(7) UCLA 67, Arizona State 21. "We were fortunate tonight, frankly, to get out of here with the win," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "But we played well down the stretch and made free throws when we needed them." Translation: "Thank God Arizona State sucks that bad." UCLA needed to come back from 10 down with 11 minutes to play to beat the 0-14 in the conference Sun Devils.Cal 63, (17) Oregon 61. The Oregon free fall continues. They've lost five of seven, this one a particularly egregious loss. Cal was in the midst of a pretty sorry streak themselves, having lost six straight. Cal fans rushed the court ... which I guess is tradition now when you beat the #17 team in the country and the win gets you one game above .500. Ryan Anderson led the Bears with 18.
Purdue 81, (19) Indiana 68. It was close for 3/4th of the game, but at about the 10:00 mark of the second half, Purdue got hot, and Indiana couldn't recover. Three balls started going down (Purdue was 8-of-17 on the night), and the Hoosiers couldn't keep pace. David Teague, who sat out all of last year with a torn ACL, put up 32 big points for Purdue.
(23) USC 80, (24) Arizona 75. Lodrick Stewart was pretty good for a guy who didn't practice all week. He came off the bench after fighting an illness for the past few days, and scored 36 points in 30 extremely efficient minutes. He was 11-of-15 from the floor. Nick Young also had 26 for the Trojans, who hadn't beaten Arizona at the McKale Center in 21 years.
Notre Dame 81, Providence 78. It's difficult to win close games when you go for six-minute stretches in the second half without getting a point. That's the lesson Providence learned last night. Colin Falls led Notre Dame with 16.
UMass 74, Fordham 59. Fordham, whose logo reminds me of the Dodge logo, was gutted like a fish in the second half. Stephane Lasme led the Minutement with 18 points and 10 boards, as UMass enjoyed a 44-point second half.
IUPUI 75, Southern Utah 74. There is never a night off the Mid-Continent conference. IUPUI and SUU played a classic on Thursday night, and Austin Montgomery's layup with under 2 seconds to play sealed it for the Jags.
