SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP)—Brandon Triche is Syracuse’s top free throw shooter, and in his mind if the first one he takes in a game feels good he’s going to have a good game at the line.  On Saturday, with West Virginia and the third-ranked Orange clawing for a victory and the score tied 61-all with 88 seconds left, Triche swished a pair of free throws—his only attempts of the game—and Syracuse held on for a 63-61 victory.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP)—Early in the week, Florida coach Billy Donovan called center Patric Young into his office for a little chat.  Donovan wanted Young to play with more energy, more passion and more enthusiasm.  Clearly, Young embraced the challenge.  Young scored 12 points off the bench, making several crowd-rousing plays in the second half, and No. 14 Florida beat No. 18 Mississippi State 69-57 Saturday to extend its home winning streak to 17 games.

AMES, Iowa (AP)—Royce White has been so bad from the free throw line lately that his struggles have literally turned into nightmares.  A few hours after waking up from a dream in which he couldn’t hit anything from the line, White sank the two biggest freebies of his career to give Iowa State a landmark win for coach Fred Hoiberg.  White had 18 points and nine rebounds as the Cyclones upset fifth-ranked Kansas 72-64 on Saturday, snap ping the Jayhawks’ winning streak at 10 games.

TOWSON, Md. (AP)—Erique Gumbs learned a valuable lesson a couple of days ago after Towson coach Pat Skerry tried to inspire his team that had lost an NCAA-record 41 straight games, showing them Muhammad Ali’s famous “rope-a-dope” boxing match against George Foreman.