College Basketball Roundup : Hillman Scores 17 to Lead Hoosiers’ Victory

After four years at Indiana, guard Joe Hillman has finally learned to take a shot when he’s open.

The senior guard, heeding the advice of assistant coach Dan Dakich, changed his shooting style and got 13 of his career-high 17 points in the first half Thursday night as the Hoosiers rolled over Minnesota, 92-63, in a Big Ten Conference game at Bloomington, Ind.

“I got some open shots and knocked them in,” said Hillman, whose first-half scoring burst helped Indiana to an early 20-point lead.

“Dan Dakich talked to me about that. He just told me to get it and shoot it . . . to get right into my shot, and that’s going to help my shot faking later on,” said Hillman, who averaged 41 points as a high school senior at Glendale Hoover but only 3 points a game at Indiana, taking fewer than three shots a game over his college career.

It was Indiana’s 12th straight win over Minnesota, and it was the Gophers’ second straight loss since they snapped a 21-game conference losing streak with a victory at Michigan State last week.

The Hoosiers are 12-6 overall and 4-4 in conference play. The Gophers are 7-11 and 1-7.

Center Dean Garrett, who had 53 points in two victories last week, scored 19 points for the Hoosiers, and freshman Jay Edwards added 18. Willie Burton led Minnesota with 17 points, including 15 in the second half.

Ohio St. 64, Illinois 60--Jay Burson scored 20 points, including two clinching free throws with 17 seconds remaining, as the Buckeyes defeated the No. 17-ranked Ilini in a Big Ten game at Columbus, Ohio.

Ohio State (11-7, 4-4) has three wins over a ranked Big Ten team at home this season. Illinois, which lost its third straight game, fell to 14-7 and 4-4.

Illinois led, 41-30, with 16:11 remaining, but Ohio State came back and took the lead for good at 56-53 on a three-point play by Grady Mateen with 2:23 remaining.

Nick Anderson scored 17 points for Illinois.

Ohio State shot just 40% from the field, making 21 of 52 shots, but was 21 of 27 at the free throw line. Illinois was 26 of 62 from the field (42%) and was 8 for 16 from the line.

Michigan St. 65, Northwestern 64--In this Big Ten game at Evanston, Ill., Ken Redfield and Todd Wolfe celebrated a homecoming of sorts. Redfield, a sophomore from Chicago, and Wolfe, a junior from nearby Arlington Heights, led the Spartans.

Redfield scored a career-high 23 points, and Wolfe, who finished with 9 points, made a three-pointer with 1:10 left to give the Spartans a four-point lead, which they never relinquished. They are 8-10 and 3-5.

Ed Wright’s basket with seven seconds left clinched the outcome and offset a three-point shot by Jeff Grose at the buzzer. It was Grose’s sixth three-pointer, and he led the Wildcats (7-11, 2-6) with 22 points.

Brigham Young 82, Utah 64--Michael Smith scored 21 points, and reserve guard Brian Taylor added 15 as the third-ranked Cougars beat the Utes at Provo, Utah, in the Western Athletic Conference game and remained the only unbeaten major college team.

BYU (17-0 and 7-0) led, 44-30, at halftime. Utah closed to within 60-54 with 9:37 remaining when Keith Chapman hit a three-point jumper. But the Cougars outscored the Utes, 14-6, over the next five minutes to slip away once again.

Utah is 17-3 overall and 5-3 in the WAC.

Wyoming 73, Texas El Paso 59--In a game at Laramie, Wyo., in which 50 fouls were called, Fennis Dembo scored 24 points to lead the Cowboys (16-4, 5-4) to a WAC win over the Miners (17-5, 6-3).

Dembo made 18 of 23 foul shots. UTEP shot only 32.7% from the field, while Wyoming made only 38.3% of its shots.

Wyoming led, 29-26, at halftime. Cowboy forward Jonathan Sommers and UTEP center Antonio Davis were ejected for fighting and four technical fouls were called.

Air Force 65, New Mexico 58--Raymond Dudley scored 26 points to lead the Falcons over the Lobos in a Western Athletic Conference game at Air Force Academy, Colo.

Dudley made 5 of 12 three-point shots and also had 5 rebounds and 4 assists for Falcons (9-10 and 3-6). The Lobos are 17-7 and 5-4.

Temple 110, Duquesne 70--Freshman Mark Macon scored 26 points, and Mike Vreeswyk had 21 as the fifth-ranked Owls broke their home-court scoring record in this Atlantic 10 game at Philadelphia.

The McGonigle Hall record was 105 points, set against Point Park in 1980.

Macon was 8 for 16 from the field, including 5 of 7 from the three-point range. He grabbed seven rebounds, handed out four assists and had three steals.

A 23-8 spurt by Temple (17-1, 11-0) midway through the first half put the game out of reach. Temple’s lone loss this season was to Nevada Las Vegas on Jan. 24.

Darrell White scored 17 points to lead the Dukes, who earlier in the season lost by 55 points to top-ranked Arizona and by 27 to ranked Pitt. They are 5-15 and 1-7.

North Carolina 88, Clemson 64--The Tar Heels used a 22-2 spurt in the final four minutes to turn a close game into a 24-point Atlantic Coast Conference victory at Clemson, S.C.

J.R. Reid scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Jeff Lebo also had 17 points to spark the Tar Heels to their 17th victory over Clemson in their last 18 meetings.

North Carolina is 16-3 overall and 5-2 in the ACC.

Elden Campbell scored 20 points for the Tigers (11-8, 1-6).