The last time the rest of the country looked in on UCLA, theBruins played their way into the national championship game withdefense. They needed a big dose of it Saturday.
The Bruins survived their first serious challenge at No. 1 withlate-game defensive stops in a 65-62 victory over No. 6 Texas A&M inthe John R. Wooden Classic in Anaheim, Calif.
"That was two teams fighting at it pretty hard," Aggies coachBilly Gillispie said. "A lot of mistakes made, but a lot of big-time plays."
Josh Shipp scored 18 points, and foul-plagued Arron Afflalo hadeight of his 13 over the final nine minutes for the Bruins (8-0).Darren Collison added 15 points but had six of the team's 13turnovers.
"They came off a loss to LSU, so we knew we were going to gettheir best shot," Shipp said.
Acie Law scored 21 points for Texas A&M (7-2), which controlledthe boards 34-23 and outshot UCLA in the second half. Dominique Kirkadded 12 points for the Aggies, and Joseph Jones had 11 points and13 rebounds.
No. 3 North Carolina 94, High Point 69: Tyler Hansbrough had 24points, and the host Tar Heels (7-1) gave coach Roy Williams his500th career victory.
Williams reached the 500-win mark in his 19th season, faster thanany other Division I coach. Jerry Tarkanian won his 500th game inhis 20th season.
Texas Tech 98, Centenary 64: Bob Knight moved two wins behind all-time leader Dean Smith on the Division I career victory list.Knight's 877th win broke his tie for second place with Kentucky'sAdolph Rupp and left him behind only the former North Carolinacoach.
No. 2 Pittsburgh 70, Buffalo 67: Aaron Gray scored 19 points andadded 11 rebounds, helping the Panthers (10-0) overcome an 11-pointdeficit and pull out a victory over the Bulls in Amherst, N.Y.
No. 4 Alabama 92, Alabama State 58: Richard Hendrix scored 34points on 15-for-19 shooting to help the Crimson Tide (8-1) coastdespite the absence of stars Jermareo Davidson and Ronald Steele.
Davidson has withdrawn from fall semester after missing someclasses following the death of his girlfriend in a November caraccident. He is expected to be eligible for next Saturday's gameagainst Southern Mississippi once final exams are over. Steele isnursing an ankle injury.
Indiana State 72, No. 15 Butler 64: Gabe Moore scored a career-high 24 points as the host Sycamores ruined the nation's mostsurprising start. Mike Green had 18 points for Butler (10-1), whichshot an uncharacteristic 41.5 percent from the field and was 8-for-28 from three-point range.
It was the third consecutive win for Indiana State (5-3) in the122-game series between the in-state rivals.
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