Henry makes trouble, IU on bubble
Guard leads MSU rally in game with tourney implications for both
BLOOMINGTON — Aaron Henry scored 16 of his careerhigh-tying 27 points in the second half and Michigan State rallied to beat Indiana 78-71 on Saturday.
Though the Spartans (11-9, 5-9 Big Ten) may miss taking part in the NCAA Tournament after 22 straight appearances, they picked up their first win at Indiana since February 3, 2018 and dealt a blow to the Hoosiers (12-10, 7-8), who are seeking to get back to the tournament — to be held in its entirety in Indiana — for the first time since 2016.
A Henry basket and a Gabe Brown 3-pointer completed a 13-2 run during which the Spartans grabbed their first lead with about eight minutes left. They expanded it to 12 after 10-2 run capped by Brown 3-pointer. A straightaway 3-pointer by Armaan Franklin with 37 seconds remaining cut the lead to 75-71 but Indiana missed three final attempts from the arc.
Brown and Joshua Langford scored 14 points each, combining for 21 in the second half when the Spartans scored 52 points on 57% shooting and made 13 of 15 free throws after shooting 33% percent and getting no trips to the line in the first half when it trailed 30-26. The Spartans gave up 11 points off 10 turnovers in the first half but committed only three more after that.
Trayce Jackson-Davis finished with a career-high 34 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Race Thompson added 15 points and Franklin 13.
Indiana jumped out to a 16-4 lead behind 10 points from Jackson-Davis. The Spartans didn't reach double figures until there were 8 1/2 minutes left in the half and eventually tied Indiana after an 8-0 run. Jackson-Davis finished the half with a dunk off a lob from Franklin for a four-point lead.
Syracuse 75, Notre Dame 67:
Buddy Boeheim scored a careerhigh 29 points with six 3-pointers
and Syracuse rallied from a 20point second-half deficit to beat Notre Dame. Trailing 55-35 with 16:49 left, Syracuse used a press to get back in the game and outscored the Fighting Irish 40-12 the rest of the way to win its third straight game and reinforce its NCAA Tournament resume.
“We had to get stops. We had to play better defense,” Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. “We thought we could get back in. We felt we had to press. We made a couple of steals, we sped them up a little bit and they got out of rhythm on offense.
“I just can't believe we got the stops we got, that the press worked so well,” Boeheim added. “They weren't just missing shots. We were not giving them shots. That's hard to do against a team like Notre Dame. I'm still shocked by what this team did today.“
Buddy Boeheim made 10 of 19 from the field, including 6 of 10 from the arc that gave him 182 in his career, moving him into 10th
place in Syracuse history. Twenty of his points came in the second half. Marek Dolezaj added 18 points and Quincy Guerrier grabbed 14 rebounds to go with nine points for the Orange (13-6, 7-5 Atlantic Coast Conference).
“My teammates did a great job finding me, just setting screens for me,“Buddy Boeheim said. “I got some really good looks and it felt good to finally see some go down. It's a big win for us. We needed to win that. We never gave up. We just fought and stayed together. We know that we can play like that all the time.“
Notre Dame (9-11, 6-8) built a 19-point lead late in the first half before going into break ahead 46-32 after shooting 54.5%, including 7 of 14 from the arc. But in the second half, the Irish fell off to 32%, made just 5 of 17 3-point tries and committed eight of their 10 turnovers.
Trey Wertz led Notre Dame with 17 points, going 5 of 8 on 3-pointers. Dane Goodwin added
13 points, Nate Laszewski had 11 points with 12 rebounds and Juwan Durham 10 points with three blocks that moved him past Irish assistant Ryan Humphrey into third place at Notre Dame with 167 in his career.
Purdue 75, Nebraska 58: Jaden Ivey scored 15 points, Sasha Stefanovic added 14, and Purdue beat Nebraska.
The Boilermakers pulled away with a 19-4 run to lead 67-53 with about six minutes left. Stefanovic made consecutive 3-pointers during the stretch and Ivey capped it with a dunk. Nebraska cut the deficit to 10 points but didn't get closer.
Purdue (15-8, 10-6 Big Ten) has won consecutive games for the first time since a four-game winning streak ended with a 17-point loss to then-No. 7 Michigan on Jan. 22.
Ivey was 6-of-12 shooting and Stefanovic made 4 of 8 from long range. Brandon Newman added 10 points for the Boilermakers.
Shamiel Stevenson scored 10 points off the bench to lead Nebraska. Trey McGowens scored all nine of his points in the first half. The Cornhuskers (5-15, 1-12), who wrapped up a stretch of seven games in 12 days with a 79-71 loss at Maryland on Wednesday night, have lost 12 of their last 13.
Purdue plays at Penn State on Friday while Nebraska hosts the Nittany Lions on Tuesday.
Illinois 94, Minnesota 63: Ayo Dosunmu had 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his second triple-double of the season , Kofi Cockburn scored 22 points in 24 minutes, and No. 5 Illinois cruised past Minnesota for its seventh consecutive victory.
"I always tell my teammates, ‘Enjoy this moment," Dosunmu said. "Don't let COVID or not being able to see your family affect it, because this is memories that's going to last for a lifetime."
Trent Frazier added 15 points and six steals to help the Illini (15-5, 12-3) stay in second place in the bruising Big Ten with two weeks to go in league play. The Illini had a 31-8 edge in fast-break points, shot 56% from the floor and forced 18 turnovers, as Frazier stifled Gophers star Marcus Carr.
"You've got to have guys who are enjoying doing what they're doing and enjoying doing it with each other," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said.
Freshman Jamal Mashburn Jr. led Minnesota (13-10, 6-10) with 16 points and six rebounds, with his father, former NBA player Jamal Mashburn, watching in person for the first time in his college career. Nothing beyond that was worth remembering for the sputtering Gophers.
"Just have a sense of pride. We can't let guys come in like today and just do what they want to do," backup forward Eric Curry said.
Whether a thunderous onehanded dunk by the 7-foot, 285pound Cockburn or a slick lob pass from Dosunmu to Giorgi Bezhanishvili for a slam, the Illini had a lot to smile about.
"It was special," Frazier said, "just hearing the energy from the bench."