CHAMPAIGN—Nothing much was working for Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor early in Sunday’s game. The Badgers guard struggled with his offense and headed to the locker room at halftime with five points on 2-of-6 shooting in the face of some tough defense by No. 22 Illinois. But when it mattered most, Taylor found himself with the ball, driving across the lane as the shot clock wound down with under a minute to play. The senior hit a midrange jumper that gave the Badgers a five-point lead and that bit of breathing room was enough for Wisconsin to hold on for a 67-63 victory over the Illini.The Illini led deep into the second half but lost its second straight since their upset of then-No. 5 Ohio State landed them briefly in first place in the Big Ten.Joseph Bertrand added 15 points for Illinois (15-5, 4-3). Jared Berggren had 18 points for the Badgers (16-5, 5-3) and it was his defense that limited Leonard’s opportunities. Illinois took a 50-46 lead with just over 9 minutes to play on a jumper by Leonard, but the Badgers went on a 7-0 run to retake the lead. Taylor hit a short jump shot, Mike Bruesewitz made a 3-pointer and Ben Brust added a fastbreak layup that put the Badgers up 53-50. The sellout crowd at Assembly Hall went quiet as the Badgers bench, coaches included, jumped to their feet, many of them shouting a collective “Yeah!” Bruesewitz’s 3-pointer with 7:42 left in the game typified the scrappy play Ryan talked about. Brust initially missed from long range after a turnover by Brandon Paul, but Berggren lunged toward the sideline in front of the Wisconsin bench to pick up the rebound, feeding it back to Brust and, eventually, the ball found the open Bruesewitz on the opposite side of the court. The Badgers finished with 10 second-chance points.The Illini tied the game at 53-53 with 5:16 to play on a basket by Bertrand, but a jumper by Brust put the Badgers up for good, 55-53, with just over 5 minutes left. D.J. Richardson added 13 points for the Illini and Paul, two games removed from a 43-point night against the Buckeyes, had 10.Wisconsin guard Josh Gasser drew the assignment of controlling Paul, and was effective. Paul was 3 of 11 from the field, including missing two 3-point attempts.While Taylor struggled early for the Badgers, Bertrand found his shooting stroke midway through the first half, and finished with 12 points over the first 20 minutes. They included two on a drive and short jumper just before the buzzer that tied the game at 26-26. Bertrand’s early hot hand made up for a cold first half by Paul and Richardson. Between them they went to the locker room with seven points on 2-of-12 shooting.Wisconsin finished with 10 turnovers, but had eight by the half — one short of its average for a game. That and the Badgers’ 2-of-8 shooting from the free throw line in the first half were the biggest reasons Illinois was in the game.

MINNEAPOLIS—Rodney Williams had 11 points and four steals and flustered the Big Ten’s leading scorer to help Minnesota to its third straight win, 75-52 over Northwestern on Sunday.Williams added three blocks and Joe Coleman had 16 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Golden Gophers (15-5, 3-4 Big Ten).John Shurna scored 21 points for the Wildcats (12-7, 2-5), but he shot just 8 of 21 and scored 10 of those points in the final 11 minutes with the game already decided.NU shot 32.7 percent and missed its first 15 shots of the game to lose for the fourth time in five games. Drew Crawford, the Big Ten’s third-leading scorer at 17.6 points per game, managed just five points on 2 for 10 shooting.

ROSEMONT—South Florida’s inside presence was too much for DePaul as Augustus Gilchrist scored 22 points in a 75-59 Big East victory Sunday. The Bulls (12-8, 5-2), who have won five of their last six overall and seven in a row against DePaul, also got 19 points from Jawanza Poland.Cleveland Melvin’s 17 points led the Blue Demons (10-9, 1-6), losers of five consecutive games. Jamee Crockett added 15.The Bulls’ inside game combined with their guards attacking the basket wore down DePaul’s defense. South Florida, which led 37-29 at the half, outrebounded DePaul 40-29 while scoring 44 points in the paint, including 14 second-chance points.DePaul never led by more than three points and trailed the entire second half. The Blue Demons’ 23-22 lead at the 6:17 mark of the first half was short-lived, as the Bulls answered on their next possession when Anthony Collins completed a three-point play.

Patrick Kane ended a seven-game goal drought and set up linemate Jonathan Toews’ breakaway score in the Blackhawks’ 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Friday night.Duncan Keith added his first goal in 30 games to help the Hawks take the NHL lead, a point ahead of Detroit. The Blackhawks have won three straight and are 5-0-1 in their last six games.Ray Emery made 18 saves, allowing only Jason Garrison’s power-play goal 43 seconds into the third period.The Panthers dropped their eighth straight on the road and slipped to 1-3-3 in their last seven overall.Toews, who leads the Hawks with 27 goals, has tallied in four straight games and extended his points streak to six games. Kane’s goal was his second in 14 games.The game started a little over a half-hour late, at 8:08 p.m., because of the snow strom.The Panthers bus took 90 minutes to travel from their Downtown Hotel,a few miles to the United Center. The announced attendance at the 20,500-seat U.C. was 21,555, but about 2,000 seats remained empty.

