Kasparas Jakucionis scored a career-high 24 points, Tre White had 23 points and eight rebounds and Kylan Boswell added 19 points and six assists to lead the Illinois men’s basketball team to an 86-80 win over No. 20 Wisconsin on Tuesday.
It was the fourth straight game in which Jakucionis scored 20 or more points for the Illini (7-2, 1-1 Big Ten), who beat the Badgers for the ninth consecutive time.
Nolan Winter led the Badgers (8-3, 0-2) with 15 points and seven rebounds, John Tonje had 14 points, Max Klesmit scored 13 and John Blackwell had 10. The Badgers lost their third straight game after opening the season with eight consecutive victories.
The Illini led 39-35 at halftime. They fell behind 47-46 with 16:32 left in the second half before regaining the lead on a 3-pointer by Boswell. They never trailed again.
It was the 150th win in Brad Underwood’s eighth year as the Illini coach. He’s now 150-90.
Takeaways
The Illini aren’t afraid to shoot 3’s, but that didn’t affect the Badgers. The Illini went 10 for 33 from long range.
The Badgers have two of the top free throw shooters in the Big Ten in Klesmit and Tonje. But, neither got to the line in the first half and Klesmit (3 of 6) and Tonje (2 of 2) didn’t shoot many free throws in the second half.
Key moment
Jakucionis’ four-point play with 6:08 left put Illinois up 70-60. The Badgers never got closer than four points after that.
Key stat
Underwood challenged his team following its overtime loss to Northwestern last week to do a better job on the offensive boards. The Illini responded, grabbing 15 offensive rebounds while outrebounding the Badgers 40-29. Tomislav Ivisic had a game-high 11 rebounds.
— Steve Stein in Champaign
Arkansas 89, No. 14 Michigan 87
Boogie Fland scored 20 points as the Arkansas men stormed back from a 15-point deficit, withstood a late comeback attempt and hung on for an 89-87 victory over No. 14 Michigan on Tuesday in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
D.J. Wagner added 16 points for the Razorbacks (8-2), who went without a basket for the final 3:01 and nearly blew an 18-point lead. Trevon Brazile added 15 points and a key block on Vladislav Goldin with 14 seconds left.
Goldin scored 17 for the Wolverines (8-2), which had won seven straight games and was trying to match last season’s win total already. Danny Wolf added 14 points, while Will Tschetter and Roddy Gayle Jr. contributed 13 apiece.
After cutting a 15-point deficit to 49-45 by halftime, the Razorbacks took an 18-point lead midway through the second period before allowing a 16-2 run. The Wolverines pulled to 88-87 on a basket by Wolf with 88 seconds left but did not score again.
Takeaways
The Wolverines shot 57.6% but were extremely streaky. Besides hitting 11 in a row to get the big lead in the first half, they also made seven straight to chip away at the 18-point deficit.
Depth showed up for the Razorbacks, who had five players score in double figures.
Key moment
With a chance at tying the game, Johnell Davis contested Gayle’s jumper right before the buzzer well to prevent overtime.
Key stat
The Razorbacks scored 69 points either in the paint or behind the 3-point line.
— Larry Fleisher in New York
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