SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Jim Boeheim called it just another number. The message board in the Carrier Dome didn't agree.
Moments after his third-ranked Syracuse Orange held off Detroit for a 72-68 victory Monday night in the Gotham Classic, making Boeheim just the third Division I men's coach to reach 900 wins, Hall of Famer Dave Bing, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and Louisville's Rick Pitino offered congratulations on the big screens inside the Teflon dome as the hometown faithful cheered.
Boeheim, 68 and in his 37th year at his alma mater, is 900-304 and joined an elite fraternity. Krzyzewski (936) and Bob Knight (902) are the only other men's Division I coaches to win that many games.
"To me, it's just a number," said Boeheim, whose first victory was against Harvard in 1976. "If I get 900, have I got to get more? That's why maybe it's just not that important to me because to me it's just a number, and the only number that matters is how this team does."
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So far, it's done OK.
James Southerland had 22 points for Syracuse (10-0), which increased its home winning streak to 30 games, longest in the nation. Detroit (6-5), which lost 77-74 at St. John's in the second game of the season and 74-61 at Pitt earlier this month, had its four-game winning streak snapped.
UConn honors victims
HARTFORD, Conn. -Connecticut wanted to show that the Huskies care about the victims and the involved in the shooting of 20 children and six adults in their state last Friday.
Freshman Omar Calhoun scored a season-high 22 points, sophomore Ryan Boatright had 21 points and UConn shot a season-high 66 percent in an 84-50 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore at the XL Center.
It was UConn's first game since the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
A pre-game ceremony was held and there was a moment of silence as 26 cheerleaders, members of the dance team and the band held candles and formed a circle with the UConn players at midcourt.
As a tribute to the victims at Sandy Hook, UConn players wore patches on the front of their jerseys with the white letters "SH" on a green background - the elementary school's colors.
• No. 12 Missouri 102, South Carolina St. 51: In Columbia, Mo., Jabari Brown, playing in his first game since Nov. 17, 2011 when he was a freshman at Oregon, scored 12 points as Missouri won.
Brown, 6-foot-5, 205-pound guard, became eligible at the end of the first semester. Phil Pressey's jumper 17 seconds into the game gave Missouri (9-1) the lead for good.
• No. 21 UNLV 62, UTEP 60: In El Paso, Texas, Anthony Marshall scored 13 points and Bryce DeJean-Jones added 12 for UNLV (9-1) in the win.
Konner Tucker had a last-second opportunity for the Miners after taking an inbounds pass from the far sideline for a three-point attempt which bounced up and off the rim.
• No. 22 Notre Dame 74, IPFW 62: In South Bend, Ind., Pat Connaughton scored 18 points to lead the Fighting Irish.
Connaughton more than doubled his 7.9 points-per-game average and had six rebounds and five assists for Notre Dame (10-1).
• Northern Arizona 87, Montana 80: In Flagstaff, Max Jacobsen scored a career-high 22 points to lead all five starters in double figures, and NAU (4-5) won in the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams.
Duke moves to No. 1
Duke is back in a familiar place - No. 1.
The Blue Devils advanced one spot to replace Indiana at the top of The Associated Press' Top 25 on Monday, drawing closer to UCLA's record for most No. 1 rankings.
Duke has reached No. 1 at least once in a record 16 seasons under coach Mike Krzyzewski, and has played more games as the No. 1 ranked team in 33 years under Coach K (209) than as an unranked team (141).
Indiana (9-1) held the top spot from the preseason poll through the first five weeks of the season. Butler beat the Hoosiers 88-86 in overtime Saturday.
Michigan (11-0), which received the other No. 1 votes, and Syracuse moved up one place each to second and third. They were followed in the top 10 by Arizona, Louisville, Indiana, Ohio State, Florida, Kansas and Illinois.
Butler (8-2), which beat then-No. 9 North Carolina last month in the EA Sports Maui Invitational, moved into the poll at No. 19. This is the Bulldogs' first appearance in the rankings since the first week of 2010-11.
Women
Stanford remained No. 1 in The Associated Press women's basketball poll for the fifth straight week.
The Cardinal had 22 first-place votes Monday, while Connecticut received 16. Baylor got the other two.
UConn, Baylor, Duke and Notre Dame rounded out the first five.
• No. 8 California 71, Northwestern 65: In Evanston, Ill., Brittany Boyd scored 18 points and Talia Caldwell added 16 as Cal (8-1) won.
