College Basketball Roundup : Illini, Shooting Better, Routs Tennessee, 103-79

Illinois Coach Lou Henson says his 20th-ranked team finally seems to have shaken its shooting slump.

“They were loose and they went out and did a good job,” Henson said after the Illini routed Tennessee, 103-79, Sunday at Champaign, Ill. “A lot of things we’ve talked about came together today.”

Illinois, which has been making only about 50% of its free throws over the past several games, made 27 of 31 attempts from the line. The Illini also shot 56% from the field, bettering its season average of 49%.

Nick Anderson scored 21 points to lead the Illini. Kendall Gill added 19 points, Ken Battle had 17 and three other players were in double figures.

Illinois also shot well in Saturday’s 80-65 victory over Wisconsin in a Big Ten game at Madison, Wis.

Sunday’s nonconference victory improved Illinois’ record to 13-3. The Volunteers fell to 9-4.

Dyron Nix scored 24 points to lead Tennessee.

The Illini led, 48-42, at halftime and pulled away in the second half. Volunteer Coach Don DeVoe said: “We did a decent job of scoring, but on defense we forgot how to play the game.”

St. Joseph’s 82, Duquesne 70--Brian Leahy set school and Atlantic 10 records by making nine three-point field goals as the Hawks won at Philadelphia.

Leahy led St. Joe’s (7-8, 4-4) with 27 points, connecting on 9 of 15 three-pointers. He tried only one shot from the two-point range. St. Joseph’s former record of seven was set last season by Bruiser Flint. The conference record of eight was set last season and has been tied several times this season.

The lead changed 14 times in the first half, which ended with James Owens making his first three-point basket to give St. Joseph’s a 43-42 lead.

Collins Dobbs scored 24 points to lead Duquesne (5-11, 1-3).

Houston 77, TCU 57--Craig Upchurch made 8 of 8 shots and scored 18 points as the Cougars won at Fort Worth in their first game since the dismissal of top scorer Norman Anderson. Coach Moe Iba kicked Anderson off the team Friday for disciplinary reasons.

The Cougars dominated the first half, jumping to a 42-24 lead. In the second half, Houston increased its edge to 62-40, led by Richard Hollis’ 10 second-half points.

Houston improved to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in Southwest Conference play. The Horned Frogs dropped to 6-9 and 0-4.