Louisville may finally have more wins than it does injuries.

Peyton Siva's drive and layup with 1.4 seconds left gave the banged up Cardinals an ugly 62-60 win over Vanderbilt Friday evening and sent the Commodores to their second overtime loss of the week.

Louisville was missing five -- yes, five -- players to injury Friday, and that doesn't include Siva, who just recently recovered from a sprained ankle and a concussion.

The Cardinals had the final possession of regulation with the game tied at 50, and Siva looked poised to take it all the way to the rim after running down the clock. However, he quickly drew a double team as he got into the lane and found freshman Chane Behanan underneath the basket for what immediately looked like a game-winner. But after taking a dribble and stepping to the other side of the bucket, Behanan's contested shot from inside the low post banked off the rim and glanced off the glass.

In OT, Siva was able to do it himself.134581604

On Monday, Vanderbilt lost to

UNCEach Friday this season, The Dagger will set the table for college basketball's busiest day of the week, giving you a look at the games worthy of your attention while flipping through the channels.

THE MAIN CARD

No. 5 North Carolina (6-1) at No. 1 Kentucky (7-0), 12:00 p.m. EST: This is the obvious main event, and as far as future NBA talent goes, these are the two most talented teams in the nation. Right now, Kentucky looks like the more confident of the two, though, as UNC not only got knocked around by UNLV in an upset defeat last Saturday, but then couldn't force Wisconsin to play at its pace on its own home floor on Wednesday. The Tar Heels have just as much weaponry as the Cats, but what makes UK more dangerous right now is that on top of the ridiculous amount of talent John Calipari stocks the roster with every year, it's clear that they have a stronger veteran presence than at this point in the last couple of years. Two things to watch: How dominant can UK freshman Anthony

MikeMoserIn the second half of his seven-year run as UNLV's head coach, Lon Kruger built up his roster with several transfers from high-profile programs such as UCLA, Kentucky, Memphis and Kansas.

Oddly enough, the one who has turned out to have the biggest impact on the program is one that Kruger never got the chance to coach.

Kruger left for Oklahoma after last season, and sophomore UCLA transfer Mike Moser has been the biggest driving force behind 18th-ranked UNLV's torrid 8-0 start under first-year coach Dave Rice.

In each of his first two weeks of eligibility, Moser has claimed Mountain West Player of the Week honors. Last week's résumé was capped with a 16-point, 18-rebound, 6-assist effort in the Rebels' 90-80 upset on Saturday night of then-No. 1 North Carolina.

He could be well on his way to taking the crown for a third week in a row. As UNLV out-lasted UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday night in their first road game of the season, he scored a career-high 34 points to go with 10 rebounds,

AP100218150876(1)

Before Wednesday night's road test at Utah State, University of Denver coach Joe Scott admits he wasn't sure how good his team was.

Twice the Pioneers had impressed Scott by notching quality home wins against Southern Mississippi and Saint Mary's, but they also got thumped by 21 points last Saturday night at Pac-12 contender Cal.

What Scott learned about Denver after its surprising 67-54 win at Utah State is his team is further along entering December than he expected it to be. The Pioneers snapped the Aggies' 33-game win streak at home, improved to 5-1 this season and further solidified themselves as Sun Belt League contenders in their final year before leaving for the WAC.

"We played really well against Saint Mary's and we went to Cal and we got beat up pretty good, so my thing was, 'What team are we?'" Scott said. "That's why (Wednesday) night's game was so big. Our guys responded really well. In fact, it might have been our best game of the season."

The victories over Southern Mississippi, Saint Mary's and Utah State reflect the progress Denver has made since Scott took over the program in Spring 2007 on the heels of a 4-25 season. The former Princeton guard built the program in the mold of the Pete Carril teams he played for in the 1980s, gradually making Denver competitive again the way he did at Air Force from 2000-04 but could not do at his alma mater from 2005-07.

Whereas last year's Denver team went 4-9 in non-league play before finishing above .500 in the Sun Belt for the first time under Scott, this year's Pioneers have thrived despite another challenging non-league schedule. The difference is the return of fifth-year senior center Rob Lewis, the development of sophomore wing Chris Udofia and the emergence of freshman Royce O'Neale.

In addition to being second on the team in scoring behind senior Brian Stafford at 14.2 points per game, Udofia has averaged 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.8 blocks. Lewis, who hadn't played in 16 months as a result of a back injury, has scored 10 points and grabbed 3.3 rebounds per game to help solidify the frontcourt. And O'Neale has averaged 7.3 points and 4.3 rebounds and shot 41.7 percent from three-point range in the first six games of his college career.

Having surrendered 10 straight points in the previous two minutes to fall behind by one entering its final possession, Georgetown appeared to be on the verge of gagging away a crucial marquee win at 12th-ranked Alabama.

Then with one flick of his wrist, Hollis Thompson came to the rescue.

Thompson took dribble handoff from guard Jason Clark on the right wing, faced up to the basket and buried a long 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left on Thursday night to seal Georgetown's 57-55 victory over Alabama. The Hoyas (6-1) now have wins over the Tide and Memphis to go with a close loss to Kansas, perhaps good enough to earn them a spot in next week's Top 25.

