Dismal second half dooms Illini
Miles Bridges scored 19 points, Joshua Langford had 16 and No. 2 Michigan State beat Illinois 81- 61 on Tuesday night in East Lansing, Michigan, sealing a share of the Big Ten championship.
The Spartans ( 27- 3, 15- 2 Big Ten) have won 11 straight and can claim the conference title outright if they win at Wisconsin on Sunday.
The Fighting Illini ( 13- 16, 3- 13) were coming off a win over Nebraska and looked like they were building momentum, competing well enough to trail the Spartans by just three points at halftime.
Michigan State, though, opened the second half with a 12- 1 run to take control and went on to build 20- plus- point leads. The cushion allowed coach Tom Izzo to put his three seniors in and out of the game in the final minutes, giving each of them an opportunity to kiss the school’s logo at midcourt and get an ovation from the crowd.
“They don’t have any weaknesses,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “I think they’re really capable of winning the whole thing.”
Cassius Winston scored 12 points, and Jaren Jackson had eight points and five blocks.
Illinois’ Leron Black had 20 points, and Trent Frazier scored 14 on 4- for- 13 shooting.
“We’re growing every day,” Underwood said. “We have one senior. We have two scholarships open, so we could grow the program with the addition of some recruits. We signed what we think is an elite point guard [ Ayo Dosunmu], one of the best in the country.”
Ohio State 79, Rutgers 52
C. J. Jackson scored 18 points to help the No. 16 Buckeyes rout the visiting Scarlet Knights.
Kaleb Wesson added 14, and Kam Williams, playing his last home game, had 13 as the Buckeyes ( 23- 7, 14- 3 Big Ten) got a feel- good win on senior night, coming on the heels of tough road losses to Penn State and Michigan that dropped them out of first place in the conference.
Corey Sanders had 12 points for the Scarlet Knights ( 13- 17, 3- 14). They’ve lost eight of their last nine games.
Nebraska 66, Indiana 57
The visiting Cornhuskers outscored the Hoosiers 13- 6 over the final 5: 32, overcoming some missed free throws by forcing the Hoosiers into 19 turnovers to reach 12 conference wins for only the third time in school history.
James Palmer scored 15 points as the Cornhuskers ( 16- 13, 9- 8 Big Ten) won for the seventh time in eight games.
The Hoosiers ( 16- 13, 9- 8) had a four- game winning streak snapped, with Nebraska picking up 26 points off Indiana’s highest turnover total since 19 in a season- opening loss to Indiana State.