Kentucky’s Knight Stands Out From the Start Against West Virginia

TAMPA, Fla. — Except for the final two seconds, the Kentucky freshman Brandon Knight would rather forget his N.C.A.A. tournament debut. Knight missed all seven shots he took until making the game-winning layup just before the buzzer in Kentucky’s victory against Princeton on Thursday.

Knight came into Saturday’s game against West Virginia with a much different approach. It showed.

Knight scored a career-high 30 points to lead the fourth-seeded Wildcats past No. 5 West Virginia, 71-63, in the Round of 32 in the East Region.

“I felt confident,” Knight said. “My teammates continued to have faith in me even though I didn’t play such a great game” on Thursday, he added. Knight made his first shot — a 3-pointer in the opening minutes — and never let up. He had 16 of Kentucky’s 33 first-half points.

Kentucky (27-8) advanced to Friday’s regional semifinals in Newark against the winner of Sunday’s game between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 8 George Mason.

Besides leading his team to the Round of 16 for the second straight season, Kentucky Coach John Calipari also won for only the second time in 10 meetings against teams coached by West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins. Calipari and Huggins are such close friends that Calipari was among the first people not related to him to visit Huggins in the hospital after he had a heart attack in 2002.

“You don’t want to play against friends,” Calipari said. “ You want to play against people you don’t like.”

The senior guard Joe Mazzulla paced West Virginia with a career-high 20 points, but he had only 5 after halftime.

RICHMOND 65, MOREHEAD ST. 48, Richmond, a private university of 2,750 students in Richmond, Va., is no stranger to surprise advances in the N.C.A.A. tournament. It is the only program to win games while seeded No. 12, 13, 14 and 15, and it now has eight victories when seeded 12th or lower.

But Richmond’s victory over Morehead State at the Pepsi Center in Denver sent the 12th-seeded Spiders to the Round of 16 for only the second time. The first was in 1988.

This may be Richmond’s best team of all. The Spiders never trailed against No. 13 Morehead State, a spunky team that upset No. 4 Louisville in the tournament’s biggest upset so far. Richmond slowed the pace and controlled Kenneth Faried, Morehead State’s leading scorer and one of the top rebounders in N.C.A.A. history.

The Spiders (29-7) will bring a nine-game winning streak to the Southwest Regional in San Antonio, where on Friday they will play the winner of Sunday’s game between top-seeded Kansas and No. 9 Illinois.

“We’re not going to get too excited for whoever we’re going to play,” forward Kevin Smith said. “We’re great under pressure and should be able to handle whatever.” JOHN BRANCH

FLORIDA 73, U.C.L.A. 65 The last two times Florida defeated U.C.L.A., the Gators ended up winning a national title. The Gators may not win it all this season, but they moved a step closer with a victory against the Bruins in the Round of 32 in Tampa, Fla.

The biggest reason for Florida’s win was the Gators’ smallest player: the 5-foot-8 junior guard Erving Walker, who scored 21 points as the Gators ended U.C.L.A.’s season for the third time in the past six seasons. Walker scored 10 of the Gators’ final 12 points as second-seeded Florida pulled away in the final minute to advance to the Round of 16 for the first time since winning the 2007 national title.

Walker hit Florida’s biggest shot Saturday. After U.C.L.A. cut its deficit to 66-65, Walker drilled a 3-pointer with 1 minute 14 seconds remaining, sparking a closing 7-0 run.

“It was a good look and I felt that would have been a good shot for me to take,” Walker said.

Florida (28-7) advanced to Thursday’s Southeast Region semifinals in New Orleans against B.Y.U.

The game was tight throughout as neither team led by more than 4 points until the final six minutes, when Florida made consecutive 3-pointers, the latter by Erik Murphy with 5:59 remaining. BRETT McMURPHY

B.Y.U. 89, GONZAGA 67 Brigham Young fans chanted the rare refrain of “Sweet 16” and the familiar chorus of “You got Jimmered” after the Cougars’ win over Gonzaga in Denver, sending the legend of Jimmer Fredette — his first name now a verb — on to New Orleans for the Round of 16.

