Cincinnati Can’t Stop Louisville

Taquan Dean took No. 19 Louisville on quite a ride, then got one himself.

Dean scored 25 points Saturday at Cincinnati, leading the Cardinals’ furious comeback from a 17-point deficit to a 69-66 victory over the No. 18 Bearcats in one of the most remarkable games in the long rivalry.

After Cincinnati’s Jihad Muhammad missed a long three-point attempt to end the game, Dean climbed onto the shoulders of forward Ellis Myles and rode off the court.

“I knew my teammates would step it up eventually,” said Dean, who made seven of 13 three-point shots. “We’ve been in that situation before. We just looked at each other and said, ‘We’re going to win this game.’ We didn’t look at each other once and look down.”

Louisville (14-3 overall, 3-1 Conference USA) got shoved around and trailed by 17 points in the first half, rattled by Cincinnati’s unrelenting man-to-man defense. The Cardinals found their composure, asserted themselves inside and showed more poise when it mattered.

There were three ties in the final four minutes before freshman Juan Palacios’ tip-in put Louisville ahead to stay, 67-65. Cincinnati’s Jason Maxiell missed the first of two free throws with 45 seconds left.

Louisville then ran down the shot clock, and Francisco Garcia passed out of a double team to Larry O’Bannon, who moved unguarded under the basket for the deciding layup with 11 seconds to play.

“It was just a defensive breakdown,” said Nick Williams, who led Cincinnati with 18 points. “Somebody lost their man. It shouldn’t have happened. But the game shouldn’t have come down to that.”

After a timeout, Cincinnati (14-2, 3-1) couldn’t do better than Muhammad’s long desperation shot that was well off the mark and broke the rivals’ recent pattern. The home team had won the last seven games in their series.

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No. 1 Illinois 78, Northwestern 66 -- By beating the Wildcats (8-8, 1-3 Big Ten) at Evanston, Ill., the Illini improved to 18-0, the best start in school history. They tied the school’s 1988-89 Final Four team on Wednesday with their 17th straight win. The Illini are 4-0 in the conference and have won 14 straight Big Ten games.

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No. 2 Kansas 76, Colorado 61 -- Wayne Simien, playing with a soft cast on his broken left thumb, had 23 points and 17 rebounds to help the Jayhawks (13-0, 3-0 Big 12) get past the Buffaloes (8-6, 0-3) at Boulder, Colo.

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No. 6 Oklahoma State 83, Iowa State 73 -- The Cowboys (13-1, 3-0 Big 12) held off the Cyclones (8-6, 0-3) at Stillwater, Okla., and Eddie Sutton moved into seventh place in career coaching wins. Sutton won his 768th game to pass Henry Iba, his mentor who coached him during his 36 years at Oklahoma State.

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No. 7 Syracuse 75, Providence 71 -- Hakim Warrick had 25 points, 12 rebounds and a key steal with 3.3 seconds left at Providence, R.I., to help the Orange (17-1, 4-0 Big East) win their 10th consecutive game. Ryan Gomes, who averages 21 points, had just 14 for the Friars (9-7, 0-3).

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No. 9 Kentucky 76, Georgia 55 -- The Wildcats (12-2, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) led by as many as 30 points before taking it easy on the Bulldogs down the stretch at Athens, Ga. Georgia (6-8) dropped to 0-4 in the SEC for the first time since 1998, when it opened league play with five straight losses.

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No. 10 Texas 63, Nebraska 53 -- The Longhorns (13-3, 2-1 Big 12) bounced back from a 74-63 road loss to Texas A&M; on Wednesday, but it came at a price. Freshman forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who had 10 points and eight rebounds, hurt his knee with 6:57 left and watched the rest of the game at Lincoln, Neb., from the bench. Nebraska (8-5, 2-1) had its four-game winning streak end.

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No. 11 Mississippi State 80, Arkansas 55 -- The Bulldogs (15-3, 3-1 SEC) held the Razorbacks (13-4, 1-3) almost 24 points below their average to win their third straight in the series and ninth in a row at Starkville, Miss.

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No. 12 Connecticut 78, Rutgers 64 -- Charlie Villanueva had 14 points, tied his career-high with 14 rebounds and blocked six shots for the Huskies (10-3, 2-1 Big East), who outscored the Scarlet Knights, 58-28, in the paint. The Huskies, who never trailed, built a 14-4 lead as Rutgers (6-7, 0-3) missed its first nine shots.

