COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Final Four Is Yesterday’s News at Auburn

So much for Arkansas and Florida. Bring on Duke and Arizona.

Auburn has beaten half of last season’s Final Four in less than two weeks--first Arkansas, then No. 23 Florida, 77-71, Wednesday behind Lance Weems’ 22 points at Auburn, Ala.

This from a team that was 11-17 and won only three Southeastern Conference games last season. But it’s also one that’s 11-5, 4-3 in the SEC.

“What a statement it is!” exclaimed Coach Cliff Ellis, in his first season with the Tigers. “Nobody would have believed it, and I’m not sure I would have believed it.”

Weems, who scored 20 points against Arkansas but was shut out by Georgia last Saturday, made four three-point baskets in the second half, including two during a critical 10-0 spurt midway through the period that broke open a seesaw game.

Auburn held the Gators scoreless for nearly six minutes to take a 63-52 lead. Florida (9-6, 3-3) kept it tight by holding Auburn without a point for 4 1/2 minutes, but the Gators never got over the hump.

No. 3 North Carolina 100, Florida State 70--Dante Calabria led the Tar Heels’ school-record three-point shooting, scoring a career-high 26 points in an Atlantic Coast Conference victory at Chapel Hill, N.C.

In its sixth victory in a row, North Carolina (15-1, 5-1) made 17 of 25 three-point shots. Calabria, the nation’s leading three-point shooter at 60%, was eight for 11 from three-point range to tie the individual school mark, held by Hubert Davis, and shoot down the Seminoles (9-6, 3-4).

No. 5 Kentucky 69, Tennessee 50--Rodrick Rhodes scored a career-high 29 points and became the 41st player in school history to score 1,000 points while leading the Wildcats (13-2, 7-0) to an SEC victory at home.

Kentucky won for the seventh time in a row with a pressing defense that forced Tennessee (7-8, 2-5) into a season-high 27 turnovers and a season-low 29% (15 for 51).

No. 8 Maryland 56, Clemson 51--Joe Smith scored 17 points and blocked a potential game-tying shot with eight seconds to play at Clemson, where the Terrapins (15-3, 5-1) blew a 13-point lead in the last 10 minutes, then hung on for an ACC victory over the Tigers (10-5, 1-5).

No. 10 Michigan State 54, Minnesota 53--Jon Garavaglia made a jump shot from the corner with 6.8 seconds to play as the Spartans (13-2, 5-1) overcame 36% shooting to beat the Gophers (13-6, 4-3) in a Big Ten game at East Lansing, Mich.

No. 11 Iowa State 81, Northern Iowa 62--Loren Meyer scored 23 points and the defense of the Cyclones (16-2) shut down Northern Iowa (5-13) at Cedar Falls.

No. 16 Wake Forest 71, No. 15 Virginia 70--Randolph Childress scored 18 of the Demon Deacons’ final 20 points, including the deciding free throws with 5.7 seconds to play in an ACC victory over the Cavaliers (11-5, 5-2) at Charlottesville, Va. Wake Forest is 11-3, 4-2).

No. 21 Georgia Tech 75, North Carolina State 71--James Forrest scored 11 of his 20 points in the final 7:32 to lead the Yellow Jackets (12-6, 3-3) to an ACC victory over the Wolfpack (10-6, 2-4) at Atlanta.

No. 22 Villanova 92, Miami 62--Eric Eberz scored 20 points, including two three-point baskets during the Wildcats’ (12-5, 5-2) game-opening 13-0 run in a Big East victory at Miami (8-6, 3-4).

Kansas State 87, No. 25 Oklahoma 77--The Wildcats (11-7, 2-4) got 26 points from Tyrone Davis and 16 from Mark Young in a Big Eight game at Manhattan, Kan. Kansas State opened the second half with a 12-3 run against Oklahoma (14-4, 1-2) to snap a four-game losing streak and beat a ranked team for the first time in four tries.

OTHER GAMES

Jim Bartels scored 18 points on six-of-six shooting from three-point range in Columbus, Ohio, to give Iowa (13-5, 3-3) an 81-66 victory and drop Ohio State (4-12) to 0-6 in the Big Ten for the first time in 78 years. . . . Ronnie McMahan scored a career-high 33 points and Vanderbilt (8-6, 2-4) made 10 free throws in the final 1:11 of an 82-75 victory over Mississippi (5-11, 1-6) in an SEC game at Nashville, Tenn. . . . Darryl Wilson tied a career high with 26 points and Erick Dampier had 16 points and 16 rebounds as Mississippi State (11-4, 4-3) was a 73-60 winner over Louisiana State (10-5, 4-1) in an SEC game at Starkville, Miss. . . . Cuonzo Martin scored 23 points and Purdue (13-5, 3-2) dominated the inside in a 96-84 victory over Northwestern (4-11, 0-6) in Big Ten play at Evanston, Ill. It was the Wildcats’ ninth consecutive loss. . . . Danny Hurley made a driving shot from just inside the foul line with eight seconds left and Adrian Griffin finished with 23 points as Seton Hall (13-5, 4-4) was a 72-70 winner over Pittsburgh (5-11, 1-7) in Big East play at Pittsburgh. . . . Austin Croshere scored 18 to lead Providence (11-5, 3-5) to a 70-43 Big East rout at Boston College (6-9, 0-8). . . . Pooh Williamson made three consecutive three-point shots in the first half to spark a 24-5 run and lead Tulsa (11-4, 8-1) to a 71-54 Missouri Valley Conference victory over Southwest Missouri State (9-5, 2-5) at home. . . . Lorenzen Wright scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Memphis (14-5, 3-1) to an 84-60 Great Midwest Conference victory in overtime over St. Louis (12-4, 3-2).