Brigham Young’s national championship hopes are back on solid footing after the turmoil of the past few weeks. The Cougars used their altered, smaller lineup to rout Gonzaga.

“We might have been as good as we’ve been all year,” Coach Dave Rose said.

Fredette, the fearless shooter who led the nation in scoring, had 34 points, and B.Y.U.’s lineup of guards and swingmen were too hot and spry for the much bigger Bulldogs.

“They were just falling tonight,” Fredette said of his shots. “Sometimes that happens.”

The Cougars shot 52.5 percent, including 14 for 28 from behind the 3-point line — sometimes, in the case of Fredette, far behind it. He made 7 of 12 3-pointers, some from about 30 feet.

B.Y.U. (32-4) will play Florida in the Southeast Regional semifinals in New Orleans. JOHN BRANCH

WISCONSIN 70, KANSAS ST. 65 By the time two seasons came to a head at the McKale Center in Tucson, Wisconsin guard Jordan Taylor had long since lost the much-anticipated battle with Kansas State’s Jacob Pullen.

His worst collegiate moment was juxtaposed with the best from Pullen, who sought revenge and nearly found it all by himself during a dazzling display of two-way dominance. But when Pullen pulled up for a 3-pointer with two seconds left that would have tied their N.C.A.A. tournament Round of 32 game, Taylor picked the perfect time for some retribution.

He closed quickly on Pullen, blocking the shot and capping a Badgers victory that sent them to the Round of 16 and ended Pullen’s illustrious career on a painful note.

With 19 seconds remaining and fourth-seeded Wisconsin ahead of the fifth-seeded Wildcats by 64-63, Pullen lost control of the ball on the break and kicked it into the crowd. Forward Jon Leur was fouled, and he made two free throws to extend the Badgers’ lead to 66-63.

Pullen seemed to have one final answer, though, taking the ball from Will Spradling at the top of the key and drawing contact from Taylor on his 3-point attempt. He made the first attempt, but missed the second, then converted the third. Kansas State was forced to foul, and Taylor was sent to the line. He converted both attempts with 10 seconds remaining, then finished with his late block on Pullen. SAM AMICK

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Wisconsin’s Block Leaves Kansas State Hanging Its Heads

TUCSON — By the time two seasons came to a head at the McKale Center on Saturday night, Wisconsin guard Jordan Taylor had long since lost the much-anticipated battle with Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen.

His worst collegiate moment was juxtaposed with the best from Pullen, who sought revenge for a 2008 N.C.A.A. tournament loss to the Badgers. Pullen, a senior, nearly found it all by himself during a dazzling display of two-way dominance. But when Pullen pulled up on the left wing with two seconds left for a 3-pointer that would have tied this Round of 32 game, Taylor picked the perfect time for some retribution of his own.

He closed quickly on Pullen, blocking his shot and capping a 70-65 Badgers win that sent them singing all the way to the Sweet 16 and ended Pullen’s illustrious career on a painful note.

Pullen’s bittersweet outing will go down with individual footnotes, as he surpassed Mike Evans to break Kansas State’s career scoring mark of 2,115 points and set a new tournament scoring record for the Wildcats. Taylor, however, did just enough at the end to lead his team into the next round.

Wisconsin will face eighth-seeded Butler in New Orleans on Thursday after its upset of top-seeded Pittsburgh in Washington on Saturday.

“I feel like we won the battle because we won the game,” Taylor said. “It’s a team sport. So obviously he is a heck of a player. He was the best player on the floor tonight. But we’re moving on and going to New Orleans, so that’s all that matters.”

Taylor did, in fact, get plenty of help from his teammates. His fellow all-Big 10 Conference player Jon Leuer had 19 points and 7 rebounds, and Josh Gasser and Mike Bruesewitz had 11 apiece. They did just enough to leave up it to Taylor at the end, and he came through in a way they have grown so accustomed to seeing.

“We made the gutty plays, and that’s what we are known for,” Wisconsin senior forward Keaton Nankivil said. “Gutty hustle plays, that’s what describes our team.

