MEN'S TOP 25 Connecticut pulls away from Virginia Tech



No. 3 Pittsburgh had little trouble against West Virginia.
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Connecticut's second-half performance even impressed Huskies coach Jim Calhoun.
"I don't care who we are playing. If we play like that for 40 minutes, we're going to be a tough out," he said.
"Once we get our fast break ignited it seems to do an awful lot for our whole psyche."
It also does a lot to wipe out 10-point deficits.
The sixth-ranked Huskies turned on the defense and shot 69 percent from the field in the second half to beat Virginia Tech 83-65 Tuesday night.
Ben Gordon had 24 points and Emeka Okafor added 19 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks -- all in the second half -- as the Huskies (11-1, 2-0 Big East) overcame a poor start that saw the Hokies (6-8, 0-2) take control early at the Hartford Civic Center.
"We can't afford to keep having slow starts. We have to start jumping on teams early," Okafor said.
Virginia Tech coach Ricky Stokes knew his team's 43-39 lead wasn't going to intimidate Connecticut, which rallied from a 30-9 halftime deficit to beat Massachusetts 59-48 on Dec. 10.
"They were going to come out and play very aggressive," Stokes said. "We knew it was coming and we didn't attack it as well as we would have liked."
The Huskies broke a 54-all tie with a 21-3 run that lasted eight minutes. Virginia Tech shot 28 percent in the second half and went 11 minutes at one point without scoring.
Center Terry Taylor had 16 points -- all in the game's first 21 minutes -- and seven rebounds for the Hokies (6-8, 0-2).
No. 3 Pittsburgh 80, W. Virginia 61
Donatas Zavackas scored 16 points and Julius Page, Ontario Lett and Jaron Brown each added 14 as the Panthers (13-1, 3-0 Big East), who shot 63 percent from the field, including 10-of-18 from 3-point range, won consecutive games in Morgantown for the first time since 1934 and 1935.
Drew Schifino had 18 points for the Mountaineers (9-5, 1-2), who lost for the first time at home this season and were held to their third-lowest point total of the season.
No. 10 Notre Dame 68, Rutgers 57
Matt Carroll scored 25 points and the Fighting Irish (14-2, 2-1 Big East) went 22-for-23 from the free throw line to go 10-0 at home for the first time since 1994-95.
Herve Lamizana had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Scarlet Knights (8-6, 0-2), who were 5-of-9 from the free throw line.
No. 16 Kentucky 74, Vanderbilt 52
Gerald Fitch scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half as the Wildcats (12-3, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) rallied from 36-28 halftime deficit for the road win. Kentucky went on a 28-7 run over the first 12 minutes of the second half and limited the Commodores to four field goals -- one a 3-pointer -- over the final 20 minutes.
Reserve freshman Mario Moore had 17 points for Vanderbilt (8-6, 1-2), which was coming off a win over then-No. 4 Alabama.
No. 21 Marquette 85, Tulane 73
Dwyane Wade scored 35 points to lead the visiting Golden Eagles (11-3, 3-1 Conference USA) to their third straight win.
Waitari Marsh had 30 points -- 27 in the second half -- for the Green Wave (7-8, 0-2), who were within two points with about seven minutes left but never pulled even.