My Sports News Digest

MURRAY, Ky. — Steve Prohm walked to midcourt, grabbed the microphone, thanked the fans and announced that he wanted to honor Murray State’s seniors. Again. So out walked Jewuan Long, Ivan Aska and Donte Poole. Again. And nobody seemed to care that we’d already done this a few minutes before tipoff. Then the players’ parents were summoned. Then a message from former coach Billy Kennedy was delivered. Then a montage played in two corners of the CFSB Center. Then the Racers cut down the nets. “We just wanted to keep it going,” Prohm told me about 45 minutes after the [...]

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – As motivation to keep the Rupp Arena crowd rowdy, Kentucky coach John Calipari has said when the Wildcats lose home games, he won’t stick around to sign autographs. Three years into his tenure, he’s still signed after every home game. Terrence Jones had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 1 Kentucky to a 77-62 victory over Mississippi on Saturday, the Wildcats’ 50th consecutive win at home. “I made an executive decision with the radio group outside, the 9,000 people that stay after,” Calipari said, referring to the fans that stick around to hear Calipari’s interview [...]

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CBSSports.com wire reportsFeb. 18, 2012 HARTFORD, Conn. — Marquette outrebounded and outhustled a much bigger Connecticut team on its way to a 15-point road win that keeps the Golden Eagles in position for a double bye in next month’s Big East tournament. Jae Crowder had 29 points and 12 rebounds and Darius Johnson-Odom added 24 in the 79-64 win, the 10th in 11 games for No. 12 Marquette (22-5, 11-3 Big East). “It’s a jubilant locker room,” said coach Buzz Williams. “I’m extremely pleased with our hearts and our instincts and the intellect of our team.” Johnson-Odom and Crowder combined [...]

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BOSTON – Corbin Miller scored 14 points and Keith Wright tallied a double-double to help Harvard complete the regular-season sweep over Brown with a 69-42 win on Friday night, keeping the Crimson in first place in the Ivy League. Wright had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Harvard (22-3, 8-1), which used a 22-2 run in the first half to put this one out of reach early and solidify its standing atop the conference. The Crimson have now won 10 of their last 11 games. Harvard led by 21 points at the break and outscored the Bears 32-26 in the [...]

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Is St. Mary’s at Murray State what we hoped it would be? No. A few losses screwed it up. But it’s still great and worthy of leading the Weekend Look Ahead. Top game: It was supposed to be the highlight of BracketBuster weekend, and still is, I guess. But I liked this game better when it looked like the future WCC champ (Saint Mary’s) would be visiting the nation’s lone undefeated team (Murray State). Now there’s no guarantee that SMC will be the WCC champ considering the Gaels have dropped two of their past three. And Murray State lost to [...]

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EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State had its way with Wisconsin in a way the Spartans hadn’t since beating the Badgers for the first of four times during their 2000 national championship season. Draymond Green had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Keith Appling scored 20 points and No. 7 Michigan State beat No. 15 Wisconsin 69-55 on Thursday night to move back into a first-place tie with No. 6 Ohio State. This was its sixth win over a ranked team this season, most in Division I. The Spartans’ margin of victory was their largest in the series since Feb. 12, [...]

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STORRS, Conn. — Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun will miss at least two more games while he receives treatment for his ailing back, the school said Wednesday. Calhoun has sat out four games because of spinal stenosis, including Wednesday’s 80-54 win over DePaul. He also will miss Saturday’s game against Marquette and Monday’s game against Villanova. “I am happy that we seem to have located the problem, and I am currently moving forward with treatment,” Calhoun said in a statement. “We have to give that treatment time to see whether or not it is effective.” Calhoun, who has had back pain [...]

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. – For the second straight game, Jack Cooley was shoved to the floor by an opposing player. And for the second straight game, Cooley responded with a scoring outburst for Notre Dame. The 6-foot-9 forward scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half and had 18 rebounds to lead the 23rd-ranked Fighting Irish to a 71-53 victory over Rutgers on Wednesday night. “They really shouldn’t just push me to the floor,” Cooley said, also referring to the win over DePaul on Saturday. “It really doesn’t work out good. It kind of lit a fire under [...]

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