78-72 victory over Colorado on Tuesday night in the Wildcats' final home game.
He broke the school's season scoring record and he had 14 rebounds to extend his NCAA freshman record with his 26th double-double.
It will go down as the finest season any Kansas State player has ever had.
But will it be his only season in a Wildcats uniform?
"I'm here at Kansas State. I'm not looking to the future," he said. "I'm not trying to place myself on another team before our season's over. I'll sit down with Coach after the season's over and discuss everything that's going on, share our thoughts on that and come up with a decision."
The 6-foot-10 Beasley seems to be reaching his highest levels as things wind down. His fourth straight 30-point game allowed him to break Mitch Richmond's 20-year-old school record for points in a season (768).
But will it be his only season in a Wildcats uniform?
"People been wondering about it for six months now. I'm pretty used to the question popping up," Beasley said. "I'm just trying to stay focused, I'm trying to be here for my team. I don't want to let them down."
Fellow freshman Bill Walker broke out of a two-game shooting slump with 25 points for the Wildcats (19-10, 9-6), who snapped a four-game losing streak and may have assured themselves of their first NCAA tournament bid in 12 seasons.
Marcus Hall had 22 points for Colorado (11-18, 3-12) and Richard Roby, held to one point on 0-for-5 shooting in the first half, finished with 15.
With Beasley scoring 20 points on his typically impressive variety of moves and shots, Kansas State led 41-27 at halftime. But the Wildcats committed turnovers on five of their first seven possessions in the second half and Roby and Hall led the Buffaloes' comeback.
Hall's fastbreak basket got it to 56-52. Then Beasley, seeming to hang in the air, popped in a short jumper and a moment later completed a three-point play to lead an 8-0 run.
"As I told my team, I drew a line on the board, and I put a `W' on top and an `L' on the bottom, and we're just kind of hovering right below that line," Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "So what makes the difference? A couple more block-offs, an extra pass here and there, taking a charge, blocking people out, an extra free throw or two, a little bit better closeout. All those things add up."
Colorado's Cory Higgins drilled a 3-pointer that made it 76-72 in the final seconds. Then Beasley stepped to the line and made two free throws for the final margin.
Beasley, who was 8-of-10 from the line and 1-of-3 from behind the 3-point arc, got the season scoring record on a goaltending call.
Bzedelik, who coached in the NBA for 17 years, was impressed with Beasley's potential.
"If his head and his heart remain right, he can be as good as he wants to be," he said.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Indiana increases campus security after Sampson resignation
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Kelvin Sampson's resignation as basketball coach has prompted Indiana to add extra security at the president's office and other campus locations.
There have been no specific threats against President Michael McRobbie or other school officials since Sampson, a former Oklahoma coach, accepted a $750,000 buyout last Friday, Indiana University police Capt. Jerry Minger said.
Still, the department chose to increase security at locations that include Bryan Hall, where McRobbie and other administrators have offices, and Bryan House, which is the president's campus residence, although McRobbie does not live there.
Extra officers also were added at Assembly Hall and other locations that might draw crowds.
"As the attention on this kind of issue dwindles, so will our focus on those locations," Minger said. "There was no overt threat to anybody or any specific location."
After former men's basketball coach Bobby Knight was fired in September 2000, police arrested several protesters and used riot gear for crowd control when thousands of students rushed to the residence of then-President Myles Brand, setting fire to trees and burning effigies of Brand.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Toolson scores 31, leads Utah Valley State over NC Central
DURHAM, N.C. -- Ryan Toolson scored 31 points, including a perfect 15-for-15 from the free throw line, as Utah Valley State held off North Carolina Central for a 69-62 victory on Tuesday.
Both teams shot 40 percent from the field for the game, but N.C. Central was cold in the first half and fell behind 31-17 at the break. While its touch improved and the Eagles outscored Utah Valley State in the second half, 45-38, the rally fell short.
Richard Troyer scored 12 points and Jordan Brady scored 10 for the Wolverines (13-14), who missed just one of their 23 free throw tries.
Charles Futrell led the Eagles (3-24) with 16 points, and he grabbed 11 rebounds. Bryan Ayala scored 14 and Philip Branch added 13 for N.C. Central, which had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
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