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Big Ten Tournament roundup Ohio State knocks off top seed Wisconsin by eightPosted: Friday March 14, 2003 1:25 PMUpdated: Saturday March 15, 2003 2:14 AM
CHICAGO (AP) -- Two weeks ago, Ohio State was barely above .500, and the NCAA tournament was far from the Buckeyes' minds. Now they're on a roll, two victories away from an improbable spot in the field. Led by a gritty defense and Sean Connolly's strong shooting, Ohio State stunned No. 18 Wisconsin 58-50 Friday in the Big Ten tournament. The Buckeyes (16-13), winners of three of their last four games, will play Michigan State in Saturday's semifinals. "Winning the tournament, the main thing is just about desire," said Brent Darby, who made four free throws in the final 39 seconds to seal the victory. "So we just want to take each game one by one and not look past anybody. "We can't afford to do that, anyway." Connolly finished with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Darby had 16 points, six assists and just one turnover. Ohio State shot 46 percent from the floor while holding Wisconsin to 34 percent. The Badgers also had 11 turnovers, including two very costly ones in the final 45 seconds. Kirk Penney led the Badgers with 14 points, and Alando Tucker had 13. Devin Harris was just 2-of-11 from the floor with three assists and three turnovers. With the loss, the Badgers (22-7) became the third top seed -- and the second from the state of Wisconsin -- to fall in the opening game of a conference tournament. Arizona, the No. 1 team in the country, was upset by UCLA in the Pac-10, while Marquette was embarrassed by UAB in the Conference USA tournament. "It's very difficult to get things done when you're shooting a percentage like that," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "Teams that stay alive right now are the teams that can knock some shots down. "The amazing thing is, it was a one- or two-possession game and we weren't making shots." Wisconsin hadn't played in eight days but it started well, making five 3-pointers to open the game. But Ohio State abandoned its zone defense and went to man-to-man, and the Badgers couldn't get past it. They finally found a way to get inside at the start of the second half, opening with an 11-1 run to take a 36-31 lead. Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien called a timeout and chastised his team. "I got on them pretty good," O'Brien said, laughing. "I thought we came out lethargic in the second half, and I just really challenged them. We just were not guarding. We just needed to get focused again and pick it up like we finished the first half." That's just what the Buckeyes did. They held Wisconsin scoreless for the next 4 1/2 minutes while they went on a 9-0 run to take the lead for good. "Coach did a great job of getting us back into the game," Darby said. "He just basically let us know, if we're not going to step up, we're going to lose this game. Those weren't his exact words, but that was the message that we got." Wisconsin had a chance to make it interesting after Connolly's jumper gave Ohio State a 51-45 lead with 2:53 to play. But the Badgers turned the ball over and then, on their next possession, missed a 3-pointer. Harris snagged the rebound and kicked it out to Freddie Owens, who hit a 3 to pull Wisconsin within 51-48 with 1 1/2 minutes left. Zach Williams missed a layup in heavy traffic at the other end, knocking over Penney in the process. Wisconsin wanted a foul, but Velimir Radinovich grabbed the ball and scored on the layup to give Ohio State a 53-48 lead. Harris drew a quick foul and made both shots, cutting Ohio State's lead to 53-50 with 55 seconds left. Connolly then missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Badgers got the rebound. But Harris lost control of the ball under the basket, and the Badgers were forced to foul. Darby made both, and then the Badgers committed yet another turnover, this one when Owens tossed the ball away. Ohio State's inbounds pass hit the basket and landed in Wisconsin guard Clayton Hanson's hands, but he missed a long 3-pointer. The Badgers fouled Darby again, and he made both shots. "We were in the game at the end," Penney said. "We just didn't do the job." Indiana 63, Michigan 56CHICAGO (AP) -- A.J. Moye powered Indiana's comeback Friday night, scoring 16 of his 18 points in the second half as the Hoosiers ended Michigan's season with a 63-56 win in the Big Ten tournament.The Wolverines (17-13) can't play past the conference tournament because of school-imposed sanctions stemming from an investigation into a former booster's dealings with ex-Michigan players. Indiana (20-11) moves on to Saturday's semifinals against Illinois after a hard-earned quarterfinal victory that saw the Hoosiers rally from an eight-point second-half deficit. Jeff Newton and Tom Coverdale added 15 points each for Indiana, which held on in the final 1:17 when Coverdale and freshmen Bracey Wright and Marshall Strickland made two free throws each. LaVell Blanchard led Michigan with 21 points and Bernard Robinson Jr. added 15 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Michigan guard Daniel Horton sprained his ankle in practice Thursday and was on crutches Friday morning, but the Big Ten freshman of the year was able to start, wearing a wrap on the ankle. Horton, who averaged 15.7 points a game, hit an early 3-pointer that turned out to be his only points of the night. He picked up three fouls in the first half and his movement was obviously hampered by the ankle. Michigan ran off the game's first seven points and led 30-25 at the half, holding Indiana to 33 percent shooting. Trailing by eight early in the second half, Indiana caught up behind the strong inside play of the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Moye. Moye scored 12 points, including a three-point play and a 3-pointer, and then sank two free throws with 10:36 left to tie the game at 44. Michigan went back up by four, but again the Hoosiers responded and took their first lead with 6:03 left on Moye's three-point play after a driving layup at 51-50. Robinson made two free throws to give Michigan its last lead at 52-51. Coverdale then hit a 3-pointer after an offensive rebound by Newton to put the Hoosiers ahead 54-52 and Newton made it a four-point lead with two from the line. Moye drew a charge on Horton and made 1 of 2 from the line for a 57-52 lead. Michigan's Graham Brown dunked with 1:20 to go and was fouled but after missing the free throw for a three-point play, he fouled out with the Wolverines trailing 57-54. From there, the Hoosiers went to the line and sealed the win.
