The ninth day of the 2008-09 college basketball season provided an individual matchup that could be hard to top the rest of the way.
Blake Griffin of Oklahoma and Stephen Curry of Davidson proved worthy of their status as preseason All-Americas, and their teams certainly looked like members of the Top 25 on a Tuesday night in November that will still be talked about in March.
"I'm really proud of our guys for digging in and finding a way," Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said of his 12th-ranked Sooners' 82-78 victory over No. 21 Davidson. "People got to witness two great performances, two special performances by two special players, what Blake and what Stephen did."
Griffin, a sophomore forward, had 25 points and a career-high 21 rebounds.
Curry, a junior guard, had a career-high 44 points on 12-of-29 shooting, including 6-of-15 from 3-point range.
What may have been most impressive for the player that led Davidson on its run to within a win of the Final Four last season, was that he led the Wildcats back from a 21-point deficit in the second half.
"When you have a team that shoots the basketball like they do, that's what can happen. And when you have a player as special as Stephen Curry, that's what can happen," Capel said.
"Even when we were up by that large amount, I kept telling our guys, `It's not over. We have to finish this game."'
In other games involving ranked teams on Tuesday, it was: No. 1 North Carolina 77, Kentucky 58; No. 7 Texas 76, Tulane 51; No. 9 Gonzaga 80, Idaho 46; No. 11 Purdue 78, Loyola of Chicago 46; No. 14 Tennessee 91, Tennessee-Martin 64; No. 15 Arizona State 59, San Diego State 52; No. 19 Southern California 73, New Mexico State 60; No. 24 Kansas 85, Florida Gulf Coast 45; and No. 25 Wisconsin 88, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 58.
At Norman, Okla., freshman Willie Warren added 20 points for Oklahoma (3-0), which advanced to the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off in New York. The Sooners will face UAB, which beat Arizona 72-71.
Curry scored nine points during Davidson's 14-0 run that got it within 61-54. But Griffin came up with a crucial offensive rebound in the final minute to keep the Wildcats (2-1) from getting the ball back with a chance to tie. Cade Davis hit three free throws in the final 24 seconds to seal the win for the Sooners.
"Fortunately for us, we had some other guys step up for us and had a little bit more help," Capel said.
Andrew Lovedale had 10 points and was the only other player in double figures for Davidson, which stuck around by only committing five turnovers against the deeper and taller Sooners. Oklahoma had a 43-31 advantage on the boards but turned it over 17 times.
