A Case of Bottoms Up in Big Ten

L.A. Times Archives

March 5, 1999 12 AM PT

From Associated Press

Illinois and Michigan, usually among the best teams in the Big Ten and participants in the NCAA tournament, both salvaged some satisfaction from uncharacteristically poor seasons in the first round of the conference tournament in Chicago on Thursday.

Illinois, which followed up consecutive second-round NCAA tournament appearances under Coach Lon Kruger with a last-place conference finish this year, stunned No. 23-ranked Minnesota, 67-63. Earlier Michigan, which finished next-to-last in the conference in its worst season since 1983, was a 79-73 winner in overtime over Purdue.

Freshman Cory Bradford made six three-point shots and had 22 points to lead Illinois (12-17). The Illini blew a 22-point first-half lead and scored only three points in the first 9:24 of the second half but overcame that because of a hot-shooting hand by Bradford and a cold one by Minnesota’s Quincy Lewis.

Lewis, whose 24.6 scoring average was the best in the Big Ten and third in the nation, had only eight points--ending his streak of double-figure games at 31. He made three of 17 shots.

“It just wasn’t my night,” Lewis said. “I’ve been shooting the ball really well the whole year, but I just couldn’t get one to go down. It seemed like the basket had a lid on it.”

The lid came came off the basket momentarily for Lewis with nine seconds left when he made a three-point shot that pulled Minnesota (17-10) within 64-62. Nate Mast made two free throws for Illinois after being fouled and Kevin Nathaniel countered with a basket with four seconds left. It took Minnesota more than two seconds to foul Damir Krupalija, who made one of two free throws to make it 67-64. Nathaniel’s desperation shot at the buzzer wasn’t close.

“I’m really proud of that effort because it would have been very easy to go ahead and roll over and let Minnesota go right past,” Kruger said.

Instead, Illinois advances to a quarterfinal game today with No. 17 Indiana (22-9).

And just as surprising is an appearance in the quarterfinals by Michigan (12-17) against No. 11 Ohio State (22-7).

Purdue (19-12) led Michigan by eight points with four minutes remaining, but Wolverine senior senior guard Louis Bullock scored 10 of his 26 points to help send the game into overtime. Bullock’s tip-in of his own missed shot gave Michigan a five-point lead with 32 seconds left in overtime.

Brian Cardinal had a career-high 33 points for Purdue, which has lost five of its last six games and--like Minnesota--seriously jeopardized its hopes of getting an NCAA tournament bid with the first-round Big Ten loss.

In today’s other Big Ten quarterfinals, No. 2 Michigan State (26-4) plays Northwestern (15-12)--a 54-44 first-round winner over Penn State (13-14)--and No. 19 Wisconsin (21-8) takes on No. 20 Iowa (18-8).

ATLANTIC COAST

The ACC tournament started as a continuation of conference play for No. 1 Duke (30-1) in its 104-67 victory over Virginia (14-16) at Charlotte, N.C. The Blue Devils, who had an unprecedented 16-0 run through the ACC schedule, recorded the largest margin of victory in tournament history over a team they defeated by 46 twice in the regular season. “They’re a wrecking machine,” Virginia Coach Pete Gillen said. It was the 24th victory in a row for Duke, which lost starting guard Trajan Langdon early in the second half to a foot injury that is not considered serious. The Blue Devils play in Saturday’s semifinals against the winner of today’s Wake Forest (16-12)-North Carolina State (17-12) game. . . . Florida State (13-16) blew a 16-point second-half lead but defeated Clemson (16-14) in overtime, 87-85. Terrell Baker had 28 points for Florida State, which plays No. 5 Maryland (25-4) today. Terrell McIntyre had 28 points for Clemson, but missed a three-point shot at the buzzer in overtime.