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No. 20 Pittsburgh 67, Seton Hall 63 -- The Panthers (12-2, 2-1 Big East) closed the game at Pittsburgh on an 11-3 run after making only one basket during a stretch of almost nine minutes. From the 13:39 mark of the second half until there was 4:45 to play, the Pirates (8-6, 0-3) outscored the Panthers, 24-3, including a 15-0 run during one stretch.

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Massachusetts 76, No. 21 George Washington 74 -- With less than a second to play in overtime at Washington, Rashaun Freeman caught Anthony Anderson’s pass and laid it in the basket in one motion, giving the Minutemen (8-6, 2-2 Atlantic 10) the upset victory over the Colonials (11-3, 3-1), who overcame an 18-point second-half deficit to send the game to overtime.

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No. 22 Marquette 66, South Florida 64 -- Todd Townsend’s three-point play with five seconds left at Milwaukee lifted the Golden Eagles (14-2, 2-1 Conference USA) over the Bulls (8-6, 1-2), who dropped to 2-12 overall against Marquette.

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No. 24 Iowa 66, Minnesota 60 -- The Hawkeyes (13-3, 1-2 Big Ten) ended the Gophers’ 10-game winning streak despite going the final 10:45 without a basket at Iowa City. They made 18 of 24 free throws during the span. Minnesota (12-4, 1-2) went over seven minutes before making a basket in the second half.

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No. 25 Oklahoma 65, Baylor 61 -- Drew Lavender made a three-point basket and two free throws in the final 45 seconds at Waco, Texas, to lead the Sooners (13-2, 2-0 Big 12) to their 21st consecutive victory over the Bears (8-5, 0-2). The Sooners haven’t lost to Baylor since December 1977.

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OTHER GAMES

Chris Thomas, who wasn’t expected to play the second half after sustaining a concussion in the final seconds of the first half, made a three-point basket with 6.5 seconds left to give Notre Dame (11-3, 3-1 Big East) a 67-66 victory over St. John’s at South Bend, Ind. Daryll Hill, who scored 30 points for the Red Storm, drove the length of the court in the closing seconds, but his last-second shot was blocked from behind by Jordan Cornette.... Twenty years later, Georgetown (11-4, 3-1 Big East) was on the winning end of a 66-64 game against Villanova (9-3, 2-2). Darrel Owens made two free throws with 0.1 of a second left to give the Hoyas the victory on the same day the Wildcats honored their 1985 NCAA championship team.

D.J. White scored six points in the second overtime to lift Indiana (7-7, 2-1 Big Ten) to a 75-73 victory over intrastate rival Purdue (4-10, 0-4) at West Lafayette. White made a short jumper and two layups to give the Hoosiers control after a wild finish to the first overtime period. Indiana’s Marshall Strickland made two free throws with 0.9 of a second left for a 63-61 lead. Andrew Ford threw a pass the length of the court to Carl Landry, who caught the ball between two defenders, was fouled and made a layup. After a review, officials determined that Landry was fouled before the buzzer and gave him continuation on the layup, but he missed the free throw.... Brandon Bass scored 29 points, including 12 during two overtime periods at Baton Rouge, La., to lead Louisiana State (8-5) to a 113-101 victory over Ohio State (12-5). Bass’ free throws initiated an 8-0 run to open the second overtime period for the Tigers, who forced the first overtime on Darrel Mitchell’s three-pointer at the end of regulation.

Jerome Gumbs made four free throws in the final 20 seconds and San Francisco defeated San Diego in overtime, 87-82, at San Francisco. It was the first West Coast Conference win for the Dons (10-6, 1-2) under first-year Coach Jessie Evans, who replaced Phil Matthews. The Toreros (9-7, 1-2) lost for the second time in eight games.... Santa Clara (9-9, 2-1 WCC) routed St. Mary’s, 65-42, at Moraga. The Broncos, who lost last season’s meetings in the rivalry by 32 and 30 points, ended the Gaels’ streak of nine straight wins and 11 victories in a row at home. St. Mary’s is 15-5, 2-1.... Ja’Vance Coleman made an off-balance three-pointer as time expired at Fresno, giving Fresno State a 66-63 victory over Texas El Paso. Coleman’s 30-foot jumper ended the Miners’ 10-game winning streak and lifted the Bulldogs (11-4, 5-1) into a first-place tie with Nevada in the Western Athletic Conference. UTEP is 14-3, 4-1.