LINCOLN, Neb. — Brandon Richardson hit two free throws with 7.2 seconds left to seal Nebraska’s 70-67 upset of No. 3 Texas on Saturday.
Nebraska hadn’t beaten a team ranked in the top three since knocking off No. 3 Missouri 98-91 in the 1994 Big Eight Conference Tournament.
The Cornhuskers’ second victory over an Associated Press Top 25 opponent this season broke Texas’ school record Big 12 winning streak at 11 games. Nebraska downed then-No. 13 Texas A&M 57-48 on Jan. 29.
Richardson led Nebraska with 15 points, 10 in the second half. Toney McCray added 14.
Jordan Hamilton and Brown each had 18 to top Texas. Cory Joseph had 13.
Nebraska (18-8, 6-6 Big 12), which trailed by seven points at halftime, took a 64-53 lead on Lance Jeter’s driving layup with 2:35 left. But the Cornhuskers made just 6 of 11 free throws in the last two minutes to help Texas get back in it.
Texas (23-4, 11-1) went on a 12-1 run, making 7 of 9 free throws and adding two baskets. Alexis Wangmere’s free throws tied it 65-65 with 1:07 remaining.
Richardson hit two free throws with 43.5 seconds remaining to put Nebraska back in front, and Drake Beranek made 1 of 2 with 24.7 seconds left.
Texas’ J’Covan Brown made 2 of 3 free throws with 12.6 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to one, but his three-point attempt at the buzzer fell short.
Nebraska hit 56 percent of its shots in the second half against Texas, which had held Big 12 opponents to 36.4 percent shooting before Saturday.
The Longhorns, who entered having made 49 percent of their shots in conference play, made only 36 percent against Nebraska, which packed the lane and kept Texas from running in transition.
Nebraska dominated inside, outscoring Texas 38-14 in the lane. The Cornhuskers also held a 39-34 edge in rebounds.
NO. 1 KANSAS 89, COLORADO 63
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Markieff Morris had 26 points and 15 rebounds and No. 1 Kansas (25-2, 10-2 Big 12) bounced back from a lopsided loss to Kansas State with a victory over Colorado (16-11, 5-7).
Brady Morningstar hit his first four three-pointers to help the Jayhawks get off to a flying start after their brand-new No. 1 ranking was tarnished Monday night by an 84-68 loss at the home of the unranked Wildcats.
It was the 28th consecutive defeat for the Buffaloes in Lawrence. Colorado will go into the Pacific-12 next year with a 5-52 record in Allen Fieldhouse. The last time the Buffs won, their coach, Tad Boyle, was a sophomore on Larry Brown’s 1983 Jayhawks team.
Alec Burks had 15 points to lead Colorado. Cory Higgins added 14 and Marcus Relphorde 12.
ST. JOHN’S 60, NO. 4 PITTSBURGH 59
NEW YORK - Dwight Hardy’s underhanded flip with 1.2 seconds to play gave St. John’s (17-9, 9-5 Big East) its fifth victory over a highly ranked team this season, knocking off Pittsburgh (24-3, 12-2).
Hardy, who finished with 19 points, started near midcourt, drove to the right, then went baseline for the shot. It gave the Red Storm another marquee victory to go with those against then-No. 13 Georgetown, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 3 Duke and No. 10 Connecticut.
Ashton Gibbs, who missed the past three games with a medial collateral ligament injury, came back to score 26 for the Panthers, who had won five consecutive overall.
NO. 6 SAN DIEGO STATE 70, AIR FORCE 58
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Malcolm Thomas scored 20 points and Kawhi Leonard posted his 19th double double to help sixth-ranked San Diego State (27-1, 12-1 Mountain West) outlast Air Force (13-12, 4-8) and set a school record with their 27th victory.
Leonard had 18 points and 15 rebounds as the Aztecs beat the Falcons for the seventh consecutive time. Thomas also grabbed 13 rebounds.
NO. 7 BYU 79, TCU 56
FORT WORTH - Jimmer Fredette scored 23 points despite a tough shooting game, and Brigham Young (25-2, 11-1 Mountain West) had four other players score at least 10 in a rout of TCU (10-18, 1-12).
BYU took control with an 18-4 run to end the first half after Garlon Green’s three-pointer got the Frogs within 27-24.
J.R. Cadot scored 17 points for TCU, which has lost 10 consecutive and 14 of 15 overall.
WEST VIRGINIA 72, NO. 8 NOTRE DAME 58
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Truck Bryant broke out of a slump by scoring 24 points and West Virginia (17-9, 8-6 Big East) took command early in the second half to snap Notre Dame’s seven-game winning streak.
Joe Mazzulla added 16 points, and Kevin Jones had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers.
Ben Hansbrough led Notre Dame (21-5, 10-4) with 19 points. Carleton Scott had 11 for the Irish, who were trying to match their best conference record through 14 games, set in 2000-2001.
NO. 9 GEORGETOWN 61, SOUTH FLORIDA 55
TAMPA, Fla. - Chris Wright made six free throws in the final 29.7 seconds to finish with a season-high 26 points and ninth-ranked Georgetown (21-6, 10-5 Big East) held off South Florida (8-20, 2-13) for its ninth victory in 10 games.
The Hoyas rebounded from an eight point loss to Connecticut, pulling away during an 18-8 surge and hanging on despite getting a season-low four points on 2 of 10 shooting by Austin Freeman, the conference’s third-leading scorer.
Jason Clark had 10 points, including a layup that gave the Hoyas their biggest lead, 49-38, with 6:40 remaining.
Augustus Gilchrist led South Florida with 22 points.
OTHER TOP 25 GAMES
Derrick Williams had 26 points, 13 rebounds and a game-saving block on Darnell Gant with less than a second left, lifting No. 12 Arizona (23-4, 12-2 Pacific-10) to an 87-86 victory over visiting Washington (18-8, 10-5). ... Corey Fisher scored a career-high 34 points, nailing the tying three-pointer near the end of regulation to lead No. 15 Villanova (21-6, 9-5 Big East) to a 77-75 victory in overtime over host DePaul (7-19, 1-13). ... Kris Joseph scored six of his 21 points in overtime and No. 17 Syracuse (22-6, 9-6 Big East) held off visiting Rutgers (13-13, 4-10) 84-80.
...Tyler Zeller scored 16 points, freshmen Kendall Marshall and Harrison Barnes had 10 each and host No. 19 North Carolina (20-6, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) held Boston College to a season low for points in a 48-46 victory. ... Marcus Denmon scored 25 points as No. 20 Missouri (21-6, 7-5 Big 12) won its first Big 12 road game of the season and first game away from Columbia since December, beating host Iowa State (14-13, 1-11) 76-70. ... David Loubeau scored 22 points, B.J. Holmes hit two key free throws in the final seconds and visiting No. 21 Texas A&M (21-5, 8-4 Big 12) continued its recent dominance against Oklahoma State (16-10, 4-8) with a 67-66 victory. ... Tu Holloway had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to lead No. 24 Xavier (20-6, 11-1 Atlantic 10) past visiting Fordham (6-18, 0-12) 79-72. ... Tai Wesley and Brockeith Pane scored 22 points apiece to help No. 25 Utah State (25-3) beat host Saint Mary’s (23-6) 75-65 in a nonconference game.
Sports, Pages 31 on 02/20/2011