Indiana’s last-second 3 stuns No. 1 Kentucky

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Christian Watford's buzzer-beating shot Saturday night put Indiana back on the basketball map.

He never even got to see whether the buzzer-beating 3-pointer counted.

With students pouring onto the court and officials scrambling to reach the scorer's table for a replay review, Watford's teammates and Indiana's fans didn't even bother waiting for the call. They already knew Indiana's 73-72 upset of No. 1 Kentucky would hold up.

"I thought it was good, so I would have been like stunned if it wasn't," said Indiana coach Tom Crean, who stood next to the officials, pressed up against the table. "And I have no idea how we would have got that game finished if it wasn't."

He wasn't joking, and, fortunately, no one had to figure out how to get everyone back in the stands.

A few minutes later, when the call finally came, Crean pumped his fast and went racing through the crowd, looking for his wife and children.

He wasn't the only one trying to get through the chaos. Hoosiers guard Victor Oladipo went into the stands looking for his mother, who had traveled from Maryland to watch. And Watford still had to get up after hitting the deck, looking up and seeing all the students, signs and raw emotion around him.

"I was scared for him, because there were people all over him," said Indiana guard Jordan Hulls, a Bloomington native and the only player on the roster who could remember such a crazy scene at Assembly Hall.

The last time it happened was Jan. 7, 2001, when Kirk Haston hit a buzzer-beating 3 from the right wing to beat No. 1 Michigan State. The only difference this time was that it came from the left wing.

But it still gave Indiana the biggest win of Crean's four seasons in Bloomington.

"It felt great," Watford said of the shot after scoring the last of his 20 points. "You can't really tell if it's going in. But I got it off, it felt great, it looked like I got enough rotation on it, and it went in."

Indiana is 9-0 for the first time since 1989-90 and on its way to the first winning season under Crean. It's the first time the Hoosiers have upset a No. 1 since taking down Duke 74-73 in the 2002 NCAA Tournament, and it's only the second time they've beaten a top-ranked team at Assembly Hall.

Kentucky (8-1) likely will lose its hold on the top spot this week after a two-week reign, and the Wildcats gave coach John Calipari plenty to critique.

Anthony Davis missed the front end of a one-and-one with 19.9 seconds to go. Doron Lamb, who led the Wildcats with 19 points, missed the first of two free throws with 5.6 seconds left. And with two fouls to give on Indiana's last possession, the Wildcats couldn't get close enough to draw even one.

Instead, Verdell Jones dribbled into the frontcourt, toward the corner, stopped and flipped the ball back to an open Watford, who made his fourth 3 of the game.

"Marquis Teague tried to foul, and they didn't call it. No one fouled," Calipari said. "We had two fouls to give. Two. ... Maybe they thought 'I'm not fouling; the time is going to run out,' I don't know."

Late brawl mars Xavier's victory over Cincinnati

CINCINNATI -- Xavier center Kenny Frease used a white cloth to soak up the blood streaming from a gash below his left eye. Coaches from both teams bear-hugged their players and tried to pull them from the bedlam.

The latest crosstown shootout got out of control Saturday and ended in chaos, a few seconds early. The repercussions haven't even started.

No. 8 Xavier beat crosstown rival Cincinnati 76-53 on Saturday in a game that featured a steady stream of trash talking and was called with 9.4 seconds left when the teams got into a brawl in a corner of the court.

Words escalated into shoves and swings. Both benches cleared. Frease left the court with his face bloodied after getting punched by Cincinnati's Yancy

Gates and then kicked by Cincinnati's Cheikh Mbodj as he lay on the floor. Xavier freshman Dez Wells threw a punch during the fracas.

Suspensions are expected after the videotapes are reviewed. The Atlantic 10 and the Big East were examining the brawl, along with the schools.

"There's no excuse for any of them, on our side, on their side," Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said angrily. "Guys need to grow up. There is zero excuse for that."

The last two games in the series have been one-sided, leading to heightened emotion. Cincinnati (5-3) won by 20 points on its home court last season. Xavier (8-0) answered with its second-most decisive win in the series' history.

-- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS