Thursday's Shootaround: Kansas survives Cornell in a great night of hoops action

Kansas 71, Cornell 66: Cornell led this game for a 22 minutes stretch at the end of the first half and throughout the majority of the second half. Ryan Wittman was hot, Jeff Foote was battling with Cole Aldrich, and Xavier Henry was having an off-night, all of which allowed the Big Red to keep their lead.

But Kansas was just a better team. Cole Aldrich hit a couple important turn-arounds, Sherron Collins made a number of big shots and big free throws, and Kansas eventually beat a Cornell team that will now be on everyone's radar (they should have been already, but that's another story).

What kept Cornell in this game was, surprisingly, their defense. Throughout the first 15:57 of the second half, before a Tyrell Reed three from the corner gave KU ther first second half lead, Kansas couldn't do anything on the offensive end. They turned the ball over, they forced tough shots, and they were out-toughed by the tiny school from Ithaca, NY.

But down the stretch, Sherron Collins proved why he was on everyone's all-american team in the preseason. Every time the Jayhawks needed a bucket, Sherron Collins was there. He scored 33 points, a career-high, and as the final score should tell you, the Jayhawks needed everyone of those points.

This may have been the test the Jayhawks needed. They rolled through their first 13 games of the season, including a 32 point beatdown of Temple in Philly. These are the kind of games that the Jayhawks are going to face night in and night out in the Big XII, and its good to see they still know how to win close ones.

Michigan State 54, Wisconsin 47: Michigan State never trailed in this game, but they were never able to pull away from the pesky Badgers is a defensive slugfest. Wisconsin never let Michigan State get into a rhythm offensively. They never let the Spartans turn this into a full court game, which is what MSU wanted to do.

Luckily for Izzo's club, they were just as prepared defensively. Outside of Jon Leuer in the second half (he scored 18 of his 21 after the break to keep this one close), no one on the Badgers was able to find any kind of rhythm on the offensive end. Wisconsin shot jut 33% from the floor, was just 5-23 from deep, and despite the physical nature of the game, they only got to the free throw line 12 times.

Chris Allen led the Spartans with 16 points, but it was Raymar Morgan and Kalin Lucas that made the big shots. Morgan had an and-one with just four minutes left in the game to put MSU up 47-41, and three possessions later Lucas nailed a jumper that extended the lead to eight with two minutes left.

Marquette 62, Georgetown 59: No team in the country needed a win as badly as the Golden Eagles. Marquette had lost five games by 17 points, including their first two in the Big East via late game heroics from Da'Sean Butler and Scottie Reynolds. Darius Johnson-Odom hit a three with 4:08 left that gave Marquette a 56-53 lead. After trading baskets for a few possessions, Lazar Hayward was fouled and hit two free throws to give Marquette a 60-57 lead with just under a minute left. Austin Freeman answered with a bucket in the paint to cut it to one. After Mo Acker missed a front-end, it looked like Marquette was again going to blow a late lead, but Freeman missed his next shot, Jimmy Butler grabbed the rebound and hit two free throws, and Chris Wright missed a three at the buzzer as Marquette held on for the win.

David Cubillan had 18 points, hitting all six of his threes. As a team, Marquette was 12-16 from three. Freeman had 20 to lead the Hoyas.

BYU 77, UNLV 73: With Jimmer Fredette slowed by strep throat, the Cougars got 17 points and 9 boards from Jonathon Tavernari before using a 11-2 run down the stretch as they held off a tough Rebel team. BYU's defense is what won this game for them, as UNLV did not make a field goal for the last 5:55 of the game.

BYU struggled offensively in the first half, shooting just 27% but came out of fire in the second half. They were 14-27 from the field, and hit 6-11 from long range. The biggest shot of the game came with 26 seconds left. Jackson Emery, who had been struggling, knocked down a jumper to put the Cougars up four, and BYU nailed their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win. BYU is one of the toughest places to win in the country, let alone the MWC, so no one should be worried about the Rebels with this loss.

Ohio State 79, Indiana 54: Evan Turner made his triumphant return to the Buckeyes lineup a month early after fracturing two bones in his back early this season. While Turner only had 8 points, 5 boards, and 5 assists in 19 foul plagued minutes, the spark of his presence alone helped OSU jump out to a big first half lead. Jon Diebler scored 21 points and William Buford added 16 in the win.

Northern Iowa 61, Southern Illinois 49: The Panthers may have asserted themselves as the best team in the MVC with last night's win over the Salukis. Seven footer Jordan Egleseder had 17 points and 14 boards as UNI controlled the tempo of this game. SIU is playing at a much faster pace this season, but they could never get into a rhythm offensively in this game. Leading scorer Kevin Dillard came off the bench, but was stymied all night by the physical defense of the Panthers. UNI jumped out to a 15-3 lead in Carbondale, taking the crowd out of the game, and never looked back.

Stanford 54, USC 53: The tough week for the Trojans continued. Three days after learning that they would be ineligible from postseason play, and just a day after learning that long time announcer Rory Markas had died, the Trojans fell behind the Cardinal before rallying late, tying the game with 32 seconds left on a banked in three from Leonard Washington. Stanford would make a free throw with 10 seconds left, but USC couldn't finish a number of chances around the rim, losing for the first time in eight games.

