Illinois Good to Last Shot

Illinois predicted every possession would count against Wisconsin. Ultimately, every second counted.

Marcus Griffin scored off an inbounds pass from Sean Harrington with eight-tenths of a second to play Tuesday night as the fourth-ranked Illini defeated 19th-ranked Wisconsin, 68-67, at Champaign, Ill.

Griffin’s shot came after Frank Williams rallied the Illini from a 13-point halftime deficit by scoring 18 of his 22 points in the second half.

“You can’t beat that,” Williams said.

Williams had collided with two defenders on a short jumper with two seconds remaining. Wisconsin grabbed Williams’ miss, but lost control of the rebound.

The Illini, 20-5 overall and 10-2 in the Big Ten, kept the ball and Griffin barely had time to catch it five feet from the basket and toss in an arching shot.

“Whoever was open was going to get the ball,” Griffin said. “Frank made a terrific screen and Sean made an incredible pass.”

Williams then intercepted the Badgers’ inbounds pass to secure the victory for Illinois.

“He’s a big-time player,” Wisconsin Coach Brad Soderberg said of Williams. “He made plays. That’s his trademark. He’s a great second-half player and he plays big against ranked teams.”

Kirk Penney led Wisconsin (15-7, 6-5) with 18 points, including four three-point baskets. Penney made the two free throws that gave the Badgers a 67-66 lead with 9.5 seconds to play.

Connecticut 82, No. 9 Boston College 71--Freshman guard Taliek Brown scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Huskies (16-8, 5-6) over the Eagles (18-3, 9-2) in a Big East game at Hartford, Conn.

Connecticut trailed at halftime, 44-34, after Boston College closed the first half with a 15-5 run.

Already in a situation where more than a loss or two could eliminate them from consideration for an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament, the Huskies responded with an 11-2 run to open the second half and were back within a point with 15:31 to play.

“At halftime, it’s not a mystery that I spent seven, eight minutes telling them they were out-toughed, manhandled, every other adjective you can possibly imagine,” Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun said. “They gutted their way out to a terrific win and I’m very proud of them.”

Freshman Caron Butler, who finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, made a floater along the baseline with eight minutes left to give the Huskies a 59-54 lead.

But Boston College, playing its first game as a top-10 team since 1983, scored four consecutive points and was within 59-58 with 6:09 to play.

Miami 68, No. 10 Syracuse 57--Darius Rice and James Jones each scored 14 points as the Hurricanes (13-10, 5-7) upset the Orangemen (19-5, 7-4) in a Big East game at Syracuse, N.Y.

Miami, coming off a double-overtime loss against St. John’s, held Syracuse to a season-low 30% shooting and won in the Carrier Dome for only the second time in eight games.

Damone Brown had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Orangemen.

No. 11 Florida 81, Louisiana State 74--Teddy Dupay scored 11 points in overtime to lead the Gators (17-5, 7-4) over the Tigers (11-11, 1-10) in a Southeastern Conference game at Baton Rouge, La.

Dupay, who had surgery for a herniated disk Jan. 10, scored only six points in regulation, but scored all but eight of Florida’s 19 points in overtime.

“We didn’t get anything going until the end of the game,” Dupay said. “Then we finally got some momentum and I got some shots.”

Udonis Haslem and Brett Nelson each scored 18 points for Florida and Matt Bonner scored 17.

Ronald Dupree led LSU with 18 points and 11 rebounds.