Kentucky Gets Right Bounce

The last thing Nazr Mohammad expected was the ball in his hands with time winding down Tuesday night at Nashville. He thought about passing, noticed the clock and decided to shoot.

His flip shot bounced off the backboard and into the basket as time expired, lifting No. 7 Kentucky (19-2, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) to a 63-61 victory over Vanderbilt (14-5, 3-4).

“I can’t remember ever taking a shot that looked anything like that,” said Mohammad, who had spent much of the game on the bench in foul trouble.

Mohammad said he flipped the ball to the backboard hoping to keep it alive for someone else to follow the shot and was very surprised to see the ball fall through.

Vanderbilt’s Drew Maddux hit a high-arching three-point basket with 4.4 seconds left, tying the game for the 13th time, 61-61.

No. 9 Connecticut 63, Providence 56--The Huskies beat the Friars by allowing only one field goal in the final 8:47 of the game at Providence, R.I.

Six-foot-seven Kevin Freeman had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Connecticut (18-3, 8-2 Big East), which dominated inside against the smaller Friars, outrebounding them, 43-21.

Providence (8-10, 3-6) got 26 points from Jamel Thomas, 16 from Erron Maxey and only 14 from the rest of its players.

No. 24 Xavier 93, Duquesne 71--James Posey scored a career-high 25 points, most of them on dunks and layups, and matched his career high with 15 rebounds at Cincinnati.

The Musketeers (13-5, 5-3 Atlantic 10) made up for their only home loss of the last two seasons. Xavier had won its last 15 games since losing to Duquesne (8-12, 3-5) at Cincinnati Gardens last January.

OTHER GAMES

Minnesota (9-10, 2-6) beat Wisconsin (10-10, 3-5), 58-48, handing the Badgers their 12th consecutive loss at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.