No. 19 Florida edges No. 13 Kansas
Scottie Wilbekin scored a career-high 18 points as the Gators defeated the Jayhawks, 67-61.
SCOTTIE WILBEKIN scored a career-high 18 points, Dorian Finney-Smith added 15 and No. 19 Florida held on to beat No. 13 Kansas, 67-61, last night in Gainesville.
The Gators bounced back from a buzzer-beater loss at No. 9 Connecticut last week and extended their home-winning streak to 21 games. The latest victory came in the Big 12-SEC Challenge and surely will be meaningful when the NCAA Tournament seeds are settled in March.
Wilbekin, who injured his right ankle against the Huskies 8 days ago, made 7 of 12 shots and added six assists.
"It just feels like we're coming together as a whole,'' Wilbekin said.
Freshman Andrew Wiggins led the Jayhawks (6-3) with 26 points and 11 rebounds - his first double-double and both career highs. Kansas has lost two straight.
The Gators (7-2) went on a 21-0 run and led by as many as 18 points in the first half, but Kansas made it 60-55 on Wiggins' three-pointer with 55.8 seconds remaining. It was his second three in the final 1:20.
In other games
At West Virginia, Przemek Karnowski scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as No. 20 Gonzaga (9-1) defeated the Mountaineers, 80-76.
The visitors scored 45 points in the second half.
* At Kentucky, Julius Randle had 17 points and 11 rebounds as the No. 11 Wildcats (8-2) handed Boise State (8-1) its first loss, 70-55.
Noteworthy
* A former Rutgers basketball player claims in a lawsuit that he was subjected to physical and emotional abuse at the hands of fired coach Mike Rice.
Derrick Randall played for Rutgers from 2011 until last spring. He was seen in practice videos where players were shoved, kicked and berated by Rice. After the videos went public last spring, Rice was fired and athletic director Tim Pernetti and other school officials resigned.
Randall's lawsuit, filed Friday and made public Monday, claims he suffers from learning disabilities and experienced emotional trauma from Rice's behavior. Randall left Rutgers this year.
Named in the lawsuit are Rice, Pernetti, former assistant coach James Martelli, Rutgers president Robert Barchi and two other school officials. It seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages. Martelli resigned after the video surfaced. The two officials, Rutgers board of governors member Mark Hershhorn and Janine Purcaro, CFO for intercollegiate athletics, are still employed by the university.