COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Indiana Beats Illini, but It’s Silent Knight

For once, Bob Knight had nothing to say.

First, Knight wouldn’t talk to his second-ranked Indiana Hoosiers during a timeout, save to tell them to get back on the court after Illinois cut a 22-point deficit to nine within six minutes.

Then he skipped a post-game news conference and sent assistant coach Ron Felling in his place, even though Indiana beat Illini, 76-70, Sunday in a Big Ten Conference game at Bloomington, Ind.

“We’re really disappointed with our play,” Felling said. “We just didn’t get on track today. We were a step slow and we didn’t rebound. When we used a little patience, we got the shots.”

Damon Bailey made three free throws in the final 28 seconds and Indiana (21-4 overall, 12-2 in the Big Ten) remained in first place in the Big Ten, one game ahead of Ohio State.

The Hoosiers had a 67-45 lead with 6:45 remaining, but the Illini (12-13, 6-9), led by Deon Thomas and Brooks Taylor, closed to 73-67 with 50 seconds left.

Bailey missed a free throw with 45 seconds left. But Thomas lost the ball out of bounds attempting a shot, and Bailey made one free throw with 28 seconds to go.

Rennie Clemons of Illinois traveled, and Bailey made two free throws with 12 seconds left for a 76-67 lead. Taylor sank a three-pointer with three seconds to go.

Maryland 82, No. 10 North Carolina 80--Walt Williams’ second-chance tip-in with 1.3 seconds left pushed the Terrapins past the Tar Heels in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at College Park, Md.

North Carolina (18-7, 8-6) has lost four consecutive games for the first time since 1965.

Maryland (12-13, 4-10) led, 51-29, at halftime before the Tar Heels rallied, taking their first lead, 80-79, on a three-point play by Hubert Davis with 18 seconds left.

Evers Burns missed a short jump shot for Maryland and Williams tipped up the rebound, but missed. The ball came back to Williams, who put it in the basket.

Williams, who had 28 points, made a final free throw with 0.1 seconds left.

No. 11 Kentucky 80, Vanderbilt 56--The Wildcats clinched the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern Division by trouncing the Commodores at Lexington, Ky., for their seventh consecutive victory.

Jamal Mashburn made five of six three-pointers and scored 34 points for Kentucky (22-5, 11-3), which stayed even with Arkansas and Louisiana State in the overall conference standings.

The Wildcats turned the ball over only five times in beating Vanderbilt (13-12, 5-9) at Lexington for the 16th consecutive time.

Seton Hall 77, No. 24 Connecticut 64--Bryan Caver, left out of the starting lineup for violating a team rule, scored 11 consecutive points in the second half to lead the Pirates past the Huskies in a Big East Conference game at East Rutherford, N.J.

Seton Hall (18-7 overall, 10-6 Big East) has won nine of 11, including six against ranked teams. Two of those victories are against the Huskies (17-8, 8-8), who have lost seven of eight.

Seton Hall spokesman John Wooding would not say what rule was broken by Caver.

Caver scored 18 points in 31 minutes. Chris Smith had 25 points for Connecticut.

OTHER GAMES

Massachusetts clinched its first Atlantic 10 Conference title with an 82-61 victory over Duquesne (12-14, 5-10) at Pittsburgh. The Minutemen (24-4, 12-3) broke the school record of 23 victories set by the 1970-71 team, led by Julius Erving. . . . Trelonnie Owens scored 16 points on eight-for-eight shooting as Wake Forest (18-7) beat Temple, 83-75, at Winston-Salem, N.C. Mik Kilgore scored 23 for Temple (15-11).