ATLANTIC 10

Rhode Island (18-12), which reached the NCAA tournament’s round of eight last year, got 21 points from Lamar Odom in an 83-58 victory over La Salle (13-15) in the quarterfinals at Philadelphia. Rhode Island probably needs to win today’s game against West Division champion George Washington (20-9) to get an NCAA bid. Shawnta Rogers, the Atlantic 10’s player of the year, had 28 points in George Washington’s 100-90 victory over Dayton (11-17). . . . Lenny Brown tied a career high with 31 points and Xavier (21-9) made 25 of 31 free throws in a 72-68 victory over Massachusetts (14-16) in the quarterfinals at Philadelphia. Xavier’s semifinal opponent will be Temple (20-9), a 64-51 winner over Virginia Tech (13-15). Mark Karcher made a career-high six three-point shots and Pepe Sanchez had eight steals for Temple, the East Division champion.

BIG EAST

The third time was almost the charm for Seton Hall against Connecticut, the regular-season Big East champion and nation’s third-ranked team. Seton Hall, which had second-half leads in two regular-season losses to Connecticut, controlled the tempo and held the lead this time until 1:27 remained before losing 57-56.

“Three times in a row and certainly more so tonight, they did a terrific job of dictating the pace,” Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun said. “Sometimes we don’t have the choosing of which song is sung and how we’re going to dance. They did a great job of frustrating us.”

Seton Hall (15-14) used as much of the shot clock as it could in nearly every possession and its 2-3 zone frustrated cold-shooting Connecticut (26-2). In fact, the Huskies went ahead for good at 51-50 on Kevin Freeman’s tip-in of three-point miss by Richard Hamilton.

Hamilton made two free throws with two seconds left to give Connecticut a 57-54 lead. Seton Hall’s Gary Saunders before the ball was inbounded, denying the Pirates the chance at a possible game-tying three-point shot. Saunders made the front end of the one-and-one and tried to miss the second for a chance at converting the rebound, but the ball hit the rim and went in as time expired.

Freeman, a junior forward, finished with 22 points, giving him 1,003 for his career. But Connecticut’s leading scorers for the season, Hamilton and Khalid El-Amin, shot a combined six for 24.

Today, Connecticut will play Syracuse, which reached the semifinals for the 15th time in the 20 years of the tournament with a 70-62 victory over Villanova (21-10). Etan Thomas had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Syracuse (21-11). . . . No. 9 Miami (22-5) was a 65-54 winner over Georgetown (15-15), not taking the lead until there was 11:53 left. Since joining the Big East in 1992, Miami had lost in the tournament to Georgetown six times, including the previous four years. “Usually, it’s one and done for us,” said Tim James, the conference’s co-player of the year with Connecticut’s Hamilton. “Tonight, we were a different team than in the past.” Today, Miami will try for its third victory of the season over No. 10 St. John’s (24-7), a 77-62 winner over Rutgers (18-12).

BIG 12

Nebraska (19-11) had 23 steals in a 69-50 victory over Texas Tech (13-17) in the tournament’s first round at Kansas City, Mo. Today, the Cornhuskers will try to defeat Kansas (19-9) for the third time this season and gain an NCAA bid. . . . Colorado, with a 69-61 victory over Iowa State (15-15), has a five-game winning streak against conference opponents for only the second time since 1973. Colorado (17-13) plays regular-season Big 12 champion Texas (18-11) today. . . . Oklahoma State (20-9) defeated Baylor, 83-57, to set up a quarterfinal matchup with its oldest rival, Oklahoma (20-9), a team the Cowboys lost to twice in the regular season. Baylor (6-24) finished the season with 17 consecutive losses. Kish Lewis had 29 points and 14 rebounds for the Bears. . . . Kansas State (19-11) advanced to the quarterfinals against No. 24 Missouri (20-7) with an 87-76 victory over Texas A&M; (12-15).

CONFERENCE USA

Pete Mickeal made 13 of 15 shots and had a career-high 28 points to lead No. 7 Cincinnati (26-4) to a 76-56 win over South Florida (14-14) in the quarterfinals at Birmingham, Ala. Cincinnati’s opponent today is North Carolina Charlotte, an 83-75 winner over Southern Mississippi (14-16). . . . Alabama Birmingham (20-12) helped its chances for an NCAA bid and hurt those of DePaul (17-12) with a 79-73 victory in which Eric Holmes came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points. DePaul freshman Quentin Richardson, the conference’s player of the year, had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Louisville (18-9), a 70-61 winner over Saint Louis (15-16), plays Alabama Birmingham today.

