COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Notre Dame Upsets No. 8 North Carolina

Notre Dame made Coach John MacLeod’s return to New York an enjoyable experience by upsetting No. 8 North Carolina, 88-76, Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

MacLeod, who resigned as coach of the New York Knicks after last year’s NBA playoffs, saw his team improve to 4-5 as LaPhonso Ellis scored 31 points and Daimon Sweet added 30.

“I was looking forward to coming back,” said MacLeod, who replaced Digger Phelps at Notre Dame. “I always felt very comfortable here, although it wasn’t too comfortable all the time.”

Notre Dame, in the midst of a nine-game trip, has won three consecutive games, including a victory over then-No. 23 USC.

“We knew we needed a huge amount of intensity for this game after the way they beat us last year,” Ellis said of North Carolina’s 82-47 victory at the Meadowlands.

The Fighting Irish took the lead for good six minutes into the game and held off two second-half rallies by North Carolina (10-2), which saw a four-game winning streak end.

Notre Dame made 34 of 55 shots (62%) and outrebounded the Tar Heels, 30-25.

“No one has shot that well against us,” North Carolina Coach Dean Smith said. “Sweet hurt us, especially on open jumpers.

“We had no poise in the second half . . . they were certainly more ready than we were.”

North Carolina’s final threat came when it pulled to within 73-68 with 2:29 left on a three-point basket by Hubert Davis, who led the Tar Heels with 22 points.

The Fighting Irish then made six free throws around a three-point basket by Sweet.

Point guard Elmer Bennett had 18 points and 10 assists for Notre Dame.

No. 1 Duke 97, No. 14 Georgia Tech 84--Christian Laettner scored 33 points and had 11 rebounds to help the Blue Devils extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 16 games with the Atlantic Coast Conference victory at Durham, N.C.

Laettner, who made 15 of 19 shots, scored 12 consecutive points during a two-minute stretch that lifted Duke (10-0, 4-0) from a 27-26 deficit.

Jon Barry scored 28 points for Georgia Tech (12-3, 2-1), which lost for the first time in seven games.

No. 3 Oklahoma State 86, Missouri Kansas City 58--Byron Houston scored 28 points and the Cowboys used an 18-0 first-half run to pull away for the nonconference victory at Stillwater, Okla.

Corey Williams had 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for Oklahoma State (14-0), which is off to its best start since 1950-51, when the Cowboys were 16-0.

Louisville 85, No. 4 Kansas 78--Dwayne Morton had 20 points and started a 9-0 run late in the second half at Lawrence, Kan., as the Cardinals ended the Jayhawks’ 24-game home winning streak.

Louisville (8-3) and Duke are the only teams from outside the Big Eight to win at Allen Fieldhouse since December of 1983. Kansas (11-1) had not lost at home since Feb. 13, 1990.

Villanova 79, No. 5 Connecticut 70--James Bryson had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to the Big East victory at Philadelphia.

Villanova (5-6, 3-1) led, 69-53, with 5:08 left. The Wildcats made 37 of 42 free throws, including 18 of 19 in the second half.

Chris Smith scored 20 points for Connecticut (11-1, 2-1).

No. 7 Ohio State 60, Northwestern 52--Jim Jackson scored 21 points and Lawrence Funderburke added 16 to help the Buckeyes come from behind for a Big Ten victory at Evanston, Ill.

The Buckeyes (10-1, 2-0) trailed through most of the game and did not manage a tie until Jamie Skelton made a three-point shot to make the score 42-42.

Northwestern (7-5, 0-2) has lost 24 consecutive Big Ten games.

No. 9 Michigan State 77, Illinois 75--Kris Weshinskey made a layup as time expired to give the Spartans the Big Ten victory at East Lansing, Mich.

Illinois (7-5, 1-1) led by as many as 11 points during the second half before Michigan State (11-1, 1-1) began to rally.

No. 10 Indiana 79, Wisconsin 63--The Hoosiers made 56% of their shots during the second half to pull away for the Big Ten victory at Madison, Wis.

Greg Graham scored 17 points for Indiana (11-2, 2-0), which led, 29-27, at halftime.

Tracy Webster scored 23 points for Wisconsin (10-5, 1-1).

No. 13 Arkansas 101, Louisiana State 90--Todd Day scored 43 points for the Razorbacks en route to a Southeastern Conference victory at Baton Rouge, La.

Day had 23 points during the first half, and put Arkansas (13-3, 1-1) ahead for good at 77-75.

Shaquille O’Neal scored 27 points and had 16 rebounds for LSU (7-4, 1-1), which had 21 turnovers.

No. 15 Kentucky 81, Florida 60--Dale Brown had a three-point basket and a dunk during an eight-point run at the start of the second half to help the Wildcats to the SEC victory at Lexington, Ky.

Jamal Mashburn scored 18 points for Kentucky (12-2, 3-0).

Stacey Poole scored 21 points for Florida (8-4, 1-1).

No. 16 Alabama 82, Northeastern Illinois 56--The Crimson Tide led by as many as 30 points in cruising to the nonconference victory at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

James Robinson scored 17 points for Alabama (14-1).

Sid Pointer scored 15 points for Northeastern Illinois (4-10).

No. 17 St. John’s 85, Boston College 72--Malik Sealy scored 25 points and reached the 2,000-point plateau at New York as the Redmen (9-3, 3-1) handed the Eagles (8-5, 0-4) their 19th consecutive Big East loss.

Georgetown 73, No. 18 Seton Hall 65--Alonzo Mourning scored 23 points and had 11 rebounds and six blocks as the Hoyas (9-2, 2-1) dominated inside for the Big East victory at Landover, Md.

Seton Hall (9-3, 2-2) led, 54-46, eight minutes into the second half, but made only two field goals in the final 13 minutes.

Florida State 88, No. 19 Wake Forest 85--Sam Cassell scored 34 points, including a winning three-point basket with 20 seconds left in overtime to give the Seminoles (8-4, 2-2) the Atlantic Coast Conference victory over the Demon Deacons (8-3, 1-1) at Winston-Salem, N.C.

No. 20 Syracuse 73, Miami 57--Senior Dave Johnson scored 35 points and made six of Syracuse’s record-tying 11 three-point baskets to lead the Orangemen (11-1, 3-1) over Miami (5-9, 0-4) in a Big East game at Syracuse, N.Y.

Iowa State 73, No. 21 Oklahoma 71--Freshman Julius Michalik converted a three-point play with 16.7 seconds left as the Cyclones(12-2) overcame a 14-point deficit for the Big Eight victory over the Sooners (10-2) at Ames, Iowa.

No. 22 North Carolina Charlotte 85, South Florida 75--Malru Dottin had 23 points and 14 rebounds to lead the 49ers (11-1, 2-0) to the Metro Conference victory over the Bulls (10-3, 0-1) at Tampa, Fla.