LITTLE ROCK — Freshman point guard John Wall set a school record with 16 assists and No. 3 Kentucky crushed Hartford 104-61 on Tuesday night.
Wall added nine points and four rebounds as the Wildcats (14-0) matched their best start in 32 seasons.
Wall broke the record of 15 assists, set by Travis Ford against Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 8, 1993, on a pass to Perry Stevenson that put Kentucky up 97-56.
The Wildcats shot 60 percent from the field and made 14 three-pointers.
Darnell Dodson scored a season-high 19 points for Kentucky while DeMarcus Cousins had 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Joe Zeglinski led Hartford (2-10) with 19 points and Milton Burton added 18.
NO. 1 KANSAS 81, BELMONT 51
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Cole Aldrich had 11 points, 14 rebounds and 6 blocks to lead No. 1 Kansas (12-0) over Belmont (7-5).
Kansas was rusty early coming off a long break, even playing with only four players for a stretch of about 15 seconds in the first half. The Jayhawks pulled it together and played a superb second half at both ends, pulling away for their 50th consecutive home victory.
Ian Clark and Drew Hanlen had 11 points each for Belmont.
NO. 2 TEXAS 95, GARDNER-WEBB 63
AUSTIN, Texas - Damion James had 14 points and 13 rebounds and No. 2 Texas overcame a sluggish start to beat Gardner-Webb.
Jai Lucas had 15 points as Dexter Pittman added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Longhorns (12-0).
C.J. Hailey was 5 of 5 on three-pointers and scored 20 points for Gardner-Webb (3-8).
NO. 4 PURDUE 67, IOWA 56
IOWA CITY, Iowa - E’Twaun Moore scored 21 points, 15 in the second half, and No. 4 Purdue beat Iowa for its best start in 16 seasons.
Robbie Hummel added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Boilermakers (12-0, 1-0 Big Ten), who have opened with 12 consecutive victories for the second time. Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson led Purdue to a school-record 14-0 start in 1993-94.
Aaron Fuller had a season-high 15 points for Iowa (5-8, 0-1).
NO. 5 SYRACUSE 80, SETON HALL 73
NEWARK, N.J. - Wesley Johnson had 20 points, a career-best 19 rebounds and led a 15-point second-half run as Syracuse (13-0, 1-0 Big East) defeated Seton Hall (9-3, 0-2).
Kris Joseph added 16 points and provided the other part of the spark in the big spurt as the Orangemen overcame a 12-point first-half deficit and continued their best start since winning their first 19 games to start the 1999-2000 season.
Jeremy Hazell almost single-handedly kept the Pirates in the game with 38 points. Herb Pope added 15 points and 17 rebounds.
NO. 6 WEST VIRGINIA 63, MARQUETTE 62
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Da’Sean Butler’s jumper with two seconds left lifted No. 6 West Virginia past Marquette.
West Virginia (11-0, 2-0 Big East) overcame a five-point deficit in the final minute and its lowest point total of the season to improve to its best start sincea Jerry West-led team won 14 consecutive to begin the 1957-58 season.
Devin Ebanks led the Mountaineers with 19 points, while Kevin Jones added 18 and Butler finished with 17.
Lazar Hayward scored 24 points and Darius Johnson-Odom added 14 for Marquette (9-4, 0-1).
NO. 7 DUKE 84, LONG BEACH ST. 63
DURHAM, N.C.- Jon Scheyer scored 22 points, Nolan Smith added 19 and No. 7 Duke beat Long Beach State.
Kyle Singler added 14 points for the Blue Devils (10-1), who led by 26 points, shot 47.1 percent, blocked a season-high 10 shots and were 15 of 26 from three-point range.
Larry Anderson scored 14 points for Long Beach State (6-7.
NO. 12 KANSAS STATE 85, CLEVELAND STATE 56
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly sparked a take-charge run in the first half to lead No. 12 Kansas State (12-1) past Cleveland State (4-10), the Wildcats’ ninth consecutive victory.
Pullen had 18 points and Kelly added 17 as the Wildcats closed out an unbeaten December with their first ninegame winning streak since 1997. Denis Clemente and Dominique Sutton had 13 points each for the Wildcats.
NO. 16 MISSISSIPPI 90, JACKSONVILLE STATE 75
OXFORD, Miss. - Terrico White scored 29 points and No. 16 Mississippi (11-2) connected for a school-record 14 three-pointers in a victory over Jacksonville State (5-6).
Zach Graham had 14 points and Chris Warren added 11 for the Rebels, who shot 14 of 31 from three-point range, including a 7-of-10 performance by White. The Rebels finished 32 of 69 from the field (46 percent).
Trenton Marshall led Jacksonville State with 20 points.
NO. 19 NEW MEXICO 90, NO. 20 TEXAS TECH 75
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Darington Hobson had 23 points and 12 rebounds as New Mexico (13-1) beat Texas Tech (10-2).
The Lobos led 34-19 in the first half only to see the Red Raiders close to within 42-36 early in the second half. But an 11-2 run over a three-minute span put the Lobos up 53-38, and the lead never dropped into single digits again.
Reserve David Tairu led Texas Tech with 18 points.
NO. 21 CLEMSON 70, SOUTH CAROLINA ST. 67
CLEMSON, S.C. - Demontez Stitt made two free throws after Andre Young’s steal in the final minute and No. 21 Clemson avoided a big upset in its final nonconference game, holding off South Carolina State.
The Tigers (12-2) led by as many as 12 points in the second half and looked like they would cruise to their sixth consecutive victory. Instead, the Bulldogs (6-4) made it 68-67 on Tyvon Williams’ driving basket with 27.1 seconds left.
Darnell Porter led South Carolina State with 19 points.
SEC
XAVIER 89, LSU 65
CINCINNATI - Point guard Terrell Holloway scored 20 points and Xavier ran away to a victory over LSU.
Forward Jamel McLean had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Xavier (8-4), which scored the most points allowed by the Tigers this season.
Bo Spencer led LSU (8-4) with 20 points.
AUBURN 77, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 62
AUBURN, Ala. - Lucas Hargrove had 20 points and 13 rebounds as Auburn (7-6) overcame a sluggish start to beat Charleston Southern (5-7).
The Tigers fell behind 22-15, but turned up the pressure and forced 22 turnovers.
Jamarco Warren, Charleston Southern’s leading scorer, scored 18 points but had seven turnovers.
Sports, Pages 20 on 12/30/2009