USA - Rose in bloom for Memphis

NEW YORK (NCAA) - It wasn't pretty, but Memphis found a way to win at Madison Square Garden.

The No. 3 Tigers booked their place in the final of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic tournament with a 63-53 win over Oklahoma on Thursday.

Freshman Derrick Rose scored 17 points and Chris Douglas-Roberts added 12 off the bench, but it was the performance of Joey Dorsey, who collected nine points, 13 rebounds and three blocks, that drew praise from coach John Calipari.

"If (Dorsey) didn't do what he did today, we lose the game," Calipari said. "He rebounded when other guys should have rebounded, he got the ball anyway, got a couple of tip-ins."

The 6ft 4in Rose, one of the most highly recruited high school players in the nation, connected on just four of 13 from the floor, but made eight of 12 from the free-throw line for the Tigers.

Rose had averaged 19 points on 58% shooting in the first two games for Memphis.

"I'm telling him, go outrun them and get layups," Calipari said. "I'm yelling to him layup, layup, layup, layup because I can see in the open court he's going to get to the rim."

Memphis will now face Connecticut in the title game on Friday. The Huskies defeated Gardner Webb, 78-66, earlier on Thursday.

Brandon Rush returned to action as fourth-ranked Kansas blew out Washburn 92-60 in the Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence, Kansas.

Rush scored seven points in his season-debut. In securing 20-plus point victories over Louisiana-Monroe and Missouri-Kansas City to open the season, Kansas had withstood the absence of Rush, who has been the team's leading scorer in each of his first two seasons but had sat out the early part of the schedule after completing his recovery from ACL surgery.

"I thought he (Rush) played really well," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "They told me he was done at the four-minute timeout, but I tried to get a few more minutes out of him. We just wanted to see how he feels. He had a couple of shots, got knocked down a few times and went to the hole hard.

"I thought he did a nice job, maybe even our best player tonight to be honest with you."

Not expected back until December, Rush returned early and finished three for 5 from the field in 12 minutes.

Darrell Arthur scored 16 points to lead four players in double figures for the Jayhawks, who will meet Northern Arizona on next Wednesday.

Roy Hibbert and Jessie Sapp each scored 12 points to lead four players in double figures as fifth-ranked Georgetown rolled to a 74-52 victory over Michigan.

After Georgetown jumped to an early 12-0 lead less than four minutes into the contest, Hibbert and Sapp combined to score 18 of the team's 31 points over the remainder of the first half to take a commanding 43-19 lead heading into intermission.

Down in San Juan, Patrick Beverley scored 16 points to lead No. 18 Arkansas to an 75-49 win over College of Charleston in the opening round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Sam Young scored 11 of his 17 points in the first half as No. 19 Pittsburgh extended their home winning streak against non-conference opponents to 24 games with a 78-45 victory over the Delta Devils on Thursday in the Hispanic College Fund Classic.

No. 20 Stanford got 19 points from Anthony Goods in a 71-60 victory over Northwestern, while J.J. Hickson had an outstanding debut - scoring 31 points on perfect 12 of 12 shooting - as 22nd-ranked North Carolina State beat William & Mary 66-47.

FIBA