Tuesday's Shootaround: UConn wins again, Kansas rolls

UConn 73, West Virginia 62: 47 seconds into the game last night, West Virginia jumped out to a 5-0 lead against a listless Husky team. Jim Calhoun immediately called a timeout to rip into his team - and the refs. He picked up a technical foul, but it was an effective tech as it sparked the Huskies. They would respond by jumping out to leads of 14-6 and 26-13.

West Virginia would battle back. Early on in the second half, they were able to trim the lead down to one possession on multiple occasions as the Mountaineers dominated the offensive back boards. It seemed as if WVU was slowly going to take over. But UConn continued to hit big shots, and more importantly make big free throws. Every time West Virginia would get within striking distance, the Huskies would respond with a couple buckets or back-to-back trips to the free throw line to push the lead back out to six or seven.

With the win, UConn moves that much closer to an NCAA Tournament bid. The way I see it, UConn needs to win three more games to make the dance. They have three more in the regular season - at home against Louisville, at Notre Dame, and at South Florida, none of which are cupcakes - and the Big East Tournament.

Walker had 21 and 4 assists to lead the Huskies, while Jerome Dyson added 17 points and Stanley Robinson 15 and 13 boards.

Kansas 81, Oklahoma 68: I think it is safe to say Xavier Henry has broken out of his shooting slump. Over the first eight Big XII games, Henry was averaging just 9.1 ppg and was unable to find any sort of rhythm or consistency with his jumper.

But prior to last night, Henry had gotten hot, averaging 16.7 ppg over the last four while shooting just under 50% from the field. Then last night, the freshman caught fire. He scored 18 of his 23 points in the first half as the Jayhawks took a 44-29 lead at the break. It was more of the same in the second half, as Kansas went up by as much as 23 before a late rally from the Sooners made the score more respectable.

Sherron Collins addd 17 points and six assists as the Jayhawks earned at least a share of the Big XII title.