The biggest reason a Georgetown team projected ninth or 10th in the Big East is exceeding expectations is because its veteran leaders have thrived taking on more responsibility. Clark has emerged as a big-time scorer in the absence of former backcourt mates Chris Wright and Austin Freeman, Thompson is tapping into his enticing potential and

AP111111142043

The most unusual aspect of Utah State's 67-54 loss to Denver on Wednesday night wasn't that the Aggies lost at the Spectrum after 33 consecutive home wins.

It was that maybe the nation's most creative, ear-splitting student section was eerily silent at the opening tipoff.

Already angered by the letter of apology their school president sent BYU regarding taunts aimed at forward Brandon Davies last month, Utah State students grew more irate when an usher warned them Wednesday not to lean over the railings or do certain traditional chants. As a result, the entire Utah State student section staged a silent protest, remaining dead quiet for the first three minutes of the game.

Utah State athletic director Scott Barnes said by phone on Thursday that the protest was a result of a miscommunication between the usher and the school's facilities department. Barnes emphasized the school administration has not created any new policies regarding fan conduct and that the usher acted on his own in warning the students not to point at any opposing players or single them out with chants.

"The usher asked for some things that aren't policy and that we would not ever enforce," Barnes said. "I have talked to that usher directly to coach him up on that. But what was said by an usher went viral immediately and became a new policy and it wasn't. The usher took it upon himself to suggest some things we were going to do that we had not signed off on."

Barnes said he plans to meet with students on Tuesday to dispel any misunderstandings and he's optimistic both sides will be able to put this issue behind them. That will be welcome news to Utah State players and coaches, who admitted after Wednesday's game they noticed student turnout was lower and the crowd wasn't as deafening as usual against Denver.

"When you have a certain atmosphere for a long time and then it's radically different in your own home building ... it was eerie," assistant coach Tim Duryea told 97.5 The Zone on Thursday morning.

As difficult as it sometimes was to watch Florida State's lackluster offense on Wednesday night against Michigan State, what happened during a first-half timeout was probably even harder for viewers to see.

Taylor Young, a 20-year-old Michigan State cheerleader, fell from the shoulders of a fellow cheerleader during a routine at midcourt and landed on the ground face first. Paramedics tended to her for several minutes, eventually immobilizing her head and strapping her to a backboard before taking her off the floor.

Young attempted to show a sellout crowd and a national TV audience that she was going to be OK on Wednesday night when she smiled and gave two thumbs up as she was lifted onto a stretcher. Sure enough, a Michigan State spokesman confirmed that the Twin Lake, Mich., native was discharged from a Lansing hospital on Thursday morning and is expected to make a full recovery.

"She was really disoriented at first, but she's back to her normal self," her mother Joanne Young told The Muskegon Chronicle.

"She doesn't get what all the hoopla is about. For Taylor, she doesn't see it as a huge deal. She's been a competitive cheerleader since high school and you hope that nothing like this ever happens. It was a freak thing."

AP111130067197

The Big Ten dominated the ACC in this year's challenge, winning 8 of 12 games to notch its third straight victory. Here's a look at which players' and teams' stock rose and fell in the past 48 hours:

Stock Rising: Ohio State's championship hopes

No team in America has defeated two better teams this season than Ohio State, which now can add a dominant victory over Duke to a narrow win over Florida. The Buckeyes boast national player of the year candidate Jared Sullinger, high-scoring wing William Buford and hard-nosed defensive stopper Aaron Craft. When all three play as well as they did against the Blue Devils, only a handful of teams in the nation can even stay competitive.

Stock Falling: North Carolina's aura of invincibility

North Carolina deserves credit for outlasting Wisconsin in a game that was played at the Badgers' pace, but a wobbly 60-57 home victory in the Tar Heels' first game after losing to UNLV is still a tad disconcerting. It wasn't until Harrison Barnes took control of the game on his way to 14 second-half points that North Carolina was finally able to open up a lead of more than a couple points. That suggests the Tar Heels will enter Rupp Arena on Saturday as perhaps a slight underdog, something many wouldn't have expected even a week ago.

Stock Rising: Indiana's NCAA tournament hopes

Indiana emerging from a game at NC State with a hard-fought victory signaled that it's time to take the Hoosiers seriously as NCAA tournament contenders.The arrival of highly touted freshman Cody Zeller and the emergence of guards Will Sheehey and Victor Oladipo had propelled Indiana to an undefeated start, but this was a step up in class. The Hoosiers have now won back-to-back road games after going 1-30 on the road in Tom Crean's first three seasons there.

Stock Falling: Virginia Tech's NCAA tournament hopes

Looking for a reason the Hokies failed to beat a Minnesota team without both Mbakwe and starting center Ralph Sampson III? Look no further than a scoreless night from veteran guard Dorenzo Hudson. The fifth-year senior put up 31 points in Virginia Tech's third game of the season against Florida International, but he has been off the mark ever since, sinking just 8 of 34 shots in four subsequent games. If the Hokies narrowly miss the NCAA tournament yet again this season, losses like this will be the reason.

Stock Rising: Wake Forest's hopes of not finishing last in ACC

A win at Nebraska might not have caused much excitement during Wake Forest's heyday, but it provides a glimmer of hope for the Demon Deacons coming off last season's 24-loss debacle. Wake Forest held Nebraska leading scorer Bo Spencer in check and benefited from a 13-point, 12-rebound effort from sophomore center Carson Desrosiers. Are the Demon Deacons an NCAA tournament contender? Absolutely not. Are they better than Boston College? Yes.