College Basketball Roundup : Revitalized Wisconsin Shuts Down No. 5 Illinois, 72-52

Trent Jackson and the Wisconsin Badgers can finally take a winning season off their wish list.

They took care of that Saturday by routing fifth-ranked Illinois, 72-52, in a Big Ten game at Madison, Wis., to clinch the school’s first winning season in nine years.

Next on the list is a tournament bid. That has been even more rare than a winning season. The Badgers haven’t received a postseason invitation since 1947.

“It was a big victory for the team,” said Jackson, who made five three-pointers and 10 of 15 shots to score 27 points.

“It takes us one giant step closer to making it to the NCAA tournament, which has been our season-long goal.”

The Badgers held a 32-18 halftime lead, and cold-shooting Illinois never got closer than 12 points in the second half. Jackson’s jumper with 13:10 to go gave the Badgers a 47-27 lead.

The Badgers are 15-7 overall and 7-6 in the Big Ten.

Illinois (21-4, 8-4) couldn’t solve the Badgers’ collapsing defense. Averaging 88 points entering the game, the Illini were held 10 points below their previous season low.

Illinois Coach Lou Henson said the Badgers, who earlier in the season were hoping for a National Invitation Tournament bid, have a chance to earn a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. bid. In addition to Illinois, their other homecourt victims include Michigan and Iowa.

Danny Jones had 17 points for Wisconsin, and Tim Locum, who had four three-point baskets, scored 12. The Badgers lost to Illinois by 23 points earlier this season, and Saturday’s victory was their first in the last 17 games against the Illini.

“Trent had one of his finest days in a Badger uniform,” Coach Steve Yoder said. “It’s a big game for us, but everybody is talking about the tournament and there is no tournament for us if we don’t keep winning. If you keep winning, you earn that right to go. That’s what we have to do. We got our 15th win and that’s not going to get you there.”

Oklahoma 106, Colorado 88--Stacey King scored 23 of his 28 points in the second half to help the top-ranked Sooners win the Big Eight game at Boulder, Colo.

King scored four points and Mookie Blaylock had seven, helping Oklahoma take a 24-8 lead, and the Sooners (23-3, 9-1) never trailed.

Colorado (7-16, 2-6) cut the lead to 26-16 with 8:37 to go in the half, but Oklahoma surged to a 37-21 lead on a 3-point basket by Terrance Mullins with 5:50 left. The Sooners led, 46-35, at halftime.

King helped Oklahoma build its lead in the second half, scoring the basket that gave the Sooners their biggest advantage, 101-78, with 2:41 remaining.

Duke 102, Kansas 77--Danny Ferry had his jersey retired in pregame ceremonies at Durham, N.C., then scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half as the No. 11 Blue Devils extended their winning streak to five games with an easy victory over the Jayhawks, who lost for the seventh consecutive time.

Kansas shot 55% in the first half, but the Blue Devils forced 15 turnovers, shot 62.9% and used an 11-3 run to start the runaway that helped raised their record to 19-4.

Duke led, 53-34, at halftime and extended the lead to as much as 27 points before Kansas (16-10) scored the game’s final basket.

Georgetown 80, Boston College 69--The No. 4 Hoyas limited the Eagles to one basket in the final 5 1/2 minutes to easily win the Big East game at Newton, Mass.

Georgetown (20-3, 10-2) also used excellent free throw shooting down the stretch, making the front ends of their last eight one-and-one situations.

Boston College (9-13, 1-10) was led by Dana Barros with 23, including five three-pointers. Barros’ three-point basket with 5:38 left cut the lead to 63-61. Barros extended his streak of games with at least one three-pointer to 63. That was the last field goal for the Eagles until Steve Benton’s layup with 51 seconds left, making the score 76-69.

Syracuse 87, Providence 80--Derrick Coleman scored 22 points and led a late surge that carried the No. 6 Orangemen to their 20th consecutive victory over the Friars in a Big East game at Providence, R.I.

Syracuse (22-5 overall, 8-5 in the Big East), has never lost a conference game against Providence (17-6, 6-6).

Marty Conlon, who scored a career-high 29 points for Providence, made two free throws to tie it, 72-72. But Coleman, playing the last seven minutes with four fouls, scored five points as Syracuse took a 79-74 lead with 4:42 remaining.

Memphis State 89, Florida State 78--Elliot Perry scored 24 points and Ernest Smith added 22 to lead the Tigers to their second victory over the No. 7 Seminoles in a Metro Conference game at Memphis, Tenn.

It was the second disappointing defeat for the Seminoles (19-4, 7-3) in three days. They lost to Louisville, 78-77, in overtime Thursday night. The Tigers beat them, 99-82, in Tallahassee Feb. 1.

Memphis State (19-8, 6-3) maintained a fast pace and held the lead through most of the game. The Tigers twice took leads of 22 points in the second period, the last at 71-49 with 8:13 left.

Pittsurgh 82, Seton Hall 76--The Panthers continued their mastery over ranked teams at home as Brian Shorter scored 26 points and Jason Matthews had 22 to lead Pitt to the Big East victory over the No. 14 Pirates.