MID-EASTERN ATHLETIC

Jimmy Fields had 29 points to lead Morgan State (14-13) to 67-66 victory over Hampton (8-19) in the quarterfinals at Richmond, Va. Fields missed two free throws with 1.8 seconds left but Hampton was unable to control the rebound. Morgan State plays Florida A&M; (10-18) today. . . . Jonathan Richmond scored 29 points and made 10 consecutive free throws in the final 3:18 for North Carolina A&T; (13-14) in a 61-50 victory over Bethune-Cookman (11-16). North Carolina A&T; plays regular-season champion South Carolina State (16-11) today.

SOUTHEASTERN

No. 21 Florida (20-7) made a tournament record 17 three-point baskets in 36 attempts in a 97-75 victory over Louisiana State (12-15) in the tournament’s first round in Atlanta. Greg Stolt, who was averaging 10 points a game, made a tournament-record eight three-point baskets in 15 attempts and had a career-high 27 points for Florida, which plays No. 22 Arkansas (20-9) today. . . . Brian Williams had 29 points to lead Alabama (17-13) to a 65-58 victory over Georgia (15-14) and a quarterfinal game against Western Division champion and No. 4 Auburn (26-2). Georgia’s Jumaine Jones, the SEC’s leading scorer at 19 points a game, was held to 12 points. . . . Mississippi State, trying to gain an NCAA bid despite a poor RPI rating, was a 76-58 winner over Vanderbilt (14-15) and its departing coach Jan van Breda Kolff (104-81 in six seasons). Mississippi State (19-11) plays Eastern Division champion and No. 18 Tennessee (20-7) today. . . . Jason Smith matched his career high with 24 points and had 14 rebounds to lead Mississippi (19-11) to a 64-60 victory over South Carolina (8-21), which got 28 points from BJ McKie. Mississippi plays No. 14 Kentucky (22-8) today.

WESTERN ATHLETIC

Fresno State Coach Jerry Tarkanian, who put Nevada Las Vegas on the college basketball map with a 509-105 record in 19 seasons at the school, returned this week to Las Vegas--site of the WAC tournament--with the hope his Bulldogs could make a storybook run into the NCAA tournament. That run hit a roadblock in the quarterfinals as Fresno State (21-11) scored only two baskets in the final 11 minutes of a 85-56 loss to Tulsa (22-8). The Golden Hurricane, which may have assured itself of an NCAA berth, shot 63%--making nine of 12 three-point attempts. Fresno State, which was two for 19 on its three-point shots, appears NIT bound for the fourth consecutive season.

Utah Coach Rick Majerus, meanwhile, isn’t too happy about his team having to make its conference tournament run through Las Vegas. “I like Las Vegas and being around the people, but I don’t want my kids around it,” Majerus said. “The NCAA sent us a gambling tape, but where should I show that to them tonight--at the blackjack table or the craps table? This is not an environment student-athletes should be in.” Well, it was business as usual in the quarterfinals for No. 8 Utah (25-4), which had five double-figure scorers in winning its 20th consecutive game--81-62 over Brigham Young (12-16). Utah plays Tulsa today.

Lamont Long made a bank shot with 2.8 seconds left as No. 25 New Mexico (23-7) was a 51-49 winner over Rice (18-10). Kenny Thomas, New Mexico’s leading scorer and rebounder, left six minutes into the game with a groin injury and didn’t return. He is doubtful for today’s game against Southern Methodist (15-14), a 71-70 winner over Nevada Las Vegas (16-12).

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NCAA Tournament Bids

Schools that have received automatic bids to the NCAA basketball tournament. All bids are by virtue of conference tournament championships with the exception of Ivy League and Pacific 10, which do not conduct postseason tournaments:

MEN

Arkansas State, Sun Belt

College of Charleston, Southern

Creighton, Missouri Valley

Detroit, Midwestern Collegiate

George Mason, Colonial Athletic

Gonzaga, West Coast

Kent, Mid-American

Mount St. Mary’s, Northeast

Murray State, Ohio Valley

Pennsylvania, Ivy League

Samford, Trans America Athletic