Kentucky comes up big against No. 3 Vols

By: Associated Press | Tuesday, January 22, 2008 10:58 PM PST ∞

"Billyball" may have finally arrived at Kentucky.

Patrick Patterson scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Wildcats knocked off No. 3 Tennessee 72-66 on Tuesday night at Lexington, Ky.

Perry Stevenson added 14 points and seven rebounds for Kentucky (8-9, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) which held the Volunteers (16-2, 3-1) to just three field goals over the final 10 minutes to snap their 11-game winning streak.

Playing with the kind of sustained effort first-year coach Billy Gillispie has been preaching would come once his team was healthy, Kentucky shut down the SEC's highest-scoring offense with a gritty defensive performance that was the trademark of the teams Gillispie coached at Texas A&M.

Tennessee star Chris Lofton led the Volunteers with 22 points, knocking down five 3-pointers to set the SEC record for career 3s with 367, breaking the mark held by former Arkansas guard Pat Bradley.

Wayne Chism added 12 points and six rebounds and Ramar Smith had 10 points for the Volunteers, but Tennessee lost its composure after building a 10-point lead early in the second half.

Wisconsin 64, Michigan 61

At Madsion, Wis.: Marcus Landry and Michael Flowers both scored 14 points for the 11-ranked Badgers who remained undefeated in the Big Ten. Wisconsin (16-2, 6-0) couldn't shake the Wolverines (5-14, 1-6) despite shooting better than 50 percent from the field, committing just 11 turnovers and going 6-of-9 from the free throw line.

Drake 68, Creighton 60

At Omaha, Neb.: Josh Young hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer in overtime and No. 22 Drake (17-1, 8-0 Missouri Valley Conference) celebrated its first national ranking in 33 years, beating Creighton (14-4, 5-3). Young, the Valley's leading scorer, had missed the last three games with a sprained right ankle and was wearing a walking boot as recently as Monday. His 3 from the top of the key broke a 54-54 tie.

WOMEN'S TOP 25

Rutgers 71, Cincinnati 41

At Cincinnati: Kia Vaughn scored a season-high 17 points, and Heather Zurich added a career-high 16, leading No. 5 Rutgers (16-2, 6-0) to a victory over Cincinnati (10-8, 1-5) that extended the Scarlet Knights' winning streak to 11 games.

Pittsburgh 70, St. John's 64

At New York: Shavonte Zellous scored 28 points and No. 19 Pittsburgh won its ninth straight. Marcedes Walker added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Panthers (15-3, 5-0 Big East), who are 5-0 in the conference for only the second time in school history. Kristin Moore scored a career-high 15 points and Kia Wright added 10 to lead St. John's (10-8, 1-4).

DePaul 81, Notre Dame 80

At South Bend, Ind.: Deidre Naughton scored 20 points and DePaul (14-4, 3-2 Big East) shot a season-high 60 percent to beat No. 16 Notre Dame (14-4, 3-2).

Notes

South Carolina: Retiring coach Dave Odom will receive about $320,000 from South Carolina after stepping down April 1. Odom's contract calls for payments of $250,000 for next season and $50,000 for 2009-10. The 65-year-old coach will get paid almost $20,000 during April.

Virginia Tech: The school has extended the contract of men's coach Seth Greenberg through the 2012-13 season. Greenberg, who is 78-63 at Tech and 291-233 overall, took charge of the program in 2004 after three straight losing seasons under former coach Ricky Stokes.