CHICAGO (AP) -- Alan Anderson and Erazem Lorbek scored 10 points each Friday and Michigan State's defense did the rest as the Spartans beat Purdue 54-42 in the Big Ten quarterfinals. The Spartans (19-11), with five straight wins, face Ohio State in Saturday's semifinals after the Buckeyes beat top-seeded Wisconsin 58-50 in Friday's first game. Michigan State held Purdue to its lowest scoring output of the season, including just 12 points in the first half -- the Boilermakers' worst scoring half since 1982. Willie Deane led Purdue (18-10), which still figures to get an NCAA tournament bid, with 16 points. But like the rest of his teammates, Deane shot poorly, hitting just 5-of-17. Michigan State, which played one of the country's most challenging schedules, hopes it enhanced its NCAA seeding with the victory. The Boilermakers' first half was mostly a nightmare. Purdue made just 4-of-20 first-half field goal attempts, went more than seven minutes midway through the first half without a point and then managed just one free throw over the final 6:27. Michigan State, which also shot poorly (32 percent), scored the final 10 points for a 24-12 halftime lead, a stretch that saw Purdue coach Gene Keady boil over and get a technical foul. Keady might have been complaining about the officiating, but his team's offense was the worst thing on the floor at the United Center. The Boilermakers had 16 first-half turnovers. Purdue's 12 first-half points were its fewest in one half since scoring 13 against Minnesota on Feb. 4, 1982. The Boilermakers' lowest scoring output ever came in 1909 when they managed six points in an entire game while losing to Wisconsin. Their previous low for a game this season was 44 against Ohio State. Purdue tried to regroup at the half and scored more points in the first five minutes and 20 seconds of the second half (15) than it did in the first 20 minutes. Chris Booker's basket trimmed Michigan State's lead to three, but when Maurice Ager hit a deep, high-arching 3-pointer just before the shot clock expired, the Spartans took off. Chris Hill followed with a 3-pointer and a jumper, Anderson drove for a basket and Lorbek sank a pair of jumpers in a 14-2 run that gave the Spartans a 48-33 lead with just over six minutes to play. Purdue finished the game 13-of-50 from the field.
CHICAGO (AP) -- Brian Cook had his sixth double-double of the season to lead four players in double figures Friday night and Illinois routed Northwestern 94-65 in the Big Ten tournament. Cook, the Big Ten's leading scorer and player of the year, had 20 points and 12 rebounds despite playing just 27 minutes. Roger Powell added 14 on 5-of-7 shooting, and Dee Brown had 10 points and nine assists as No. 13 Illinois won for the sixth time in its last seven games. Illinois, the No. 2 seed, will play the winner of the Indiana-Michigan game in the semifinals Saturday. Northwestern (12-17) upset Minnesota a day earlier using solid inside defense and patience on offense to overcome their disadvantages in size and numbers. But Illinois is in a totally different class. The Illini (22-6) shot 52 percent, including 65 in the first half when they took control of the game with a 27-4 run. They outrebounded Northwestern 41-35, had a 30-18 edge in the paint and held the Wildcats to less than 30 percent shooting. It wasn't exactly a fair fight, though. Because of injuries and transfers, the Wildcats dressed only nine players -- and one of those played just four minutes. Davor Duvancic led the Wildcats with a career-high 20 points. Jitim Young, the star in Thursday's upset, had a dismal night, going 1-of-12 from the floor to finish with five points. He also turned the ball over twice. Illinois has now won 15 of 16 against Northwestern, including the last eight straight. It also won its sixth straight at the United Center, improving its record to 19-6 since the arena opened in 1994. The Wildcats looked as if they might be in for a long night when they missed their first two shots and turned the ball over on their other possession. But T.J. Parker hit a 3-pointer, and Mohamed Hachad followed with back-to-back baskets to give Northwestern a 7-5 lead with 16:27 left in the first half. Any thoughts the Wildcats might have had of a second straight upset were short-lived, though. Nick Smith scored on back-to-back jumpers, and the Illini ripped off a 27-4 run over the next nine minutes. Sean Harrington and Brown each hit 3s to cap the spurt, which was as balanced as it was swift. Six different players scored during the run, and the Illini got points every way imaginable -- free throws, layups, jumpers and dunks. At halftime, Illinois had extended its lead to 47-21. The Illini were just as merciless defensively, holding the Wildcats to just 24 percent shooting in the first half and allowing only two field goals in the last 11 minutes. They also outrebounded Northwestern 22-12. It was more of the same in the second half. James Augustine converted a three-point play -- his only points of the game -- Cook made two sets of free throws and Brown scored on a fast-break layup over Young to extend Illinois' lead to 56-25 with 17:16 to play. Illinois led by as much as 40 in the second half.
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