Purdue’s A.J. Hammons
(20) and Sandi Marcius celebrate after upsetting host No. 17 Wisconsin, 69-56, on Sunday.
2C
MADISON, Wis. — Purdue came to the Kohl Center and beat No. 17 Wisconsin at its own game.
D.J. Byrd scored nine of his 22 points during a decisive second-half run as the Boilermakers upset the Badgers 69-56 to all but eliminate Wisconsin from contention in the tightly contested Big Ten race.
Terone Johnson added 16 points for Purdue (14-15, 7-9 Big Ten), half of which came in the 21-3 surge that carried the visitors to their first win in Madison since January 2009.
And the Boilermakers did it the way the Badgers have won many games: Tough defense, rebounding and hustling for loose balls.
“I think the numbers show that they did a better job on some of those hustle plays,” Wisconsin’s Jared Berggren said. “That’s something we normally take pride in controlling and getting more than our fair share of rebounds, loose balls, things like that. We didn’t do a good job coming away with those and that cost us.”
Purdue, which had lost three straight road games and four of five overall, out-rebounded Wisconsin 39-27 — including a 12- 6 advantage on the offensive glass — and limited the Badgers to 29.6 percent shooting (8-for-27) after halftime.
Wisconsin (20-9, 11-5) missed its final 18 3-pointers, including all 12 of its attempts in the second half.
Berggren scored 13 points and Ryan Evans and Sam Dekker had 10 apiece for the Badgers, who had won six of their previous seven.
“I thought our guys did a good job taking them out of rhythm, and when they had a couple that were open, I thought they rushed them a little bit,” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said. “Sometimes that happens when you fight to get an open one.”
TOP 25
(4) Michigan 58, (9) Michigan State 57 at Ann Arbor, Mich: Trey Burke stole the ball from Keith Appling near midcourt and went in alone for a dunk with 22 seconds remaining, then made another steal in the final seconds to give Michigan the victory.
The Spartans (22-7, 11-5 Big Ten) had the ball with the shot clock off at 56-all, but Burke’s first big defensive play enabled Michigan (24-5, 11-5) to take the lead. After Derrick Nix made one of two free throws and Mitch McGary missed the front end of a one-and-one for Michigan, Burke stole a pass by Gary Harris to end it.
Michigan State’s loss clinches at least a share of the Big Ten title for Indiana.
(23) Pittsburgh 73, Villanova 64 (OT) at Pittsburgh: Talib Zanna scored nine of his 14 points in overtime and Pittsburgh rallied past Villanova.
Zanna added a career-high 19 rebounds for the Panthers (23-7, 11- 6 Big East), who trailed by as much as nine in the second half. James Robinson also had 14 points for Pitt, including a game-tying 3-pointer with 33 seconds left in regulation and another in overtime that gave the Panthers a five-point lead.
Ryan Arcidiacono led Villanova with 23 points but the Wildcats (1812, 9-8) let an opportunity to pad their NCAA tournament resume slip away in the final Big East game at Petersen Events Center.
DEVELOPMENTS
SEC women’s tourney set: Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and Texas A&M are the top four seeds in the SEC women’s tournament which begins Wednesday night.
Each of the top four seeds, all ranked in the top 13, has byes until Friday’s quarterfinals.
No. 10 Kentucky earned the No. 2 seed by beating No. 8 Tennessee 78- 65 on Sunday.
The No. 12 seed, Mississippi State, plays No. 13 seed Alabama in Wednesday night’s opening game. The winner plays No. 5 seed South Carolina on Thursday. In other games Thursday, Arkansas plays Florida, Missouri plays Vanderbilt and Auburn plays LSU.
The championship game is set for Sunday night.