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COLLEGE BASKETBALL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Texas Tech shocks A&M
Paul Zoeller/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Texas Tech's Jarris Jackson celebrates making the game-winning shot against No. 6 Texas A&M in the final second of their game Tuesday night. Texas Tech defeated A&M A&M 77-75. Jackson scored a game-high 31 points. With the loss, Texas A&M drops to 9-2 in the conference. Kansas is 8-2 in BIG 12 play. Both teams have an overall record of 21-4. The Jayhawks could move into a tie for first place with a victory tonight in Boulder, CO, against the Buffaloes.
Pittsburgh lacks prowess
>> COMMENTARY
Loss to Louisville worst ever at home
BY ANDREW CHIKES THE PITT NEWS
PITTSBURGH — For the first 20 minutes of play Monday night, it was hard to tell which team was ranked fifth in the nation and which team had lost two of its last three contests heading into Monday night's game.
Turnovers, poor shooting and deficient rebounding contributed to Pitt's worst start to a game all season. The dreadful first half proved to be overwhelming as the Panthers stumbled to their fourth loss of the season and their worst ever loss at the Petersen Events Center, against the Louisville Cardinals.
"I thought we weren't aggressive enough," Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. "That was the word I used throughout halftime. I thought we weren't aggressive. That's why we had so many turnovers."
The Panthers shot a miserable 24 percent from the field in the first half and failed to knock down a three-pointer until the 6:45 mark in the second half. Pitt's 19 points in the first half were a season low.
Meanwhile, Louisville connected on 43 percent of their shots, including 43 percent from three-point range.
Even the shots were few and far between, as Pitt committed nearly as many turnovers (16) as they took shots (21). Every Pitt starter had at least one turnover by intermission. In fact, Pitt played in 16 games this season in which they committed fewer turnovers than they did by halftime Monday night.
The Cardinals stifled Pitt with a full-court press that lasted not only the entirety of the half, but the whole game. Several turnovers came before the Panthers could even cross halfcourt. And while Louisville did not cash in on all of their takeaway opportunities, eight of their 36 points came off Pitt miscues.
Preseason Big East Player of the Year Aaron Gray finished with six first-half points while turning the ball over twice. His partner in the paint, fellow senior Levon Kendall, led the team with four first-half turnovers, while the third senior starter, Antonio Graves, contributed three of his own.
David Padgett, Louisville center and former Jayhawk, helped the Cardinals defeat No. 7 Pittsburgh Monday night at the Peterson Events Center. The loss to the unranked Cardinals will likely drop the Panthers below the Jayhawks in next week's Associated Press poll.
Keith Srakocic/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Despite losing their post presence for much of the second half, the Panthers play was markedly improved in the second half, but their deficit was far too great to
surmount.
Time will tell if the Panthers can recover, with a week to lick their wounds before hosting bubble-team Washington at 2 p.m. Saturday.
BIG 12 BASKETBALL
K-State falls flat at Nebraska, hurts tourney hopes
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Miner in 1991.
Maric's 41 point performance was just one short of the Nebraska school record, set by Eric Piatkowski against Oklahoma in the 1994 Big Eight Tournament and two shy of the Devaney Sports Center mark set by Southern California Harold
LINCOLN, Neb. — Aleks Marc scored 41 points, the most ever by a Husker in Lincoln, to lead Nebraska to a 74-63 victory against Kansas State Tuesday night.
It was just the eighth time in the 11-year history of the Big 12 Conference that a player scored 40 points or more in a conference game and only the fourth 40 point game in school history.
Maric said he wasn't bothered by the fact that he fell just points short of all sorts of records, including the 43 point Big 12 era scoring record set by Missouri's Clarence Gilbert against Iowa State in 1996.
"Honestly, I didn't leave any (points) out there," he said. "All I cared about was the win."
Informed that Martic fell a point short of the school scoring record, Nebraska coach Doc Sadler quipped, "Hes still got something to work for."
Marie scored 18 in the first half, then put up 23 more in the second. Nebraska spread the floor on offense, setting the 6-foot-11 inch Maric up for one on-one play against smaller Kansas State defenders.
That was by design, said Sadler, who took advice he got Sunday from one of his mentors, former Texas-El Paso coach Don Haskins.
"Coach Haskins said 'Doc, you've got to get that guy the ball.'" Sadler said.
"We believe in him," Husker poun guard Charles Richardson said of Marte. "We're not going to shy away from him. We're going to keep going to him."
Marc was the only Husker to score in double figures. Carter Martin led K-State with 22 points and Lance Harris had 15 points.
With the loss, K-State fell to 18-8 and 7-4 in the Big 12. Nebraska improved to 15-9 and 4-6 in the Big 12.
[Engineering & Computer Science] Career Fair
So easy a canine can do it.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
12:30-5:00 p.m.
Kansas Union Ballroom
www.ecc.ku.edu