“The way I would always describe Jordan as an athlete is a winner. Whether he’s scoring, passing, doing anything, he’s a winner. It was signature in that sense, that he made the plays when they counted.”

As the sizable Wisconsin contingent danced along with their favorite band, Pullen was the only member of his team to place a towel over his low-hanging head as he walked off the floor. Even with his career-high-tying 38 points that included 6 of 8 shooting from 3-point range, and even with Taylor’s 2 of 16 showing that had everything to do with Pullen’s presence, his final two minutes had been everything that the first 38 were not.

Two of his three turnovers came in that stretch, the first coming with 1 minute 40 seconds remaining when his entry pass to forward Curtis Kelly was intercepted by Taylor and led to a 3-pointer from Bruesewitz to put Wisconsin up, 64-61. Then with 19 seconds remaining and fourth-seeded Wisconsin up by 64-63 on the fifth-seeded Wildcats, Pullen — whose freshman season was ended by Wisconsin in the third-round matchup he certainly never forgot — lost control of the ball in traffic on the break and kicked it into the loudest of crowds. Leuer was fouled, and buried two free throws to make it 66-63.

Pullen seemed to have one final answer, though, taking the handoff from the freshman point guard Will Spradling atop the key and drawing contact from Taylor on his 3-point attempt. He made the first attempt, but missed the second, then converted the third before Kansas State was forced to foul.

Fittingly, Taylor was sent to the line. He converted both attempts with 10 seconds remaining, then finished the late turning of this tide with the late block. Kansas State Coach Frank Martin, whose team fell far short of matching its Elite Eight showing last season, was looking for Spradling to take the open look on the play and made his frustrations known afterward.

“Will can shoot the basketball, and he is a real good shooter off the dribble,” Martin said. “I told him, ‘Will, when you come off that ball screen, if they don’t guard you, shoot it’ because I knew they were going to pay so much attention to Jake. But we didn’t execute it real well. Our floor spacing was bad, which then Jake had no space to operate.”

Pullen would later sit surrounded by his teammates in a silent locker room, the towel removed from his head but the pained look still on his face.

“It’s over with man, the end of my career,” he said in hushed tones. “That’s all I can think about right now. No more games. That’s it. That’s the toughest part about it.”

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Kentucky’s Knight Stands Out From the Start

TAMPA, Fla. — Except for the final two seconds, the Kentucky freshman Brandon Knight would rather forget his N.C.A.A. tournament debut. Knight missed all seven shots he took until making the game-winning layup just before the buzzer in Kentucky’s victory against Princeton on Thursday.

Knight came into Saturday’s game against West Virginia with a much different approach. It showed.

Knight scored a career-high 30 points to lead the fourth-seeded Wildcats past No. 5 seed West Virginia, 71-63, in the Round of 32 in the East Region.

“I felt confident,” Knight said. “My teammates continued to have faith in me even though I didn’t play such a great game. They still had faith in me and they really helped me out today, finding me and stuff like that.

“And they really stepped their level of play up, which got me more shots.”

Knight made his first shot — a 3-pointer — in the opening minutes and never let up. He had 16 of Kentucky’s 33 first-half points.

“He is a terrific player and an unbelievable person who I’ve never seen — all the players I’ve coached and I had guys that would live in the practice facility, literally — I’ve never seen a guy with this kid’s work ethic,” Kentucky Coach John Calipari said.

“Any time you spend that kind of time, you expect good things to happen. If you’re trying to get over, if you’re trying to fool around in practice, the minute it goes wrong in the game, you expect it to continue. If you’re a hard worker and you spend the time, you expect good things to happen.”

While Knight’s offense carried Kentucky, it was the Wildcats’ second-half defense that proved to be the difference. After allowing West Virginia to score 41 points in the first half, Kentucky held the Mountaineers to 22 points in the second half on 33.3 percent shooting. West Virginia made only two field goals in the final 7 minutes 36 seconds.

“The truth of the matter is we had a couple wide-open looks from guys that — we don’t have a lot of guys that normally make them, but we have a couple — and they didn’t go down for us,” West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins said.

