Thursday's Shootaround: Pitt wins their third straight on the road, Clemson rolls against UNC

Pitt 67, UConn 57: The Panthers were supposed to be rebuilding this season, but the just may be the best team in the Big East. After holding off a UConn comeback in Hartford last night, the Panthers are now 14-2 on the season, have won seven straight games overall, sit atop the Big East with a 4-0 record, and have won three straight road games in the league - at Syracuse, Cincinnati, and now UConn.

Pitt jumped out to an early 18-8 lead, but the Huskies would chip away, heading into the half down just three (although, it could have been closer; freshman Alex Oriakhi tried to get a bit too fancy on a dunk, and as a result it came after the buzzer). Pitt would once again start the second half strong, going up by 10 early, but UConn made their one and only run of the game, scoring 11 straight points as a Jerome Dyson layup gave them the lead. The two teams traded baskets for a couple possessions, but Ashton Gibbs, who had hit a number of big shots throughout the game, drilled a three in the corner to open a 55-51 lead and hit a nifty reverse layup 20 seconds later, and Pitt was never threatened again. Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker both had 19 point for the Panthers.

Clemson 83, UNC 64: You know what you are going to get when you face Clemson, but UNC's young back court was still not prepared for their pressure as the Tigers jumped out to a 7-0 off the bat and never looked back. They forced 26 turnovers by the Tar Heels, took their bigs completely out of the game (Ed Davis and Deon Thompson finished with a combined 8 points on 4-15 shooting), and simply looked like the only team in Littlejohn Coliseum that was ready to play. Dexter Strickland, who finished with 17 points on 7-8 shooting, was the only Tar Heels to finish in double figures, and was also the only Tar Heel that wasn't afraid to attack the Clemson press. Trevor Booker had 21 points, 9 boards, 4 assists, and a couple of dunks that could have been classified as felonious assault on the rim.

Wisconsin 60, Northwestern 50: I think it is finally safe to say that Northwestern has no shot at making the tournament. If you are an NCAA Tournament team, you beat good teams at home, especially when those teams are missing one of their best players (Jon Leuer is out with a broken wrist). For the first 35 minutes of this one, Wisconsin may as well have been playing without Trevon Hughes as well, as he was 0-10 from the floor with just 2 points. But Hughes finally broke through, hitting a big three to tie the game at 42 with just under seven minutes left. Two minutes later, he layup sparked a personal 11-3 run, where Hughes drilled threes on three straight possessions, as the Badgers hung on to beat Northwestern.

Michigan State 60, Minnesota 53: Durrell Summers sparked a 13-4 run to close the first half as the Spartans built a lead that Minnesota would never recover from. Down by 11 early in the second half, Lawrence Westbrook and Damian Johnson would score 20 straight points for the Gophers to cut the lead to 51-49, and after getting a stop, Westbrook missed a three that would have given them the lead and Chris Allen answered with a three of his own, opening up a five point lead for the Spartans.

The Big XII can win on the road

• Texas 90, Iowa State 83: The Longhorns took a shot from Iowa State in the first half. The Cyclones used a hot start from three to head into the break up 44-42, but in the second half Avery Bradley took over. The freshman scored 16 of his 24 points, and a 14-2 run to start the half opened up a 56-46 lead that Texas never relinquished. Bradley was 10-14 from the floor (over his last two games, he is averaging 26.5 ppg while shooting 22-28 from the field and 7-7 from three) and finished with 6 boards, 6 assists, and 3 steals. Damion James had 23 points and 14 boards to become the Big XII's all-time leading rebounder.


• Kansas 84, Nebraska 72: The Huskers came out on fire in this one, jumping to a 12-1 lead and hanging tough with the Jayhawks for 30 minutes. But when the shots started missing, Nebraska had no answers on the defensive end. They allowed Kansas to get any shot it wanted all night, finishing 58% from the field and 13-21 from long range. Sherron Collins led the way with 22 points for Kansas.


• Missouri 94, Texas Tech 89 OT: With under 30 seconds left and Mizzou up 79-77, freshman guard Michael Dixon tried to throw a pass the length of the court, but it was picked off by Mike Singletary, who found John Roberson. Roberson drew a foul, hit both free throws, and forced OT for the Red Raiders. But Tech would have their own choke artist. Nick Okorie, fouled with Tech down just 90-89 and 20 seconds left, missed two free throws. After Marcus Denmon hit two and Singletary missed a three, Dixon redeemed himself, sealing the win with two more free throws. Kim English finished with 20 and 10 for the Tigers, while Roberson had 25 points and 5 assists. Tech's Brad Reese and Denmon both had 20 points off the bench.

