Memphis Tigers guard Derrick Rose was not getting stitches.

No way. No how.

You see, Rose has a fear of needles. No, make that a debilitating phobia of them.

He was told he needed as many as four stitches to close up a gash above his right eye after a collision in Memphis' win against Michigan State Friday in a South Region semifinal game at Reliant Stadium.

That news ruined any celebration he had in mind after scoring a game-high 27 points despite missing almost eight minutes in the second half dealing with the injury.

Rose came stalking out of the locker room, yelling, ranting and on the verge of tears. He only calmed down when team officials agreed to glue the cut and forget the stitches.

"I'm terrified of needles," he said. "If I would have got stitches, they would have had to stick a needle right above my eye. So I was pouting, stormed out of the locker room. I was mad."

Rose, who is averaging 14 points per game, isn't sure what brought on this fear, but he vividly remembers an event from his childhood that didn't help.

When he was 7, he fell off his bicycle and another child ran over his head with a bike, causing a large wound on the back of his head.

"The nurses at the hospital were holding him down and he was so scared he broke away from them and got up," his mother, Brenda Rose, said. "So they had to tape him to the gurney and do the stitches. He was mad at everyone that day."

Yesterday, the Texas Longhorns slowed Rose for only about a minute in Memphis' 85-67 win. He got poked on the cut above his right eye, forcing him to the bench for a new tape and glue job. No stitches, though; despite all his tattoos, needles creep him out.

Rose finished 7 of 10 from the field for 21 points. He also had six rebounds and nine assists and was voted the most outstanding player of the South Region.

Coach Tony Bennett talked with Indiana about its vacant head coaching job but decided not to pursue it.

"I had an exploratory conversation with Indiana, and I am not going to pursue the Indiana job," Bennett told The Spokesman-Review for a story posted on the newspaper's Web site.

Speculation linking Bennett to openings at Indiana and California have been floating even before the Cougars lost to North Carolina in the round of 16 Thursday. Bennett, 38, is 52-17 in his two years at Washington State, guiding the Cougars to consecutive NCAA tournament appearances for the first time in school history.

Sophomore Javale McGee, the top shot-blocker in the Western Athletic Conference this season, has decided to sign an agent and enter the NBA draft this year. The 7-foot McGee averaged 2.8 blocks per game, along with 14 points and 7.4 rebounds. A formal announcement of McGee's plans is expected today. McGee's 92 blocks this season rank second on Nevada's career list, four behind the school record of 96 set by Edgar Jones in 1977-78.

The 2007-08 Associated Press men's All-America team will be announced today. The player and coach of the year will be announced Friday.

The 2007-08 AP women's All-America team will be announced tomorrow, and the player and coach of the year will be announced Saturday.