Illinois Ends Wisconsin’s Streak

Top-ranked Illinois beat No. 18 Wisconsin, 75-65, on Tuesday night, extending the nation’s longest winning streak to 20 games and ending the nation’s longest homecourt winning streak at 38.

Led by Luther Head’s 18 points and reserve Jack Ingram’s clutch play down the stretch, Illinois became the first team to beat the Badgers at the Kohl Center since Wake Forest on Dec. 4, 2002.

They did it by scoring 14 of the final 15 points after overcoming an eight-point deficit.

Illinois Coach Bruce Weber, who had peddled his team as the underdog despite eight straight weeks atop the poll, said the biggest thing about the Illini’s first win in Madison since 1998 was what it meant in the Big Ten race, where the Illini are 6-0.

“I told the kids if we win this one, we’re going to be one up on everyone because I don’t know if anyone’s capable of coming in here and winning besides us after the Michigan State loss, so it gives us one up for the Big Ten championship,” Weber said.

And that’s what bothered the Badgers, who fell to 53-3 at home under Bo Ryan, who lost a Big Ten home game for the first time in his four seasons as coach.

“The guys weren’t worried about losing any streak. It was a Big Ten conference game. That’s all we were playing for,” said Ryan, whose teams are 26-1 at home in the league since he took over in 2001.

The Badgers, 13-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten, led, 56-48, with 10 1/2 minutes left and were still up by three with 4 1/2 minutes remaining.

Sore-footed Alando Tucker, who led Wisconsin with 16 points, drove to the basket to give the Badgers a 64-61 lead with 4:31 left.

The Badgers’ most recent home win came when they scored the final 11 points to beat Michigan State, 62-59, but there was no such finish in store for them this time.

“We’ve had a lot of good wins, Wake Forest, Gonzaga,” said Deron Williams, who scored 13 points for Illinois. “But with this streak that they had here and the history of the building, this is tops right now.”

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Toast of Champaign

Illinois’ 20-0 record ranks as the fifth best start by a Big Ten team, and is the best start by a Big Ten team in 29 years, since Indiana finished 32-0 in the 1975-76 season. The following is a list of the all-time best starts by Big Ten teams.

*--* Rank School Start Year 1. Indiana 32-0 1975-76 2. Indiana 31-0 1974-75 3. Ohio State 27-0 1960-61 4. Ohio State 22-0 1961-62 5. * Illinois 20-0 2004-05 6. Iowa 18-0 1986-87 T7. Ohio State 17-0 1990-91 T7. Illinois 17-0 1988-89

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