THE WEEK (Dec. 5-11)

EAST

The much-awaited matchup of freshmen Dwayne (Pearl) Washington of Syracuse and Kenny Smith of North Carolina, "two of the best guards to come out of New York City in the last 20 years," according to Syracuse Assistant Coach Brendan Malone, turned out to be a mismatch. Smith scored 11 points, making all five of his field-goal attempts, and had nine assists in the Tar Heels' 87-64 romp. Washington hit just three of 11 shots from the field and two of five free throws for eight points, and his five assists were negated by five turnovers.

"I really don't think it was a fair comparison," said Smith afterward. "With Sam [Perkins], Matt [Doherty] and Brad [Daugherty]...they really play so well. He [Washington] doesn't have those people up front." Nor does Pearl have a Michael Jordan to team with in the backcourt. Jordan's 19 points paced a balanced Carolina attack. Perkins and Doherty each got 16 points, while Daugherty scored 12 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

North Carolina State planned to celebrate its return to Reynolds Coliseum after 15 consecutive road games (and a 14-1 record dating to March 5) by first unfurling its 1974 championship banner, and then its brand-new, 1983 edition high in the rafters. But when the pregame ceremonies began, the 1974 banner wouldn't drop. Wolfpack Coach Jim Valvano might have considered the glitch an omen, but after N.C. State routed Western Carolina 82-61, Catamount Coach Steve Cottrell knew what really happened. "Maybe they unfurled us when they were trying to unfurl the banner," he said. Forward Lorenzo Charles had 27 points and 14 rebounds against Western, then added 23 points and 10 rebounds in an 82-56 victory over Hofstra. In that game Spud Webb, the 5'7" guard who had 49 dunks in two years at Midland (Texas) J.C., brought the crowd to its feet with his first two jams of the year.

Wake Forest struggled to beat Davidson 62-51, but the Deacons were devastating in a 72-46 rout of Appalachian State. Wake raced to a 16-0 lead and held the Mountaineers scoreless for the game's first 7:22. "It was one of those nights when you have to sit back and watch," said Mountaineers' Coach Kevin Cantwell. Maryland eased past Penn State 67-58 in Hershey, Pa., then shot 66.6% from the floor in a 78-67 defeat of Duquesne. Boston College breezed to a pair of easy victories, 88-71 over Division II Puget Sound and 90-59 over Brown.

WEST

New Mexico Guard Phil Smith may have been the shortest player on the floor (5'10"), but he was the big man in the Lobos' 65-60 upset of UCLA, the Bruins' 17th loss in 288 games at Pauley Pavilion. Smith scored a game-high 18 points, had five assists and seven rebounds. It was his driving layup with two minutes to play that put the Lobos ahead to stay, 57-56. "I never would have believed I'd be standing in Pauley Pavilion crying," said New Mexico Coach Gary Colson.

Even if he isn't best known for his humor, Indiana Coach Bobby Knight can poke fun at himself. When someone asked Knight why his Hoosiers had trekked all the way to El Paso to face UTEP, Knight explained, "One night someone got [Miner Coach Don] Haskins in a bar and started giving him trouble about his schedule. Haskins said, 'Yeah, but I know one s.o.b. who's dumb enough to play me at my place, and I'll call him in the morning.' And the next morning he called me." The Miners knocked off the Hoosiers 65-61, as Forward Fred Reynolds scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half, including six consecutive free throws in the last two minutes, which gave UTEP the victory.

Wichita State took a 67-66 overtime loss at Pepperdine, then got outrebounded 38-25 in a 75-60 blowout at Oregon. "All we wanted to do was match them [on the boards]," said Oregon Coach Don Monson, who got a career-high 30 points and six rebounds from 7-foot junior Blair Rasmussen.

Though three key men didn't play or, perhaps, because of them, Oregon State upset Iowa 53-48 to avenge the Beavers' 56-45 loss in Iowa City two weeks ago. "We had trouble against our scout team's press all week," said OSU freshman Forward Rick Berry. "That press was tougher than Iowa's." Leading the scout team were—you guessed it—Guard Darryl Flowers and forwards A.C. Green and Tyrone Miller, the three players sitting out six games for selling complimentary game tickets. "Those guys were really tough on us in practice," Berry said. The Beavers, in turn, were tougher on the Hawkeyes. Berry and sophomores Darrin Houston and Steve Woodside combined to score 36 points for Oregon State.

