Edwards leads Purdue past Northwestern
EVANSTON, Ill. — Vincent Edwards scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half and Caleb Swanigan added 20 points and 14 rebounds to help Purdue beat Northwestern.
Purdue (25-6, 14-4 Big Ten) clinched the outright regular-season conference title earlier in the week, but had to hold on in the final seconds to fend off Northwestern (21-10, 10-8) in front of a raucous sellout crowd.
Bryant McIntosh had 25 points and six assists for Northwestern. The Wildcats have lost six of nine.
No. 21 Wichita St. 71, Illinois State 51
ST. LOUIS — Conner Frankamp scored 19 points, Markis McDuffie added 16 and No. 21 Wichita State beat Illinois State 71-51 in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game Sunday, earning an automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
After splitting their regular-season series and sharing the conference championship, Wichita State left no doubt as to top team in the MVC was this season.
The Shockers (30-4) have won 15 straight games since losing at Illinois State on Jan. 14. The Redbirds (27-6) had won eight straight games since losing at Wichita State on Feb. 4.
Landry Shamet added 14 points for Wichita State. Paris Lee, the MVC’s player of the year, led Illinois State with 18 points, and MiKyle McIntosh had 16.
No. 18 Cincinnati 67, Connecticut 47
STORRS, Conn. — Gary Clark had 17 points and 14 rebounds, leading Cincinnati past short-handed Connecticut in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Jarron Cumberland added 15 points for the Bearcats (27-4, 16-2 American Athletic Conference).
Rodney Purvis scored 15 points for UConn (14-16, 9-9). The loss dropped the Huskies into the play-in round of the AAC Tournament.
No. 22 Wisconsin 66, Minnesota 49
MADISON, Wis. — Bronson Koenig had a disappointing start to his final home game at Wisconsin, spending most of the first half watching from the bench because of foul trouble.
The sharpshooting senior point guard came out firing from 3-point range after halftime, providing a second-half spark in the No. 22 Badgers’ 66-49 victory over Minnesota
on Sunday night.
Koenig scored all 17 of his points in the second half and hit five 3s, combining with backup point guard D’Mitrik Trice to help spark a critical win for Wisconsin (23-8, 12-6 Big Ten) and secure the second seed in the conference tournament.
Maybe this will be the game that ignites another March run for Wisconsin after the team had lost five of its previous six games.