UCLA 76, Cal 75 OT: This one had a wild finish to regulation. A struggling Jerome Randle buried a deep three with just under two minutes left to tie the game at 61, and after two free throws from Nikola Dragovic gave UCLA the lead, Theo Robertson, who had a career-high 24, forced OT with a jumper. In the OT, UCLA built a four point lead early, but Cal would come back to take the lead on a layup from Jamal Boykin. At the other end, a loose ball found its way into Michael Roll's hands, who hit an off-balance 15 footer with 1.9 seconds left to seal the win. Just a week into Pac-10 play, no team in the league in undefeated in conference, and no team has less than three losses overall.

Seattle 99, Oregon State 48: The most surprising score of the season? Yes, especially when you consider that Oregon State has been playing well while Seattle has struggled. Add into the mix that future NBAer Charles Garcia played only 15 minutes, and this result becomes even more confounding.

Other notable scores

• Wichita State 65, Missouri State 62: The Shockers were up 43-18 with 18 minutes left, but the Bears went on a furious rally to cut the lead to just two at 53-51. After trading baskets, the Bears got within one on a free throw with 42 seconds left. But the Shockers got two free throws of their own, and MSU as unable to score the rest of the way.
• Duke 86, Iowa State 65: Jon Scheyer continued his stellar playing scoring 31 points in his homecoming as the Blue Devils jumped out to big runs at the start of both halves. Nolan Smith added 20 points and Kyle Singler 15.
• Villanova 99, DePaul 72: The Wildcats got 21 points from Scottie Reynolds and 18 from Maalik Wayns as they opened up a 39-10 lead and never looked back.
• Syracuse 74, Memphis 57: The Orange struggled early, but seemed to get a spark from a missed dunk by Elliot Williams. That basket would have cut the Orange lead to 42-41, but instead Syracuse went on a 9-1 run, opening up a double digit lead and never looking back.
• West Virginia 86, Rutgers 52: Kevin Jones scored 19 points to lead West Virginia, who bounced back from an ugly loss to Purdue by jumping out to a 27-10 lead.
• UConn 71, Seton Hall 63: The Pirates just can't close out a game. UConn was in control for most of the first half, but Seton Hall rallied to take a 57-54 lead with less than six minutes left. The Pirates couldn't finish any easy baskets, and allowed Jerome Dyson to spark a 9-0 run that gave the Huskies the lead for good. Jerome Dyson led four players in double figures with 16 points, 10 assists, and 9 boards.
• Tennessee 88, Charlotte 71: The vols were down early in this one, but went on a 40-15 run to close out the first half playing with just four scholarship players after the arrests over the weekend. Wayne Chism led the way with 18 points.
• Temple 73, St. Joe's 46: Temple's Lavoy Allen sat out the first eight minutes of this one, but he finished with 20 points and 11 boards as the Owls rebounded from their worst loss in 17 years.
• William & Mary 74, Delaware 73 OT: Maybe the novelty has worn off. W&M needed a three with three seconds left in OT from David Schneider as they survived the 5-10 Blue Hens.
• NC State 87, Holy Cross 70: Dennis Horner scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half as the Wolfpack pulled away from Holy Cross.
• Richmond 80, Duquesne 68: The Spiders got a combined 33 points and 9 threes from David Gonzalvez and Ryan Butler as they pulled away in the second half.
• UTEP 49, SMU 45: Derrick Caracter scored 18 points, including four straight late in the second half, as the Miners survived SMU.
• Louisville 92, Providence 70: Louisville jumped out to a 14-0 lead before allowing Providence to run their way to a 42-37 halftime lead. But the Cardinals called off their press in the second half and ran away with this one. Edgar Sosa had 26 points in the win.
• Cincinnati 87, Cal St. Bakersfield 58: The Bearcats were led by 13 points from Dion Dixon, but this one was over early has Cinci was up 50-16 at the break.
• Missouri 74, Savannah State 45: The Tigers struggled in the first half, but a 14-0 run midway through the second half blew this game open. Kim English had 13 to lead the way.
• Baylor 79, Morgan State 63: Ekpe Udoh had a triple-double, notching 18 points, 17 boards, and 10 blocks, as Baylor improved to 12-1 on the season.
• Old Dominion 74, James Madison 72: Ben Finney scored a layup with 13 seconds left as the Monarchs held on to beat JMU and improve to 3-1 in the CAA, tied for the conference lead.

Wednesday's Best:

• What did we tell you about Ekpe Udoh? He had 18 points, 17 boards, and 10 blocks in Baylor's win over Morgan State.
• Jerome Dyson was nearly as good, finishing with 16 points, 10 assists, and 9 boards while sparking the clinching run in UConn's win over Seton Hall.
• Ryan Willen scored 27 points as Lafayette knocked off Columbia.
• Chattanooga's Ty Patterson scored 25 points and added 7 boards and 4 assists as the Mocs knocked off Georgia Southern.
  
• Zack Rosen scored 28 points to carry Penn to their first win of the season over UMBC.
• Elijah Millsap was great once again, this time going for 25 points and 12 boards in a win over East Carolina.
• Bradley's Andrew Warren scored 26 points and added 6 boards as the Braves overcame a 16 point halftime deficit in their win over Indiana State.