There are good starts and great starts. There are fast starts and fantastic starts.
Then there's what No. 14 Southern Mississippi did Thursday night.The Golden Eagles scored the game's first 26 points and cruised past Southeastern Louisiana 85-60.
"It was a great way for our seniors to go out - in style," Southern Miss coach M.K. Turk said.
Southeastern did not score for the first 7:13. When the visitors ended the drought on Michael Wolf's 3-pointer, the crowd of 7,049 responded with a standing ovation.
Southern Miss (21-5) has clinched the top seed in next week's Metro Conference tournament and will play Louisville in the first round. Southeastern finished 9-19 in its first season since suspending its basketball program for one year.
In other games, No. 4 North Carolina beat Clemson 91-74, No. 5 Indiana defeated Michigan State 62-56, No. 7 Arizona trounced Oregon State 103-65, No. 11 New Mexico State downed Pacific 67-60 and No. 16 UCLA stopped Washington State 99-91.
Southern Miss won for the 10th time in 12 home games. Clarence Weatherspoon led the Eagles with 17 points, Darrin Chancellor had 16 and Daron Jenkins 15.
After the first seven minutes and the 26-0 start, the game was even. Southeastern actually outscored Southern Miss 60-59 the rest of the way.
Henry Washington had 21 points for Southeastern and Bernard Sylve scored 16.