The Week (dec. 2-8)

WEST

Washington used suffocating defense and superior conditioning—the kind Pavlov used, that is—to nip Tulsa 72-68. At critical moments during the home game, Husky coach Andy Russo stood and whistled the student section into a raucous frenzy. Trailing the Golden Hurricane by five points with less than three minutes to play, Russo stood, his arms flapping madly for extra effect, and pierced the air at the Hec Edmundson Pavilion with shrill whistling. The crowd went wild, whereupon the Huskies forced two turnovers, blocked a shot and scored five unanswered points. The game went into overtime. Then Christian Welp, Washington's 7-foot junior center, scored eight of his 24 points to help decide the outcome. "You have to really give credit to the crowd," said Russo. "Every time they got with it, we got with it. They were the difference."

Stanford coach Tom Davis gushed, "I guess this is what it's like to coach in the pros," after the Cardinal outran Yale 129-108 in the first round of its Apple Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. Stanford led 70-52 at the half. "We had a hard time convincing the sports information services that this was not a final score," said Cardinal SID Steve Raczynski. What went around came around: Stanford lost in the final the next night to Richmond, 57-53.

SOUTHEAST

Georgia Tech, a darling in the preseason that had been underwhelming in a 3-1 start, slouched into Saturday's game against Georgia having lost seven straight to the Bulldogs. To shock his troops out of their torpor, Tech coach Bobby Cremins showed them a horror film: last year's game, which went to the Dawgs 60-59 after Tech blew a late eight-point lead. Having obviously learned the lessons of history, the Yellow Jackets won 89-65, going away. The victory was Tech's first effort worthy of its lofty ranking.

Anthony Jones, who forsook Georgetown three years ago for the fast times at Nevada-Las Vegas, had a direct hand in the Runnin' Rebels' 64-63 overtime defeat of Maryland. His 19-foot J with five seconds to play in regulation brought on the OT, in which the Terps were out-scored 4-3. Armon (Hammer) Gilliam scored all UNLV's OT points.

Charles G. (don't call me Lefty all the time) Driesell later lamented his team's failure to foul in the final seconds of regulation. "We should have been all over Jones before he got a chance to shoot."

An unusual December intra-ACC contest matched two undefeateds, Virginia and Duke. Tommy Amaker's 52-foot Hail Mary at the halftime buzzer gave the Blue Devils a 34-33 lead after they had trailed most of the period. Duke went on to win 72-64.

It was a week of personal highs for Wake Forest's 5'3" Tyrone Bogues. One such best—his 12 assists in a two-point loss to Boston College—seemed less remarkable, somehow, than the other, his game-high eight rebounds in a 67-63 win over Davidson earlier in the week.

MIDWEST