Baylor upsets No. 8 Kentucky
No. 1 Indiana rout Coppin St.
LEXINGTON, Kenticky, Dec 2, (AP): Baylor’s comfort with the zone defense on Saturday created uneasiness for No. 8 Kentucky. It left the Wildcats with a 6455 loss to the Bears, a two-game losing streak and the end of their 54-game run at Rupp Arena. Not to mention a lot of soul searching. “They came in here and executed what they were supposed to be doing,” Kentucky freshman center Willie CauleyStein said. “I gave them credit for that. We shot ourselves in the foot. We didn’t make shots and gave up easy plays that could have helped us in the end.”
Kentucky’s struggles with Baylor’s combination of zone alignments were symbolized by its failure to get the ball inside to its big men and a failure to answer it from the outside.
The Wildcats (4-3) just shot 30 percent, their lowest under coach John Calipari. That was 10 percent worse than in Thursday’s 64-50 loss at Notre Dame.
“That’s what happens when you have a bunch of freshmen out there,” Calipari said.
Pierre Jackson scored 17 points and Isaiah Austin and A.J. Walton each added 11 for the Bears (5-2), who beat the Wildcats for the first time in eight tries. Baylor also avenged last year’s Elite Eight loss to Kentucky, which went on to win its eighth national title with freshmen Anthony Davis and Michael KiddGilchrist leading the way. Calipari’s latest crop of talented of talented freshmen is clearly not at that level just yet.
Indiana 87, Coppin St 51 In Bloomington, Indiana, there was no time for Indiana to head back to the practice court at halftime.
So Tom Crean and his assistant coaches took to a hallway between Assembly Hall and Indiana’s practice facility, Cook Hall, to work on the press the No. 1 Hoosiers would be using in the second half. It worked. Indiana forced eight second-half turnovers and harassed Coppin State into 38-percent shooting in the second half of an 87-51 win over the Eagles on Saturday night.
‘’We just went into that little corner hallway, everybody that wasn’t in just stood back,’’ Crean said. ‘’It was more of a reminder, just kind of a focus-centered thing.’’
The Hoosiers (8-0) didn’t appear focused the way they started against the Eagles (1-6), who were playing a No. 1 team for the first time in school history.
Indiana struggled to shoot against Coppin State’s zone, missing its first nine shots from the field. It was 9-2 before the Hoosiers’ first field goal, a putback by Christian Watford.
Indiana senior forward, who struggled in a win over No. 14 North Carolina on Tuesday, also gave the Hoosiers their first lead of the night on Saturday when his 3pointer broke an 11-11 tie. They would not trail again. Crean felt his team came out ready to go, despite the cold-shooting start.
Duke 88, Delaware 50 In Durham, after two wins against topfive teams in the past week, No. 2 Duke needed a breather. Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee made sure the Blue Devils got one.
Kelly scored 15 of his 18 points in the decisive first half and Plumlee added a double-double in Duke’s 88-50 rout of Delaware on Saturday.
Plumlee had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Blue Devils (8-0), who never trailed, shot 52 percent and led by 46.
“If playing hard is our habit,” Plumlee said, “we’ll be a good team and keep getting better.”
Seth Curry, the other scholarship senior on the roster, missed the first game of his career at Duke with an injured ankle. Against the struggling Blue Hens (2-6), the Blue Devils certainly didn’t need him.
“When a guy like that is out ... it’s everybody’s responsibility to step up,” redshirt freshman Alex Murphy said.
Devon Saddler had 23 points for Delaware, which was beaten soundly by the highest ranked opponent it had ever faced. Saddler was 8 of 22 and took more than one-third of his team’s shots.
“We have tried to put ourselves in position to play some `up’ games, to play the best competition possible,” Blue Hens coach Monte Ross said. “When you do that, there is always a possibility that you are going to lose some of those games.”