No. 2 Memphis Beats USC 62-58 In OT

NEW YORK (AP) _ It wasn't as if Madison Square Garden became a kiddie park for the day. All people were talking about as the Jimmy V Classic approached were the freshmen who would be on display in

Wednesday, December 5th 2007, 6:48 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ It wasn't as if Madison Square Garden became a kiddie park for the day. All people were talking about as the Jimmy V Classic approached were the freshmen who would be on display in the doubleheader.

None of the three _ Michael Beasley of Kansas State, O.J. Mayo of Southern California or Derrick Rose of Memphis _ had a spectacular outing. They all looked like, well, freshmen.

``I think what you saw tonight was maturity, decision-making in the flow of the game, when to go and when to stop,'' Memphis coach John Calipari said after his second-ranked Tigers beat No. 24 Southern California 62-58 in overtime Tuesday night. ``They both did the same things, took bad shots. That's freshmen stuff.''

Rose had nine points and 10 rebounds but the 6-foot-3 guard was 3-for-9 from the field and had five turnovers.

``The hype sometimes you want to be that person but that comes with the territory,'' Rose said. ``You want all the hype. You just go out and play hard and you'll get it but you've got to make sure you don't get too bigheaded when you get it.''

In other Top 25 games, it was: No. 1 North Carolina 106, Penn 71; No. 9 Michigan State 66, Bradley 61; and No. 10 Tennessee 76, Chattanooga 70.

Mayo was 6-for-20 from the field _ including missing seven straight shots over the last 14 minutes of regulation and the first 4:45 of overtime.

``I'm just trying to get better as a player,'' Mayo said. ``I'm not perfect, but I strive to be perfect. Nobody plays perfect, but I just try to get better.''

Beasley, the leading scorer (26.7) and rebounder (15.0) in the country, had 19 points and 13 rebounds _ his eighth double-double in as many college games _ but the Wildcats lost 68-59 to Notre Dame in the opener.

Beasley is not available to the media until Dec. 16.

The Trojans (6-3) slowed down the pace of the game to their liking and used a triangle-and-2 to further hinder Memphis' offense.

``There's only a few teams that will try to run with us,'' Calipari said. ``What you're doing is hoping we don't make shots and tonight we didn't make any.''

The Tigers (7-0) shot 37.3 percent for the game (25-for-67) and committed 22 turnovers against a defense the coaching staff laid out for the players about two hours before the game in a ballroom in the midtown hotel they were staying in.

``Considering we had no poise against Kansas 48 hours before I'm proud of this team,'' Southern California coach Tim Floyd said. ``We played with more of a purpose on the defensive end. The kids tried the triangle-and-2 and ran with it.''

The Trojans were 19-for-66 from the field (28.8 percent), including 1-for-9 on 3s, and turned the ball over 21 times.

``We wanted to muck it up some and that's why we went to the triangle-and-2,'' Floyd said. ``Good teams shoot 35, 36 percent and win. We shot 28 percent and went overtime with the No. 2 team in the country. That means we're doing a lot of things well.''

Robert Dozier had 13 points for Memphis and Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 10.

Freshman Davon Jefferson had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Trojans, who lost to No. 3 Kansas 59-55 over the weekend.

Southern California often had three freshmen on the court, sometimes with two sophomores.

``We've got to get playing quicker, playing faster,'' Floyd said. ``We're trying to match other people's poise. I don't believe there's a team in the country with greater upside than us.''

Rose gave Memphis the lead for good with two free throws 39 seconds into overtime and Douglas-Roberts made it 58-54 with a putback.

Mayo's driving basket with 15 seconds left was Southern Cal's first field goal in 12:38 and made it 61-58.

Rose made one of two free throws with 12 seconds left for the final margin.

Douglas-Roberts made two free throws with 33 seconds left in regulation _ the Tigers were 1-for-8 from the line before that _ to give Memphis a 54-51 lead.

Jefferson made two free throws for the Trojans 16 seconds later.

Douglas-Roberts missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 8.1 seconds to go and he fouled Daniel Hackett going for the rebound.

Hackett, a 79 percent free-throw shooter who was 2-for-2 from the line for the game, made the first and missed the second with 5.9 seconds left, leaving it tied at 54.

Dozier's 3-point attempt from the left corner was off the rim at the buzzer.

``I was disappointed in a couple of things at the end of regulation,'' Calipari said. ``We missed a free throw, we tapped it, we don't grab it, then we foul. I got thoroughly out-coached this game, believe me, thoroughly out-coached.''

No. 1 North Carolina 106, Penn 71

Tyler Hansbrough scored 29 points and Danny Green had 19 to lead North Carolina in Philadelphia.

The Tar Heels, coming off an 86-77 win over Kentucky, are 8-0 for the first time since the 1998-99 season. North Carolina made 15 of its first 20 shots in the second half.

Tyler Bernardini led Penn (2-7) with a career-high 26 points and Brian Grandieri had 17.

No. 9 Michigan State 66, Bradley 61

Drew Neitzel's clutch 3-pointer started an important run and Raymar Morgan scored 15 for the visiting Spartans.

Michigan State (7-1) trailed by nine in the second half but Neitzel came through in the latter stages after struggling for most of the game.

Daniel Ruffin scored 17 points for Bradley (6-3).

No. 10 Tennessee 76, Chattanooga 70

Chris Lofton had 16 points, JaJuan Smith added 13 and Tennessee survived a scare.

Playing their first true road test of the season, the Volunteers (8-1) shot a season-low 36 percent from the field.

Stephen McDowell had 14 points for Chattanooga (4-4), which fell to 5-30 against its in-state adversary.