Hoggard scores 23, leads Michigan St. over No. 10 Illinois
EAST LANSING, MICH. » Michigan State showed another flash of its potential, rallying to beat a top-10 team for the second time this season.
A.J. Hoggard had a lot to do with that.
Hoggard, an Archbishop Carroll All-Delco, had 23 points, five assists, two steals and zero turnovers to lead the Spartans over No. 10 Illinois 88-80 on Saturday.
“A.J. has been a guy that I’ve been on for four years,” coach Tom Izzo said. “You saw why. He played extremely well.”
He wasn’t alone.
Malik Hall had 22 points and Tyson Walker scored 19 for the Spartans, whose previous victory against a highly ranked team was two months ago in a 24-point win over then-No. 6 Baylor.
“We beat one of the most talented, beat teams that we’ve played,” Izzo said. “What does that do for us? A lot.”
Michigan State (15-9, 7-6 Big Ten) came back from an eight-point deficit over the last six-plus minutes to earn the win and bounce back from a 59-56 loss to Minnesota earlier this week.
Hoggard’s three-point play with 4:10 remaining made it 72-all, the 13th tie of the game. Shortly thereafter, Michigan State scored eight straight points to take control.
The Fighting Illini (17-6, 8-4) failed to keep a late lead for the second straight game.
RUTGERS 78, (11) WISCONSIN 56 »
Jeremiah Williams scored 18 points in his first home game of the season and Rutgers (13-10, 5-7 Big Ten) used a stifling defense to lead the entire game and hand Wisconsin (16-8, 8-5) its fourth straight loss.
Noah Fernandes contributed 17 points and Clifford Omoruyi added 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights who won a third straight game.
(1) UCONN 89, GEORGETOWN 64 »
UConn (22-2, 12-1 Big East) was never challenged on the way to its 12th consecutive victory, leading by as many as 26 in the first half while beating Georgetown (8-15, 1-11) behind Alex Karaban’s 25 points.
(3) NORTH CAROLINA 75, MIAMI 72 »
RJ Davis scored 25 points and North Carolina (19-5, 11-2 ACC) held off Miami (15-9, 6-7).
Armando Bacot had 10 points and 15 rebounds for the Tar Heels in their first game since an 80-76 home loss to Clemson on Tuesday.
(5) HOUSTON 67, CINCINNATI 62 »
J’Wan Roberts scored 20 points, including a game-sealing dunk with six seconds left, as Houston (21-3, 8-3 Big 12) outlasted Cincinnati (158, 4-6).
(9) DUKE 80, BOSTON COLLEGE 65 »
Mark Mitchell scored 17 points, Kyle Filipowski and Jeremy Roach each added 16 and Duke (18-5, 9-3 ACC) beat Boston College (13-10, 4-8).
FLORIDA 81, (12) AUBURN 65 » Riley Kugel scored 22 points, Walter Clayton Jr. added 20 points and Florida (16-7, 6-4 SEC) beat Auburn (19-5, 8-3) to put itself in position to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years.
(14) IOWA STATE 71, TCU 59 » Tre King scored 15 points and Keshon Gilbert had 13 points and seven assists, helping Iowa State (18-5, 7-3 Big 12) beat TCU (16-7, 5-5).
(15) SOUTH CAROLINA 75, VANDERBILT 60 » Collin Murray-Boyles scored a career-high 31 points and South Carolina (21-3, 9-2 SEC) beat Vanderbilt (6-17, 1-9) for its 21st victory of the season a year after losing 21 games.
(16) ALABAMA 109, LSU 92 » Mark Sears scored 23 points and Alabama (17-7, 9-2 SEC) made a handful of deep shots to break open a tight game in the final nine minutes
of a victory over LSU (12-11, 4-6).
GONZAGA 89, (17) KENTUCKY 85 »
Anton Watson scored 17 points, including a go-ahead three-point play with 3:49 remaining before adding two key layups in the final 91 seconds, Ben Gregg and Nolan Hickman sank key late free throws and Gonzaga (18-6) survived a secondhalf rally to beat Kentucky (16-7).
The Wildcats have now lost three straight at Rupp Arena for the first time.
(19) CREIGHTON 78, XAVIER 71 » Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 28 points to lead Creighton (17-7, 8-5 Big East) over Xavier (13-11, 7-6).
Baylor Scheierman scored 16 points for the Bluejays, who avoided their first three-game Big East losing streak since 2019.
(23) TEXAS TECH 66, UCF 59 » Darrion Williams had 13 points and 13 rebounds, Kerwin Walton scored 12 points on four 3-pointers before halftime and Texas Tech (17-6, 6-4 Big 12) never trailed on its way to a win over UCF(13-9, 4-6).
DELAWARE 69, WILLIAM & MARY 58 »
Jyare Davis’ 21 points helped Delaware (16-9, 8-4 Coastal Athletic Association) defeat William & Mary (8-17, 3-9).
Davis also had 10 rebounds for the Blue Hens. Niels Lane added 16 points while going 7 of 13 and 2 of 3 from the free throw line, and he also had five rebounds. Haverford School All-Delco Christian Ray was 5 of 10 shooting and 3 of 3 from the free throw line to finish with 13 points, while adding 15 rebounds.