Other notable games

• Syracuse 81, Rutgers 65: Andy Rautins came close to notching a triple-double with 23 points, 8 boards, and 9 assists to go along with 5 steals as the Orange rolled to a win in New Jersey
• Duke 79, BC 59: Duke got 24 points from Nolan Smith and took advantage of their size against a smaller BC team as the Blue Devils overcame a poor shooting night with a big second half.
• West Virginia 69, South Florida 50: The Mountaineers overcame a hot start by the Bulls, who got 28 points form Dominique Jones, 11 of which came in a 15-4 run to open the game. But WVU, led by 17 and 11 from Devin Ebanks, was too big.
• UVa 82, Georgia Tech 75: The Cavs got 22 points from sophomore Sylvan Landesberg and Virginia used a late 16-4 run to put away the Yellow Jackets.
• Temple 60, Penn 45: Ryan Brooks scored 15 points and Juan Fernandez added 12 as Fran Dunphy knocked off his former team.
• BYU 67, Air Force 49: Jack Emery scored 21 points as the Cougars allowed 18 points on just 6-27 shooting in the second half.
  
• Ole Miss 80, Georgia 76: Eniel Polynice made the play of the day. Up 78-76 with 14 seconds left taking the ball out under his own basket, Polynice threw the ball off Trey Thompkins back, stepped in bounds, and iced the game with a layup.
• Rhode Island 101, St. Joe's 74: Delroy James scored 24 points and Akeem Richmond added 21 as the Rams ran away with this one early.
• Memphis 77, East Carolina 57: Memphis ran their C-USA win streak to 63 games as Wesley Witherspoon scored 22 points and Doneal Mack added 15.
• Virginia Tech 81, Miami FL 66: Are the Hurricanes a product of a weak schedule? The Hokies jumped out to a 48-13 lead in the first half, getting 28 points and 9 assists from Malcolm Delaney as they handed Miami their second loss of the season.
• Richmond 70, UMass 63 OT: Richmond sophomore Darius Garrett flirted with a triple-double, needing (get this) just two points as his finished with 8 points, 13 boards, and 14 blocks for the Spiders. Coming into the game, the 6'9" Garrett had 30 blocks in his career.
• Wichita State 84, Indiana State 73: The Shockers got a career-high 26 points from Clevin Hannah as they remained just a game behind UNI in the MVC standings.
• St. John's 52, Cincinnati 50: Dwight Hardy stole two inbounds passes, the second of which came from Lance Stephenson, in the final 15 seconds, drawing fouls both times and making all four free throws, as the Johnnies picked up a much, much, much needed win in league play.
• Xavier 86, Charlotte 74: Dante Jackson scored 14 points and added 6 assists as the Muskies beat Charlotte.
• South Carolina 67, LSU 58: The Gamecocks got 29 points and 7 boards from Devan Downey, using a late 17-1 run to overrun the Tigers.
• Vanderbilt 65, Alabama 64: The Commodores got a much-needed road win over the Crimson Tide, getting a free throws from Jeff Taylor with 6.0 left to win it. Alabama had taken a four point lead with about three minutes left, but failed to score until Vandy had taken the lead on a Jermaine Beal jumper with 50 seconds left.
• Dayton 74, Fordham 58: Dayton used a 11-0 run midway through the second half to take a 52-39 lead and put away Fordham at MSG.
• UNLV 76, San Diego State 66: Tre'Von Willis scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half as the Rebels won their second straight in the league, starting MWC play off 2-1 in games against BYU, SDSU, and UNM. Willis scored all 9 points in a 9-0 run midway through the second half that broke a 50-50 tie.
  

Wednesday's Best

• Marshall's Hassan Whiteside had his second triple double of the season, going for 14 points, 14 boards, and 11 blocks in a win for the Thundering Herd. Richmond sophomore Darius Garrett may have bested that performance, going for 8 points, 13 boards, and 14 blocks in an overtime win for the Spiders.
• Nevada sophomore Luke Babbitt cored 26 points and added 12 boards, but he was unable to lead the Wolfpack to a win against Utah State, as the Aggies won in OT.
• Northern Illinois's Mike DiNunno scored 21 points and added 10 assists as the Huskies beat Western Michigan.
• Andy Rautins scored 23 points, added 8 boards, 9 assists, and 5 steals in a win for the Orange.
• Northwestern State's William Mosley had 21 boards, 10 offensive, but only scored 5 points in a loss.
• Duquesne's Damian Saunders went for 23 points, 17 boards, and 4 blocks, but the Dukes lost in 2OT.
• Va Tech's Malcolm Delaney had 28 points and 9 dimes as the Hokies beat Miami.
• Furman's Amu Saaka had the high scoring total of the day, going for 34 points and 9 boards.