The Week (jan. 28-feb. 3)

"I'm just beginning to grasp the game," said Texas A&M's Rudy Woods. "I'll play great, then sloppy, then great, then sloppy. It's all mental, but once I get set you'll see the real me." The real Woods, a 6'11", 215-pound sequoia, helped rout Houston 92-79 by hitting 13 of 17 floor shots, scoring 31 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and blocking four shots. Aggie David Britton added 28 points. True to his form, Woods slipped to a 14-point game against Baylor, but the Aggies nevertheless beat the Bears 59-50.

Arkansas remained one game behind A&M in the Southwestern Conference by twice using beat-the-clock shots to come out on top. Mike Young's 16-foot basket with two seconds left in overtime finished off Texas Tech 71-69. It was hard to outdo a dramatic field goal like that, but that's exactly what U. S. Reed of the Razorbacks did. Texas, which had led 34-26, lost 60-59 when Reed wedged his way between two Longhorns for an 18-foot basket at the buzzer.

"I don't know if they were thinking about their girl friends or their national ranking or what," Louisville Coach Denny Crum said. Whatever their trouble, the Cardinals got their minds on the game long enough to rally from a 37-30 halftime disadvantage and go on to defeat Tulane 64-60.

Creighton had high hopes of toppling unbeaten DePaul after scoring the final eight points of the first half to trail only 32-30. But after being scolded by Coach Ray Meyer during the intermission, the Blue Demons ruined the Bluejays' dreams. Skip Dillard scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half, Clyde Bradshaw had 13 of his 15 during that same stretch, Mark Aguirre finished with 20 points, and DePaul triumphed 84-73. Creighton then moved to within a game of Missouri Valley leader Bradley by winning twice, while the Braves won two of three games.

Before playing at Missouri, Kansas State's Rolando Blackman said, "Ever since late last season I've felt I'm the best player in the Big Eight." Big words. And Blackman promptly backed them up with big deeds. The Wildcats' improved zone defense and 24-16 rebounding margin both took their toll on the Tigers. But K-State needed Blackman, a 21-point scorer, to apply the finishing touches. When Missouri made a late stretch run, it was Blackman who scored all 11 of his team's points, six on back-door layups, to beat the Tigers 66-64. Blackman was successful on nine of 11 field-goal tries at Oklahoma, but missed all three of his free throws, including a critical one in the waning moments. The Sooners capitalized on that failure when they rebounded Blackman's shot, and fed Terry Stotts, who canned a 25-footer with 28 seconds remaining to trim the Wildcat lead to 55-54. Then, after Oklahoma's full-court press forced a turnover, Aaron Curry tossed in the last of his 16 points with a basket three seconds from the end to make the Sooners 56-55 winners. That left Oklahoma tied with Missouri and Nebraska, one game back of Kansas State in the Big Eight. The Huskers stayed in contention by knocking off the Sooners 59-58.

"It's difficult to run in this conference because nobody wants to run with you," Missouri Coach Norm Stewart lamented. "If you're going to play 28 minutes of defense and 12 minutes of offense, you'd better shoot well when you get the ball." The Tigers shot well against Nebraska—.625—and got 20 points from Curtis Berry and another 17 points and eight rebounds from Steve Stipanovich to defeat the Huskers 73-60.

1. LOUISVILLE (17-2)
2. TEXAS A&M (17-5)
3. KANSAS STATE (16-4)

WEST

"Whew! Now I can get back to my nice comfortable waterbed in Corvallis," said Oregon State Guard Ray Blume after he had scored 19 points and his team had survived two near-miss shots by Southern Cal to salvage a 73-72 victory that ended a four-game, eight-day road odyssey. Not surprisingly, all the Beavers were eager to return home, after two wins by a total of three points sandwiched around a 93-67 loss at UCLA. Playing stall-ball all the way, Stanford lost by only two points—18-16—to Oregon State in a game during which no points were scored in the last 10:01. Then it was on to UCLA, where the Bruins avenged an earlier loss to the Beavers. UCLA's Mike Sanders scored 19 points and freshmen Cliff Pruitt and Rod Foster combined for 31 more.

Arizona State tied Oregon State for first place in the Pac-10, setting up a showdown this week in Corvallis. The Sun Devils' starting front line, which averages 6'10", helped Arizona State get 17 more rebounds than California and 11 more than Stanford. The Golden Bears sought to protect a 14-8 lead by using a four-corner offense with 13:49 left in the first half. However, Sun Devil Kurt Nimphius blocked Cal's first shot from the spread, and his team began a run that led to a 69-58 triumph. Although the entire front line fouled out against Stanford, Arizona State won 93-80. Nimphius got 18 points and 11 rebounds before he left. The Sun Devils also benefited from 22 points and 10 assists from Fat Lever.