THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
9B
BIG 12 BASKETBALL
4 x x 10
Raloh Barrera/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Texas *D.J. Augustin* drives to the basket against Iowa State's Jiru Halebalen during the second half of Saturday's basketball game in Austin, Texas.
League improving gaining confidence
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Memo to any college coach who might be crossing paths or swords with Texas in the next six of seven weeks: Beware a terrific Longhorn freshman. This kid is capable of scoring more than 30 points, been known to hoist a team onto his young shoulders and carry it into the winners circle.
And if that's not scary enough, get this — his name's not Kevin Durant.
This one's about 10 inches shorter than Durant, who's being compared with the greatest freshmen in NCAA history. He goes by the name of D.J. Augustin, and he's making Kansas coach Bill Self seem prophetic. Self said earlier this year that it not for Durant, then Augustin would be the one everyone raved about, and it's a theory that'll get no argument from Iowa State coach Greg McDermott.
The underdog Cyclones hatched an intelligent plan when they traveled Saturday to Austin —drape all available bodies over Durant, try like the devil to disrupt him while also hassling A.J. Abrams behind the 3-point line.
Worked like a charm, too. Abrams was just 1-for 10. Durant scored 17
points, 16 below his Big 12 average.
But all that did was set Augustin loose. And the 5-foot-11 point guard erupted for a career-best 31 points in a 77-68 victory that moved Rick Barnes into a tie with Tom Penders for the most victories (208) by a Texas coach.
"I thought our guys executed the plan of making Durant and Abrams' looks tough," said McDermott. "But by doing that you are going to give up some things. But we had to give up something. It was going to have to work to perfection. If we would have got D.J. to cooperate a little better, maybe it would have worked."
Augustin put up 13 field goal attempts and hit nine. At the free throw line he was 10-for-10. He also had four steals and six assists.
"One of the best performances I've seen all year, maybe the best by anybody on our team," Barnes said, "He said, 'This team is mine, and I'm gonna run it.' He led the team with confidence."
Confidence seems common among the Big 12's upper half, as the regular season begins to wind down. Every one of the top six teams won, including Texas A&M and Kansas.
》 NCAA BASKETBALL
Florida continues dominance
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY JEFFREY MCMURRAY
Florida's Corey Brewer, right, drives past Kentucky's Randolph Morris during the second half of their basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Saturday. Florida won the game, 64-61.
Ed Reinke/ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Last year, Florida ran through the NCAA tournament. This season, the Gators are dominating the Southeastern Conference.
Top-ranked Florida (23-2, 16-0) won its 16th straight overall, 64-61 on Saturday night, and fifth in a row against No. 20 Kentucky — the program that has been the league standard bearer.
"We're just trying to build and be like Kentucky is," Gators coach Billy Donovan said. "Sometimes maybe people have harsh expectations, and that's unfair. We're trying to build a program, build a tradition."
This one came down to a last-second 3-point attempt by Ramel Bradley that would have tied the score, but the defending national champions held on for the victory.
"I thought it was going to fall in," Bradley said. "It was a tough shot to get off."
Florida was up 63-54 with 20 seconds left before Bradley hit consecutive 3s to cut the margin to three. Prior to that, Kentucky (18-7, 7-3) had made just one of 19 attempts from beyond the arc and was threatening the school-worst 1-for-19 performance set in 2002 against South Carolina.
It had been 20 years since the Wildcats, college basketball's winning program, lost five times in a row to one opponent. Tennessee was the last to do it from 1975-77. No team has beaten Kentucky in six straight.
"Everyone just stepped it up a little more, and you definitely need to do that when playing in front of a great crowd like (Kentucky's), here at a historical place," Florida guard Taurean Green said.
A record crowd of 24,465 was hoping to see Kentucky's 400th victory at Rupp Arena. Instead, the
Gators won back-to-back games in the building for the first time since 1988-89.
During practices this week, Kentucky players watched footage of a game between the two teams in 2003 in which Florida came in No. 1 but instead was walloped by the Wildcats 70-55.
This one was far different, both in the outcome and the margin.
Corey Brewer scored 16 points to lead the Gators while Randolph Morris had 18 points for the Wildcats.
Green nailed a three-pointer with 8 minutes to go in the first half that gave the Gators their biggest lead at 30-14. But Kentucky followed seconds later with a 10-0 run.
pulling, within four on a jumper by Bobby Perry.
Green hit his third 3 pointer in three attempts to stop the run, and Jonathan Mitchell made a layup just before halftime to stretch the Gators' lead to 36-27.
The Gators kept the Wildcats at a distance until early in the second half, when Florida big men Joakim Noah and Al Hortford picked up their third fouls. That's when Morris went to work.
Morris scored three straight buckets for the Wildcats midway through the second half and used an off-balanced jumper to cut the Florida lead to 43-40. Florida misfired on several possessions to keep Kentucky close.
Backup Florida center Chris Richard had a dunk less than 8 minutes into the game to set a season high with 11 points.
"He's a talented player," Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. "He would be starting on many teams in many programs in America."
Kentucky held the nation's field-goal percentage leader to 47 percent, but the Wildcats managed to make just 38 percent of their shots — and 14 percent from 3-point range.
"We learned that we can play with anybody," Kentucky freshman guard Jodie Meeks said, "Florida is the No. 1 team in the country, and we came out and played them hard."
>> DUKE LACROSSE CASE
Opponent files affidavit against prosecutor
BY AARON BEARD ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. — A political opponent of the prosecutor who brought sexual assault charges against three Duke lacrosse players filed an affidavit Friday seeking to remove him from office.
Beth Brewer, who led a pre-election campaign against Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, filed the affidavit accusing him of committing "willful misconduct in office" — a complaint that mirrors accusations brought against him by the North Carolina State Bar.
Associated Press in an interview Friday. "Now that the voters have chosen someone other than who she wanted, she's trying to remove me from office in this manner."
"Obviously the person who filed this affidavit is someone who tried unsuccessfully to defeat me in the political process," Nifong told The
Brewer declined to comment.
The affidavit is the latest problem for Nifong to stem from his handling of the lacrosse case. Last month, Nitong asked the state attorney general's office to take over the troubled prosecution of three lacrosse players charged with attacking a stripper at a team party last spring.
Nifong dropped charges of rapa after the 28-year-old woman changed a key detail of her account of the March 13 party.
The athletes still face charges of sexual offense and kidnapping and have consistently maintained
Last month, the North Carolina State Bar added more serious charges, including withholding evidence from the defense and lying to both the court and bar investigators.
The North Carolina State Bar has accused Nifong of violating professional conduct rules by making misleading and inflammatory comments about the athletes under suspicion.
Legal experts have said if convicted, Nittons could be disbarred.
their innocence.
to comment on the ethics complaint; other than to say he would respond "in the courtroom." But in an interview with the Associated Press on Friday, the veteran prosecutor said the sooner his trial arrives, "the better."
"I'm looking forward to having the case heard and having the opportunity to have my side told publicly." Nifong said.
Nifong's attorneys must file a written response to the bar's ethics charges by Feb. 23, and a trial on those ethics charges is not likely to begin June.
Nifong had previously refused
www.laparrillalawrence.com
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