Sports News

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) Long before Jud Heathcote left Michigan State in 1995, he made sure veteran assistant Tom Izzo was hired as his successor.

Izzo and Heathcote now are tied atop the Michigan State record book with 340 victories after the No. 2 Spartans' 90-60 win over Valparaiso on Sunday.

It'll give the old friends something to discuss Sunday night, when Heathcote was to be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City. Izzo was catching a plane and headed for the ceremonies shortly after his Spartans (4-0) beat the Crusaders (1-3).

Read More...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Larry Bird and Magic Johnson have been linked since their epic 1979 NCAA title game. Now they're going into college basketball's hall of fame together.

Bird and Johnson were inducted into the National Collegiate Hall of Fame on Sunday in Kansas City. The honor comes 30 years after Johnson's Michigan State team beat Bird and Indiana State in a game that reshaped college basketball. Read More...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Jacob Pullen scored 26 points and Denis Clemente added 21 to lead Kansas State to an 83-75 victory over No. 18 Dayton on Sunday in the third-place game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

The scrappy Wildcats (4-1) built an early lead and had enough to hang on at the finish to beat the Flyers, who defeated No. 21 Georgia Tech in the first round of the tournament. Read More...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Louisville center Samardo Samuels lifted all 265 pounds off the ground and extended his right hand toward Freedom Hall's ceiling.

A year ago, the shot from Morgan State's Joe Davis might have made it over Samuels. That was 15 pounds ago. Read More...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Before the fifth-place game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt told backup Zachery Peacock that he would need to contribute two 3-pointers against Boston University.

Peacock delivered without a hitch, going 2 for 2 beyond the arc. The senior forward also led the No. 21 Yellow Jackets with 22 points in an 85-67 victory over the Terriers on Sunday. Read More...

LOS ANGELES (AP) UCLA will extend Nikola Dragovic's suspension for at least another game following his arrest and subsequent charge of felony assault.

Coach Ben Howland said Sunday that Dragovic won't play Monday against Pepperdine, although he will be allowed to sit on the bench in street clothes. Read More...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) When Jeff Capel left Virginia Commonwealth to become the head coach at Oklahoma four years ago, his contract mandated that he bring his new team back to Richmond to play the Rams.

Capel received a very warm welcome Saturday night, and then the Rams showed him that things are just fine without him. Read More...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins saw Rider's Brandon Penn pull up from well behind the 3-point line and stretched every last inch of his 6-foot-11 frame in an effort to get a hand on the ball.

Guarding an opponent 22 feet from the basket isn't something Cousins does often. And he plowed into Penn as the ball clanged off the rim, but Cousins' effort perhaps the surest sign that Kentucky coach John Calipari's message to his team that it needed to get serious about defense had come through loud and clear. Read More...

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) Duke doesn't have many guards. The ninth-ranked Blue Devils sure haven't lost their long-range touch.

They matched a school record with 18 3-pointers in a 104-67 romp against Radford on Saturday behind a season-high 20 points from freshman Andre Dawkins. Read More...

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) Butler coach Brad Stevens didn't even bother to look at the stat sheet Saturday night.

No reason to. Read More...