COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Is an Upset of Michigan the Start of Something Big for Wisconsin?

It was a great victory, Stu Jackson’s biggest as a college coach, but he’s looking for more of a trend. Make it a lesson, he said. Use it to get into the NCAA tournament.

Michael Finley scored 20 points and held Jalen Rose to 15 as Wisconsin snapped a four-game losing streak with a 71-58 upset of third-ranked Michigan in a Big Ten game at Madison on Wednesday night.

“It was a great win, but it doesn’t mean a whole hell of a lot unless we take from this game an understanding of just exactly why we won,” Jackson said. “We need to carry those things through our final three games” against Indiana, Northwestern and Iowa.

The Badgers (16-8, 7-8), losers of eight of 12 after an 11-0 start, snapped Michigan’s nine-game winning streak and kept their own playoff hopes alive.

Michigan (20-5, 12-3) shot only 36%, Wisconsin 54%.

“Wisconsin is a team that deserves to be in the NCAA Tournament,” Michigan Coach Steve Fisher said. “This win will catapult Wisconsin into getting some more wins on the road.”

No. 1 Arkansas 108, Louisiana State 105--Al Dillard’s three-pointer sent the game into overtime and Scotty Thurman’s three-pointer won it for the Razorbacks at Baton Rouge, La.

Thurman had 27 points to give Arkansas (23-2, 13-2) a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season title and the Western Division title outright.

Jamie Brandon missed a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer for LSU (11-14, 5-10), which has lost seven in a row for the first time in Dale Brown’s 22 years as coach.

No. 2 Duke 73, Maryland 69--Grant Hill scored 11 of the Blue Devils’ final 21 points, and they won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship at College Park, Md., by beating Maryland (15-10, 7-8) for the 15th time in a row.

Hill scored 19 points and Cherokee Parks had 12 for Duke (22-3, 12-3).

Wake Forest 68, No. 5 North Carolina 61--Randolph Childress scored 18 points at Winston-Salem, N.C., as the Demon Deacons (19-9, 9-6) won for the third time this season against a top-five team.

The loss knocked the Tar Heels (23-6, 10-5) out of the ACC race, giving Duke the championship.

No. 6 Missouri 68, Kansas State 57--The Tigers (23-2, 13-0), bidding to become the first Big Eight team in 23 years to go undefeated in conference play, passed their final road test by beating Kansas State (17-10, 4-9).

No. 7 Kentucky 80, No. 19 Florida 77--The Wildcats (23-5, 12-3) fell behind by 19 points in the first half of an SEC game at Lexington, Ky., but after winning from 31 behind on the road at LSU, catching Florida (22-6, 11-4) was no problem.

No. 10 Louisville 82, Southern Mississippi 75--Greg Minor scored five of his 22 points in a second-half run as the Cardinals (24-4, 10-2) won at Southern Mississippi (13-12, 5-6) in the Metro Conference.

No. 11 Massachusetts 92, Duquesne 78--Lou Roe had 27 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Minutemen (24-6, 14-2) in an Atlantic 10 victory over the Dukes (15-11, 8-8) at Amherst, Mass., that was in doubt until Donta Bright hit 10 free throws in the final two minutes.

Nebraska 89, No. 21 Oklahoma State 81--Eric Piatkowski scored 32 points and the Cornhuskers (17-8, 7-6) withstood a 27-point night by Bryant Reeves of Oklahoma State (20-8, 9-4) in a Big Eight game at Lincoln, Neb.

No. 25 Pennsylvania 53, Princeton 43--The Quakers (22-4, 12-0) defeated the Tigers (16-8, 9-3) at Philadelphia to clinch their second Ivy League title in a row and became the first team to make the NCAA tournament field.

OTHER GAMES

In the Northeast Conference tournament, Bobby Hopson scored 35 points as Wagner (16-11) was a 90-81 winner over Fairleigh Dickinson (14-13) at New York. In the semifinals, Wagner plays defending champion Rider (19-8), who got all 19 of Deon Hames’ points in the second half of a 74-60 victory over St. Francis, Pa., (13-15) at Lawrenceville, N.J. The other semifinal has Robert Morris (14-13), a 71-52 winner over Marist (14-13) at Coraopolis, Pa., against Monmouth (17-10), an 88-77 overtime winner over Mount St. Mary’s (14-14).