The New York Times-20080128-Making Case for Ranking- Florida Upsets Vanderbilt

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Making Case for Ranking, Florida Upsets Vanderbilt

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Walter Hodge scored a career-high 19 points, Nick Calathes added 15 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds, and Florida used a huge first-half run at home Sunday to defeat No. 14 Vanderbilt, 86-64.

The victory could land the two-time defending national champion Gators (18-3, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) back in the Associated Press top 25 for the first time since late November.

Coach Billy Donovan said he would prefer that his young and inexperienced team stay out of the national spotlight.

It's like poison, Donovan said. If they want to drink the poison and take it in, they'll start to feel good about themselves, think they're a lot better than they really are. They'll stop working and they'll get complacent. And you know what? They'll get humbled.

You can do one of two things: You can humble yourself, or life will humble you. I think it's a lot easier to find a way to humble yourself.

The Gators certainly humbled Vanderbilt. They put together a 23-0 run and built a 34-6 lead in the first 12 minutes of the game, then cruised to their 13th victory in 15 games against the Commodores (17-3, 2-3). The streak includes seven in a row at home.

SETON HALL 64, CINCINNATI 61 Brian Laing scored 23 points, 16 in the second half, and Jamar Nutter scored 16 of his 20 points in the first, leading host Seton Hall to its fourth victory in a row.

Seton Hall (14-6, 4-3) moved into a four-way tie for third place in the Big East standings, the highest the Pirates have been in the league this late in the season in more than five years.

After Cincinnati (9-11, 4-4) jumped to a 9-0 lead over the first four minutes, Nutter scored 11 of his team's first 14 points. He hit a 3-pointer to cap a 10-0 run that gave the Pirates the lead for good at 31-30.

SYRACUSE 71, PROVIDENCE 64 Donte' Greene scored 24 points and had a 3-pointer that broke a late tie as undermanned Syracuse (14-7, 4-4 Big East) beat visiting Providence (12-7, 3-4).

Syracuse, which had seven healthy scholarship players, played without the freshman guard Scoop Jardine, who was suspended indefinitely for a violation of university policy.

DUKE 93, MARYLAND 84 DeMarcus Nelson scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half, Gerald Henderson added 23, and No. 4 Duke rallied to win at Maryland after facing its biggest deficit of the season.

Duke (17-1, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), which had not trailed by more than 6 points in any previous game, fell behind by 51-42 at halftime.

But the Blue Devils fought back in front of a boisterous capacity crowd hopeful of seeing Maryland (12-8, 2-3) earn its sixth victory in eight games against the Blue Devils.

MICHIGAN ST. 77, MICHIGAN 62 No. 10 Michigan State (18-2, 6-1 Big Ten) beat visiting Michigan (5-15, 1-7) to match the 2000-1 team for the best 20-game record in program history.

XAVIER 77, MASSACHUSETTS 65 Drew Lavender scored 19 points and No. 23 Xavier (17-4, 5-1) won at Massachusetts (13-6, 2-3) to move atop the Atlantic 10.

ARMY 69, NAVY 67 Jarell Brown scored a career-high 35 points as Army (9-10, 2-3 Patriot League) won at Navy (9-11, 2-3) in the teams' 107th meeting. Navy leads the series, 60-47.

RIDER 76, ST. PETER'S 67 Jason Thompson scored 18 points as visiting Rider (14-5, 8-2 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) held off St. Peter's (5-16, 1-9).

WAGNER 71, F.D.U. 67 Mark Porter scored 19 points as visiting Wagner (14-5, 7-1 Northeast Conference) held off a late rally by Fairleigh Dickinson (6-12, 2-6).

IN OTHER GAMES Charon Fisher scored 25 points to lead Niagara (13-6, 7-3 MAAC) to a 73-61 victory at Fairfield (7-13, 5-5). ... Siena (13-7, 8-2 MAAC) overcame a 14-point first-half deficit in a 64-51 win at Iona (7-15, 3-7). ... Lincoln Gunn had 13 points to lead host Princeton (3-12) to a 60-46 win over Dominican (10-9), a Division II university in Blauvelt, N.Y.

[Illustration]PHOTO: Florida's Walter Hodge, who scored a career-high 19 points, driving past Alex Gordon. (PHOTOGRAPH BY AARON DAYE/THE GAINESVILLE SUN)