Michigan wins, retains title shot

NO. 13 MICHIGAN 72, ILLINOIS 61

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — No. 13 Michigan came to Illinois knowing another performance like the one the Wolverines had their last time out agianst Purdue would eliminate their hopes of a Big Ten title.

Michigan Coach John Beilein told his team that something had to change. Tim Hardaway Jr. took that message to heart, scoring 25 points with 14 rebounds to lead the Wolverines to a 7261 victory over Illinois on Thursday.

“I just made sure I got into the gym all week, 30 minutes before practice and then stay after practice,” Hardaway said. “I got a lot of shots up and made sure my mechanics were down pat.”

Trey Burke added 21 points for Michigan (22-8, 12-5 Big Ten), 14 of them in the first half.

The Wolverines never trailed en route to their first victory in Champaign since 1995. They hit 46.7 percent of their shots, including 9 of the 19 three-point tries, and were 21 of 23 from the free-throw line in what Beilein called a confident performance.

“That’s all we tried to preach the last couple of days was faith, confidence and swagger,” he said.

Illinois Coach Bruce Weber, who is under pressure after losing 10 of 12 since the Illini (17-13, 6-11) briefly led the Big Ten back in January, could do little but salute Hardaway and Burke.

“We just didn’t have any answers for them,” Weber said.

Michigan can win the Big Ten title with a victory against Penn State on Sunday and an Ohio State victory against Michigan State that same day.

Illinois was playing for its increasingly slim hope at making the NCAA Tournament, and fighting against persistent speculation that Weber is on the verge of losing his job.

Michigan turned to Burke in the first half and he answered with 14 points. And when the Illini slowed him down, the Wolverines looked to Hardaway in the second. Hardaway was 6 for 7 from the field — including all four of his three-pointers — and was 5 for 6 from the freethrow line.

Illinois trailed 35-27 at halftime but outscored Michigan 12-5 to open the second half, pulling within a point with 15:37 to play. Hardaway hit a three-pointer with 9:14 left to put Michigan up 49-44. Forty seconds later, he sank another jump shot for a 51-44 lead.

Burke was a force over the first 20 minutes. He was 6 for 9 from the floor with two threes — though he had some spotty Illinois defense to thank for some of those buckets.

Just a couple of minutes into the game the guard got a good look at what he could expect from Illinois’ defense. Burke had the ball near the top of the key and, when a wide gap opened all the way to the basket, he drove by four Illini defenders untouched and mostly unnoticed for a layup.

The Wolverines hit 54 percent of their first-half shots. Burke was well into double figures, but Hardaway already had nine and five rebounds to go with it. And, most importantly, Michigan had led by as many as 15. Burke’s jumper with 3:37 left in the half put the Wolverines up 35-22.

Now Michigan heads into Sunday with that title chance on its mind.

“We’ve won four out of our last five, and we need to keep it rolling,” Hardaway said. “Coach always says that comes March, the teams that are playing well are the ones that will have a chance at the title, so we just need to keep it up going forward.” NO. 22 FLORIDA STATE 63, NO. 24 VIRGINIA 60

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Ian Miller made a three-pointer in the final second and No. 22 Florida State rallied from 11 points down in last five minutes to beat No. 24 Virginia.

Miller scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half, and got just free enough from Sammy Zeglinski in the final seconds to make the shot from the right wing. It was Miller’s fifth three-pointer and the seventh for the Seminoles (209, 11-4 ACC).

Mike Scott scored 28 points for the Cavaliers ( 21- 8, 8- 7). Jontel Evans added 10 points.