COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Hurley Gets Duke Over Hill in 76-67 Win

Duke got the bad news just a few hours before Wednesday night’s game against Virginia. Swingman Grant Hill, who sprained his ankle in practice Tuesday, would be out of action for two to four weeks.

For a while, it looked as if Duke might have to play UCLA on Sunday without two key starters.

Then came some good news.

Point guard Bobby Hurley, who had been cleared to practice and wasn’t expected to play much, put in a solid 26 minutes and had four assists in a second-half surge that carried the top-ranked Blue Devils to a 76-67 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over Virginia at Durham, N.C.

Hurley finished with nine assists, and teammate Christian Laettner, who had his jersey retired before the game, had 32 points and 13 rebounds.

“Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting a night like this,” said Hurley, who suffered a broken right foot Feb. 2.

“I’m glad I was able to play Bobby for a couple minutes,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said with a grin. “No, truthfully, we had no idea how long he could go.”

Said Hurley: “I think I was a lot more comfortable in the second half. In the first half, I just wanted to try to get the feel for everything again. I haven’t really picked up a ball or anything like that in about three weeks, so I tried not to do too much.”

Duke was ahead, 34-32, at halftime, and the Blue Devils were nursing a 51-47 lead with 11 minutes left when Hurley took over, passing to Laettner for a dunk and Thomas Hill for a short jumper on consecutive possessions.

On Duke’s next trip down the floor, Hurley passed up an open jumper and flipped a pass to Laettner, who made a three-pointer.

The closest Virginia (12-12, 5-8) got after that was 64-58 on a short jumper by Ted Jeffries at the 3:18 mark.

Duke (22-2, 12-2) responded in familiar fashion. Hurley once again passed up an open shot to pass to Laettner for a three-pointer, and the Blue Devils were never threatened again.

No. 6 Missouri 75, Iowa State 71--Jeff Warren scored 20 points and Anthony Peeler hit four free throws in the final minute at Ames, Iowa, as the Tigers (20-4, 8-3) secured their fourth consecutive 20-victory season. Iowa State (18-9, 4-7), losing for the third time in a row, led, 42-38, at halftime and 49-42 after Fred Hoiberg’s layup with 15:53 left.

But the Cyclones went scoreless for the next 4:21 and Missouri ran off 12 points in a row.

No. 8 Ohio State 71, Purdue 64--Mark Baker scored six of his 17 points in a decisive 20-5 second-half run to lead the Buckeyes (18-5, 10-3) in a Big Ten game at West Lafayette, Ind.

Ohio State pulled within one game of first-place Indiana with five games remaining.

The Buckeyes survived going scoreless for more than three minutes in the final 6:09 for their first victory at Mackey Arena since 1985. Jim Jackson had 15 points for Ohio State.

No. 9 Arkansas 82, Auburn 74--The Razorbacks (21-6, 10-3) blew a 15-point lead before rallying for a Southeastern Conference victory at Birmingham.

Auburn (11-13, 4-9) took a three-point lead with 7 1/2 minutes to play but couldn’t hold off Arkansas as Oliver Miller dominated play for the Razorbacks.

Todd Day led Arkansas with 21 points.

No. 11 Kentucky 74, South Carolina 56--The Wildcats rolled to their sixth consecutive victory behind the three-point shooting of Deron Feldhaus in a Southeastern Conference game at Lexington, Ky.

Feldhaus hit three three-pointers during a 17-7 run in the first half for Kentucky (21-5, 10-3). South Carolina (10-14, 2-11) lost its 10th game in a row, its longest streak since the 1958-59 season. The school record for consecutive losses is 14.

No. 14 Oklahoma State 72, No. 25 Nebraska 51--The Cowboys got 17 points and eight rebounds from Byron Houston in a Big Eight game at Stillwater, Okla, and ended their losing streak at four.

Oklahoma State (22-5, 6-5) held Nebraska (17-7, 5-6) to 39% shooting and limited leading scorer Eric Piatkowski to five points, nine below his average.

The game included a fight between guards Darwyn Alexander of Oklahoma State and Jamar Johnson of Nebraska with 2:45 to play and the Cowboys leading 70-47. Both players were ejected and will miss the next game.

Randy Davis had 13 points and 13 rebounds, while Sean Sutton had 12 points for the Cowboys.

No. 16 Alabama 79, Mississippi State 69--Robert Horry scored 24 points to lead the Crimson Tide (21-6, 8-5) in a Southheast Conference game at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The Bulldogs (14-10, 6-7) led 35-32 after the half and jumped to a 40-32 lead with just over 18 minutes left. But the Crimson Tide battled back, and the lead changed several times.

Seton Hall 73, No. 18 Georgetown 71--Bryan Caver dribbled the length of the floor and scored a layup with 0.3 seconds left at East Rutherford, N.J. as the Pirates (17-7, 9-6) snapped the Hoyas’ (17-7, 10-5) winning streak at four in a Big East game.

Caver took an inbounds pass, drove up the left side of the court and to the basket for a finger-roll layup that gave Seton Hall its eighth victory in 10 games.

Caver had scored just two points before his game-winning drive.