MEN'S TOP 25 Red-hot Hinrich paces Kansas past UCLA

Rayen High graduate Romuald Augustin scored 16 points for Providence in a loss to No. 2 Alabama.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Kirk Hinrich hit five 3-pointers and scored 27 points -- one shy of his career high -- as No. 19 Kansas beat UCLA 87-70 on Saturday.
Wayne Simien added 19 points and 10 rebounds and Nick Collison had 18 points for Kansas (6-3), which withstood the Bruins' second-half comeback for its third straight win.
UCLA (2-4), which trailed by as many as 26 points in the first half, went to a full-court press in the second half and were within 77-66 when Dijon Thompson hit a layup and was fouled by Simien with 3:01 left.
Thompson, who led the Bruins with 21 points, missed the free throw. UCLA rebounded but failed to convert, and Kansas put the game out of reach on Hinrich's 3-pointer with 2:44 remaining and Simien's thundering fast-break dunk 17 seconds later.
Kansas' defense, meanwhile, frustrated UCLA star Jason Kapono for most of the game with constant pressure from Hinrich and Keith Langford.
Kapono came in averaging a team-high 17.6 points for the Bruins but missed his first four field goal attempts before scoring on a putback with 41/2 minutes left in the first half. He finished with 13 points on 5-for-14 shooting and had 13 rebounds.
Langford added 13 points and Aaron Miles had nine assists for Kansas, which held UCLA to 38 percent shooting (29-for-75) from the field.
No. 2 Alabama 69, Providence 61
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Erwin Dudley and Mo Williams each scored 19 points for Alabama.
The Crimson Tide (8-0), which had to overcome a 3-point assault from Romuald Augustin, went 7-of-8 from the free throw line over the final 1:34.
The Friars (4-3) trailed 64-59 with 1:13 remaining after Augustin (Rayen School) hit two 3-pointers in a nine-second span. Providence didn't score again until Augustin's scoop shot with 18 seconds remaining.
Antoine Pettway hit two free throws with 26 seconds remaining and Williams and Earnest Shelton combined to make three of four after that.
Dudley also had 14 rebounds, while Williams had eight rebounds, six assists and three steals.
Ryan Gomes led Providence with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Augustin added 16 points, including his team's last 11 and was 4-of-8 from 3-point range.
No. 7 Oklahoma 89, Georgia St. 62
NORMAN, Okla. -- Hollis Price had 22 points and seven assists to lead Oklahoma.
The win was Oklahoma's 28th straight at home, the third-longest current streak in Division I.
Price had 16 points in the first half as the Sooners (6-1) took control from the start.
Leroy Davis led Georgia State (3-5) with 22 points, while Nate Williams, the Panthers' top scorer, finished with just six points.
Oklahoma went up 6-5 on a basket by Kevin Bookout with 17:51 left in the half and would not trail again. Bookout finished with 10 points.
Lamont McIntosh hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to get the Panthers within 31-24 with 3:32 left.
But Price hit four free throws over the next 20 seconds to make it 35-24 and the Sooners led 41-29 at halftime.
Oklahoma opened the second half with a 9-2 run.
Price's layup with 17:16 remaining made it 50-33. Two minutes later, Price tossed an alley-oop to Ebi Ere who dunked it for a 54-34 lead.
Ere was 4-of-4 from the field in the second half and finished with 15 points and seven rebounds.
No. 8 Connecticut 117,NC-Asheville 67
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Ben Gordon scored 29 points and Emeka Okafor added 19 for Connecticut.
The Huskies (7-0) ran up their largest point total of the season. Gordon was 5-of-10 from 3-point range and had nine assists.
The 6-foot-9 Okafor had 10 rebounds for seventh double-double in as many games. He also had four blocks.
Alex Kragel had 15 points for the Bulldogs (3-4).
No. 14 Marquette 89, Elon 57
MILWAUKEE -- Dwyane Wade scored 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting and had three assists, two steals, two rebounds and a blocked shot for the Golden Eagles.
Robert Jackson had 20 points and eight rebounds for Marquette (7-1), which shot 53.8 percent from the field and extended its home winning streak to 22 games.
Gary Marsh scored 17 points for Elon (4-3).