Kentucky (27-8) advanced to Friday’s regional semifinals in Newark against the winner of Sunday’s game between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 8 George Mason.

Playing in his second career N.C.A.A. tournament game, Knight initially said he felt “a lot more anxiety.”

“Just playing these types of games where you know if you lose your season is done, I think guys really come out and they fight a lot harder,” Knight said. “They go after rebounds a lot tougher. It kind of changes the game. Guys play tough throughout the season, but I think they step it up a notch in the tournament.”

Last year, West Virginia (21-12) ended the Wildcats’ season with a 73-66 victory in the Round of 8. This time, Kentucky returned the favor. Besides advancing to the Round of 16 for a second straight season, Calipari also picked up a rare victory against Huggins.

Calipari won for only the second time in 10 meetings against teams coached by Huggins. Calipari’s last victory against Huggins came March 1, 2003, when Memphis defeated Cincinnati. Calipari and Huggins are such close friends that Calipari was among the first people not related to him to visit Huggins in the hospital after Huggins had a heart attack in 2002.

“You know, we got them a little bit this game, but it’s one of the things I want to tell you in this profession: you hate to play against friends because I know what it feels like to get beat,” Calipari said. “And you don’t want to play against friends. You want to play against people you don’t like.”

The senior guard Joe Mazzulla paced West Virginia with a career-high 20 points, but only 5 came after halftime.

Kentucky forward Josh Harrellson had 15 points and 8 rebounds despite leaving to get four stitches above his eye after an inadvertent elbow. Harrellson is the lone senior on a team that features five freshmen.

“I never thought I’d be the type of player I am,” Harrellson said. “I just worked hard and did a lot of conditioning and changed my body and changed my mind-set and it helped me out in the long run.”

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Big Three Shining, Celtics Overcome J

Appearance Big Three Boston Celtics overcome successfully deliver the Utah Jazz. Compete at Energy Solutions Arena on Tuesday (03/01/2011) morning local time, the Celtics won the game 107-102.

Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen contributed 25 points and Paul Pierce donated 21 points. While Kevin Garnett scored a double-double consisting of 16 points, 14 rebounds that made him a top performer in his team.

The game itself runs very exciting time to silence the fans in spite of the Celtics host with a 30-21 advantage in the first 12 minutes.

However, the Jazz managed to cut the distance to one point only after an additional 32 points earned when the break. Score 53-56 still to the advantage for the visitors.

Chases numbers still occur in the third quarter. Devin Harris layup again pressed into single digit range in the score 75-76 but two free shots Nenad Krstic and shoot jump back Rajon Rondo added figures for the 2008 NBA champions to be 79-76.

Jazz do not want to be embarrassed in front of its own public and had miraculous times equalized 94-94 when the game less than four minutes remaining.

But after that though Jazz back trying to catch up but Pierce's two free shots in 11 seconds ahead of the game broke up the Celtics 107-102 to ensure victory.

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Lakers Record Five consecutive victory

LA Lakers recorded a victory when dealing with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Lakers win 90-79, as well as recorded their fifth victory in his last five games.

At Target Center, Timberwolves cage, Wednesday (2/3/32011) noon CST, courtier-courtier Lakers appear dominant. Kobe Bryant scored 24 points, while Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom appear tough on the bottom ring. Gasol scored 17 rebounds, while Odom 11 rebounds.

Gasol and Odom also contributed 12 points each, two points fewer than their fellow Lakers, Andrew Bynum. Timberwolves who rely Wes Johnson and Kevin Love does not move.

By relying on the heights of the players that exceed the average player Timberwolves, Lakers actually under the control of the fight ring.

"Offensive rebounding, you should be able to take advantage of the opportunity the second shot," Bynum said in Yahoosports.

"The size of their bodies is a problem for any team in this league," said Timberwolves coach, Kurt Rambis.

This victory brought the Lakers scored five consecutive wins. Previously, they successfully beat the Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, LA Clippers, and Oklahoma City Thunders.

