Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Southern Conference in 2001 NCAA Tournament

Seven-foot center Jason Collins scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the first half to take No. 2-ranked Stanford to a 21-point edge at the break, and the Cardinals cruised to an 89-60 win over the #15 UNCG First Round of the NCAA West Regional March 15 in San Diego, CA.

UNCG, which finished the season 19-12, was led by David Schuck's 16 points, Ronnie Taylor's 15, Courtney Eldridge's 13 and Jay Joseph's 12. Joseph's dozen were all on three-pointers in the opening period.

The Cardinal finished the first half on an 11-2 run to break the game open and lead 48-27 at intermission. Collins hit six of nine shots from the floor and seven of seven free-throw attempts in the first 20 minutes.

Stanford, the top seed in the Regional, improved to 29-2 and will meet St. Joseph's, a 66-62 First Round winner over Georgia Tech, March 17 in the Second Round.

"Stanford is a very powerful team. We did some uncharacteristic things in the first half, and I think they had a lot to do with that," said coach Fran McCaffery. "They took us out of some things and got us a little bit sideways."

He added: "Obviously we had to have a near-perfect performance. We didn't shoot the ball particulary well and we got in heavy foul trouble. We did some of the things we talked about and I thought we played with great energy in the first half. But we weren't executing as well as we normally do."

Mike Montgomery, who has coached the Cardinal to seven straight First Round wins, was impressed by UNCG's effort.

"Greensboro played hard," he said. "We got the ball where we wanted it on a lot of occasions and they had to foul us, so we were at the foul line and of course that takes away your continuity. They came out bound and determined to compete with us, and they did."

The Spartans never led in their second NCAA Tournament game in five years, but they were within one at 12-11 on Joseph's three-pointer with 10:29 left in the first half.

Joseph, the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, hit his fourth trey with 9:06 remaining to pull UNCG within 17-14. He scored 12 of the team's first 14 points.

Collins, who entered the contest averaging 14 ppg, gave Stanford its first 20-point edge, 45-25, when his three-point shot bounded high off the rim and back through the goal with 1:31 left in the first half.

Joseph picked up his fourth personal foul with only 19 seconds elapsed in the second period and fouled out with 12:36 left.

UNCG was within 19 twice early in the second half, 56-37 at the end of an 8-2 run on Taylor's trey with 16:20 remaining and 60-41 on Schuck's layup with 12:59 to go.

Schuck had 13 of his points after the break and a team-high eight rebounds. He was in double figures for the 27th time in 31 games.

Nathan Jameson was 0-for-6 from the floor but hit two of four free throws to finish with the team's career record from the stripe (214-for-250, .856). He is among national leaders at .895 for the season. He finished his career with 1,038 points, ranking No. 8 on the team's all-time scoring list.

Six of 11 players who saw action scored for UNCG, which shot 43 percent from the floor but only 60 percent (12-for-20) from the line. The team ranks among national free-throw leaders at .769 for the season.

All-American sophomore guard Casey Jacobsen added 14 points for the Cardinal on 5-for-6 shooting, giving him 1,003 for his career. He's the 30th player in team history to exceed 1,000 points.

Stanford was 15-for-16 from the free-throw line in the first half and 28-for-34 (82 percent) for the game. It held a 33-28 rebounding edge, led by Collins' eight boards.

"I am impressed with the fight in my team," said McCaffery, who finished his second year as UNCG coach. "I am proud of them and proud of what we've done this season. It's an honor to be here. We hoped we could have played a little bit better, but we kept playing until the end."

The Spartans had reached the NCAAs once before in their 10-year Division I era, losing 66-61 to Cincinnati in the First Round of the Southeast Regional in 1996.