The Panthers, who upset the then-No. 9 Pirates, 82-79, Jan. 28, overcame Ramon Ramos’ 25 points for their fifth victory over a Top 20 team this season. Pitt earlier beat Oklahoma, Syracuse, Seton Hall and Georgetown.

Matthews made six consecutive free throws down the stretch as the Panthers (14-10, 7-6) made 12 in a row in the final 2:14 of play until Rod Brookin missed a free throw with 16 seconds left. Pitt made 18 of 20 second-half free throws and 26 of 29 for the game.

Pitt, which squandered an early nine-point lead when Seton Hall (21-5, 8-5) scored 15 consecutive points, took the lead for good when Shorter’s layup with 12:54 to play started the Panthers on a 7-0 run that made it 56-50.

Iowa 99, Minnesota 61--Matt Bullard scored 20 points and Roy Marble added 19 at Iowa City, Iowa, to help the No. 15 Hawkeyes hand the Gophers their 12th consecutive Big Ten road defeat.

Iowa (19-6, 7-5) also avenged an 80-78 loss to Minnesota (14-8, 6-6) earlier this season.

Bullard, a 6-foot-10 transfer from Colorado, had his finest game since a knee injury put him out of the lineup seven games into the season. Playing with a brace on his left knee, he scored 14 first-half points.

Iowa led, 45-33, at halftime and outscored Minnesota, 16-6, at the start of the second half to take a 61-39 lead with 13:19 to play, and Minnesota never came back.

Northwestern 70, Ohio State 69--Brian Schwabe made a free throw with 4 seconds left to give the Wildcats the Big Ten upset over the No. 16 Buckeyes at Evanston, Ill.

Ohio State was playing its first game without leading scorer Jay Burson, whose college career ended with a neck injury suffered Monday night against Iowa.

Walker Lambiotte scored 23 points for Northwestern (9-14, 2-11), which overcame a 16-point deficit in the final eight minutes. Perry Carter scored 25 points for Ohio State (17-8, 6-6).

North Carolina State 71, Georgia Tech 69--Rodney Monroe’s two free throws with 14 seconds left gave the No. 19 Wolfpack the Atlantic Coast Conference victory at Atlanta.

The game’s start was delayed about 15 minutes because snow and ice delayed North Carolina State’s departure from Raleigh. The Wolfpack had only a 10-minute warmup before the delayed tipoff.

The victory kept the Wolfpack (17-5 overall), in first place in the ACC at 8-2. The Yellow Jackets (17-8, 6-4) played without starting forward Tom Hammonds, who has a knee injury.

Georgia Tech tied the score, 69-69, with seven consecutive points, capped by Brian Oliver’s two free throws with a minute left. Oliver had a chance to tie the score again with one second left, but missed both free throws.

Vanderbilt 108, Louisiana State 74--Barry Goheen scored 23 points and Barry Booker added 21 as the Commodores handed the No. 20 Tigers their worst loss of the season in the Southeastern Conference game at Nashville, Tenn.

Vanderbilt (16-10, 10-4) led by five points at halftime and then pulled away behind Goheen’s 17 points in the second half. LSU (18-7, 10-4) was led by freshman Chris Jackson, who scored 38 points.

The Commodores opened the second half with a 23-11 run, 10 by Goheen, for a 64-47 lead. Jackson tried to rally LSU with 13 points in the next 4 1/2 minutes to cut the margin to 72-65. But he was shut out in the final 9:16, and Vanderbilt broke the game open with a 17-0 run that made it 98-70 with 2:39 to play.

Alabama 71, Kentucky 67--Michael Ansley scored 24 points and had 14 rebounds at Lexington, Ky., to help the Crimson Tide hand the Wildcats their fifth straight defeat in the SEC game at Lexington, Ky.

It’s the first time Kentucky (11-15, 6-8) has lost five in a row since 1924-25, when the Wildcats opened the season with five defeats.

Robert Horry gave Alabama (17-6, 9-5) the lead for good, 64-62, on a 12-footer with 2:53 left. Kentucky’s Reggie Hanson made a free throw, but Ansley made a jumper and David Benoit a dunk to give the Tide a 68-63 lead with 1:47 left.

Florida 99, Tennessee 81--Dwayne Schintzius made 12 of 13 shots and finished with 27 points at Gainesville, Fla., to lead the Gators to their eighth straight SEC win.

Livingston Chatman added 19 points, Renaldo Garcia had 17 and Clifford Lett scored 16 as the Gators (16-10, 10-4) won for the eighth time in nine games since losing to Tennessee Jan. 18 at Knoxville.

Schintzius, who made seven of eight shots in the first half and all five attempts after halftime, also had 11 rebounds. Florida’s defense keyed a rally from a 10-point first-half deficit and held Dyron Nix, the SEC’s third-leading scorer with a 23-point average, to eight points on four of 15 shooting.

Clarence Swearengen scored 20 points for Tennessee (15-8, 8-6).