Georgetown cruises past South Florida

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/04/2012 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Henry Sims had 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists, as No. 14 Georgetown cruised past South Florida, 75-45, on Saturday.

Otto Porter added 12 points and Jason Clark finished with 11 for the Hoyas (18-4, 8-3 Big East), who won for the fifth time in six games and improved to 12-1 at home this season. Markel Starks and Jabril Trawick chipped in 10 apiece.

Augustus Gilchrist scored a game-high 15 points for the Bulls (13-10, 6-4). They were coming off an 81-78 win over Providence, but were held to their third-lowest point total of the season.

Saturday's game featured the top-two scoring defenses in the Big East and the action was indicative of such a matchup.

The Bulls, who entered with the conference's best scoring defense, were up 5-4 before they went over 10 minutes without a field goal. The Hoyas took advantage, scoring 14 straight behind four points from both Sims and Clark.

Gilchrist broke the drought, hitting a top-of-the-key trey to make it 18-8 with three minutes left in the half and Anthony Collins had the Bulls down eight, 23-15, at the break with a buzzer-beating layup.

The Hoyas, who held Connecticut to 44 points in a win on Wednesday, continued to ratchet up the pressure in the second half. They opened with a 6-0 burst, as Hollis Thompson, Starks and Sims all scored to stretch the advantage to double-digits.

Later, an 8-0 run, highlighted by a trey from Starks and capped by a pair of free throws by Sims, had Georgetown up 20, 39-19, with 13 1/2 minutes remaining.

South Florida didn't threaten the rest of the way and Aaron Bowen sealed the final result with an alley-oop slam at the buzzer for the Hoyas, who will take on No. 2 Syracuse on Wednesday.

Game Notes

South Florida entered Saturday allowing 59.0 points per game, while Georgetown entered allowing 59.2 ppg...The Hoyas have held 12 teams, including five Big East opponents, to under 60 points this season...Georgetown leads the all-time series, 8-3.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.