As for the Timberwolves, this was the fourth defeat in five games last. The only victory was when they beat the Golden State Warriors 126-123 on Sunday.

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Bow Cavs, Spurs Shammai Laker Record

San Antonio Spurs beat the Cleveland Cavaliers to successfully become the first team this season who won his 50th victory. With that note, the Spurs also managed to equal the record Los Angeles Lakers.

Come to the Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday (03/03/2011) morning local time, the Spurs managed to win the match by a score of 109-99. This shows the rise of Gregg Popovich's squad after a surprise bent Memphis Grizzlies in the previous game.


Without strengthened Tony Parker who was injured, Spurs were forced to recognize the benefits of the home team 24-25 in the first 12 minutes before it responded with 33 points to close half the gap to 57-52, the Spurs lead.

A total of 32 extra points that printed the Spurs make the Cavs getting farther behind. Quarter three was closed with the score 89-77.

Although in the fourth quarter the Spurs down the tempo, the Cavs who wash seven more points are not able to pursue the acquisition rate for the visitors.

This victory makes the Spurs scored a season-to-12 in a row with victory 50 times per season that routinely printed since the 1999-2000 season.

Record at a time equal the record that the Lakers become the largest team that season with 12 consecutive victories to obtain at least 50 times in one season.

In other matches, Charlotte Bobcats fare badly in a visit to the headquarters of the Denver Nuggets. At the Pepsi Center, after the Bobcats defeated humiliated 80-120.

This victory helped membuktikkan that the Nuggets are not affected by the departure of Carmelo Anthony. Since the departure of Melo, the Nuggets even won four of his last five games.

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Cool Magic Magic Heat

Orlando Magic look brilliant when they travel to the headquarters of the Miami Heat in the NBA continued Friday (03/04/2011) morning GMT. Rose in the second half, they came out as winners with a score of 99-96.

Coming from behind to 24 points, the Magic found the key to his victory over three-point shots. They control the game by scoring 18 points in a row in the fourth quarter, and managed to keep the Heat in the final seconds.

"Comeback amazing. This will probably be one that will match my memories of 10 years from now. I can forget everything else except the defeat-kelahan. But winning this one will probably remember me continue," said Stan Van Gundy , Magic coach, after the game.

Magic, which earned 48 points from three-point shot, get the largest donation from Jason Richardson who gain 24 points. Dwight Howard also played mnyumbangkan ciamik with 14 points and 18 rebounds.

At camp host, a 63-45 lead in the first half, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade remains the motor of the game. James carved the 29 points, Wade 28 points.

In other matches the Denver Nuggets also managed to beat the host team. They successfully beat the Utah Jazz 103-101, at once took five wins from his last six games.

Aaron Afflalo Nuggets appear as a hero thanks to the donation of 19 points, including three-point throw in the final 11.4 seconds. Ty Lawason helped with 22 points, Nene and Chris Andersen is also equally earned 13 points.

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NBA Make History in London

For the first time, a regular season NBA games played outside the United States, specifically in London. In that game, the New Jersey Nets managed to beat the Toronto Raptors.

Playing under the gaze of 18 thousand more pairs of eyes who packed the O2 Arena, London on Saturday (03/05/2011) pm dawn, Nets and Raptors meet another each number before the Nets eventually won 116-103.

NBA has ever held a pre-season warm-up matches abroad. But for the official games in the regular season, the match in London it was the first held.

Nets had led 27-23 at the end of the first quarter, but the Raptors ahead 51-47 at the end turned the second quarter and was still ahead 81-77 in the third quarter. In the final quarter, the Nets jumped and eventually winning 116-103.

Brook Lopez appears as the most productive player the Nets scored 25 points thanks to his success. Kris Humphries won 17 rebounds in addition to 18 points and Deron Williams sent 11 assists plus 16 points.

At camp Raptors, duet DeMar DeRozan and Andrew Bargnani appear aggressive. DeRozan scored 30 points and Bargnani menambahinya with 23 points. Unfortunately, the players other Raptors failed to appear neat.

On Sunday (6 / 3) pm dawn, Nets and Raptors will face again in the same place.

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