MIDWEST

To prepare for Louisville's swarming full-court press, Iowa's first-team offense practiced with seven defenders on the court. Even so, said Hawkeye Center Greg Stokes, "Louisville made us forget where we were. Their defense played like more than seven guys." While pummeling Iowa 79-58, the Cardinals made 13 steals and forced 22 turnovers, creating one layup after another for guards Lancaster Gordon, Milt Wagner and Jeff Hall, who combined for 50 points and 10 assists.

Kentucky's 72-50 rout of Kansas was the most lopsided loss ever by a Jayhawk team to a Wildcat team in Lawrence. Kentucky, which entered the game shooting a woeful 40.2% from the field, fattened up its percentage by sinking 29 of 45 (64.4%) against Kansas. "They are the best [college] team I've ever seen," said Jayhawk Coach Larry Brown. Melvin Turpin made 11 of 16 shots from the floor and scored a game-high 25 points, while Jim Master added 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field.

"Seldom do you see a home team shoot only one free throw," said Memphis State Coach Dana Kirk after the Tigers were upset 50-49 by Mississippi State. Seldom? The lone free throw, by Andre Turner, completed a three-point play that gave Memphis State its only lead, 47-46 with 5:18 to play. The visitors, meanwhile, sank 18 of 20 from the line, including two by Kelvin Hildreth with 12 seconds left that sealed the victory.

Arkansas played its best defensive game of the season in overwhelming East Tennessee State 79-50, but the Razorbacks lost sophomore Point Guard Willie Cutts, who was dismissed from the team by Coach Eddie Sutton. With 8:43 to play in the first half, Sutton yanked Cutts from the game after he missed a 20-foot jumper that Sutton felt he shouldn't have taken. When Cutts refused to sit next to Sutton on the bench and headed for another seat, the coach grabbed Cutts's jersey. Cutts pulled free, left the floor, dressed and exited Barnhill Arena. Afterward, Sutton announced: "Willie Cutts will never play another game at the University of Arkansas."

Without Cutts and Forward Leroy Sutton, who broke a bone in his right hand in practice the day after Cutts's dismissal, the Hogs whipped Southwest Missouri State 56-41 but were defeated 67-54 at Nebraska.

MIDEAST

With 13:16 to play and Houston clinging to a 52-50 lead over LSU, the Cougars' Akeem Abdul Olajuwon was on the bench with four fouls. Forward Michael Young whispered to teammate Reid Gettys during a time-out, "Give me the ball." Whereupon Gettys saw to just that, and Young scored 13 of his game-high 25 points to spark a 100-91 victory over the Tigers. Houston was surprisingly deadly from the line—obviously benefiting from a lesson in the art given by ex-Houston Rocket Calvin Murphy, the second-best foul shooter in NBA history, a few days earlier. The Cougars made 34 of 45 free throws, including 23 of 26 by Gettys and Alvin Franklin.

DePaul got a pair of foul shots from Guard Jerry McMillan with just 22 seconds to play to upend Georgetown 63-61 in Chicago's Horizon. The Blue Demons, who converted just 13 of 28 from the line, rallied from a 38-28 halftime deficit. "Our free-throw shooting was atrocious," said Coach Ray Meyer. "I thought I'd die." The Blue Demons survived by committing just three second-half turnovers against the Hoyas' full-court press. "That we had three turnovers is a tribute to Kenny Patterson," said Meyer. "He held the team together." Patterson and sophomore Tony Jackson led the Blue Demons with 15 points apiece.

Virginia Commonwealth had to bounce back from a 30-24 halftime deficit to hold off William & Mary 41-38 but whipped rival Richmond 59-45. The Rams sank 25 of 32 free throws against the Spiders, including a nine-for-nine performance by Calvin Duncan. Purdue got 15 points and seven rebounds from James Bullock in a 77-65 defeat of Boston U., then pounded Tampa 106-50. The 56-point margin of victory was the Boilermakers' biggest since 1910.

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PHOTO

Jordan rose to the occasion for Carolina.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

KARL (Mailman) MALONE: The sophomore center scored 85 points, made 34 of 52 shots from the floor and had 27 rebounds as Louisiana Tech beat Centenary, Northwestern (La.) State and Kent State.