CLEVELAND—Luol Deng scored 21 points, Carlos Boozer added 19 and 14 rebounds, and the Bulls managed easily without superstar Derrick Rose, embarrassing the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-75 on Friday night.Rose missed his third straight game with a strained left big toe, but the Bulls barely missed the NBA’s reigning MVP and handed the Cavs their worst home loss. Cleveland lost by 35 at home in 1990 and 2001.The Bulls, who have the league’s best record at 14-3, led by 42 points in the fourth quarter when all the Bulls’ starters were lounging in sweats.Anderson Varejao scored 14 points and rookie Kyrie Irving added 13 for the Cavs, who began a challenging stretch. Eight of Cleveland’s next nine games are against playoff teams from last season.

STATE COLLEGE—Illinois’ 7-foot-1 center Myers Leonard fouled out, so Penn State coach Patrick Chambers knew exactly what play to run off a timeout with 16 seconds left and the game on the line.Give the ball to point guard Tim Frazier and have him attack the basket.Nice plan.Frazier hit a floater in the lane with 8 seconds left and Jermaine Marshall blocked Sam Maniscalco’s layup at the buzzer to give Penn State a 54-52 upset of No. 22 Illinois on Thursday night.Frazier finished with 12 points and nine assists for the Nittany Lions (10-10, 2-5 Big Ten), who ended a three-game losing skid.Frazier drove at the top of the key before Jon Graham’s pick freed him from hounding defender Brandon Paul for the basket going to his right.Illlinois didn’t follow the scouting report on Frazier on the play.The Illini (15-4, 4-2) lost for the first time since re-entering the AP Top 25 this week. They had a short stay atop the Big Ten as the league’s lone one-loss team in conference play.Paul had 20 points, while Leonard added 15 for Illinois, which played for the first time since upsetting then-No. 5 Ohio State on Jan. 10.The Illini chipped away at a nine-point deficit several times in the second half thanks in part to better ball movement. Paul’s 3 from the left wing with 39 seconds left tied the game at 52.But Illinois couldn’t break through after shooting 33 percent in the first half and going scoreless for an 8-minute stretch spanning both periods. Illinois shot 34 percent (17 of 49) for the game.Frazier, Penn State’s point guard, picked up his fourth foul with 5:12 left and the Illini down a point, but they couldn’t exploit the situation.Cammeron Woodyard finished with 17 points for Penn State, while Marshall finished with seven points and five rebounds.But the highlight of Marshall’s game was his lunging tip to deflect Maniscalco’s shot at the end of the game.Chambers was so proud of Marshall he made sure to single him out in the locker room after the game.Illinois’ poor start from the field warmed Nittany Lions fans hoping to witness another tight game with the Illini on a chilly, snowy night in Happy Valley. Five of the last eight games in the series have been decided by two points or less. Penn State won 57-55 at home last season, over then-No. 16 Illinois.They pulled out another close one, this time to get first-year coach Patrick Chambers his first victory over a ranked opponent in Happy Valley.Wearing an alternate, all gray uniform for the first time in program history, the Nittany Lions scored another key win over Illinois to rock the Jordan Center. Paul scored nine points in the first half, when Illinois shot just 8 of 24 from the field to trail 25-23.The Nittany Lions played without starting forward Billy Oliver, the team’s fourth-leading scorer at 7.3 points per game, because of an undisclosed illness.

Jay Harris scored 18 points and Valparaiso rolled to a 69-48 victory over Loyola Thursday night.Ben Boggs and Kevin Van Wijk scored 14 points apiece, while Ryan Broekhoff had 13 points and eight rebounds for Valparaiso (13-7, 6-2 Horizon).Loyola scored the game’s first basket, but the Crusaders scored the next eight points and led by double digits for the last 26 minutes of the game.The Crusaders shot 57 percent from the field, led 38-22 at halftime and by as many as 26 points in the second half.Jordan Hicks scored 13 points to lead the Ramblers (5-13, 0-8), who have lost six straight. Christian Thomas scored 11, making all five field-goal tries

Roosevelt Jones scored 16 points and Butler defeated UIC 57-49 Thursday night.Ronald Nored had 10 points and seven assists for the Bulldogs (11-9, 5-3 Horizon), and Khyle Marshall grabbed 10 rebounds, seven on the offensive end.Marc Brown and Gary Talton led the Flames (6-12, 2-6) with 11 points apiece, and Daniel Barnes scored 10. UIC got as close as 49-45 before Butler sealed the win.The Bulldogs shot 38 percent while UIC made just 33 percent of its outside shots.

Brandon Provost and Jesus Delgado scored 14 points apiece to lead Texas-Pan American to a 72-65 victory over Chicago State in a Great West Conference opener Thursday night.Aaron Urbanus added 12 points for the Broncs (6-15), who snapped a 25-game road losing streak dating to March 2010. Provost hit four 3-pointers.Jeremy Robinson scored a game-high 21 points to lead four Cougars (1-17) in double figures. He also had a game-high eight rebounds and a career-high four steals.Chicago State’s Ardarius Simmons scored a season-high 16 points, Matt Samuels added 16 and Lee Fisher had 10.With the Broncs trailing 16-13, Provost sank a 3-pointer to tie the game and spark an 11-0 run that included six points by Enique Mason for a 24-16 lead with 5:09 left in the first half.Texas Pan-American, which outscored the Cougars 28-0 off the bench, led the rest of the way.

Jonathan Toews had two goals, rookies Andrew Shaw and Jimmy Hayes also scored, and the Blackhawks handed the Buffalo Sabres their 10th straight road loss, 6-2 on Wednesday.Marian Hossa and Dave Bolland also connected for the Blackhawks, who won their second straight and are 4-0-1 in their last five.Jason Pominville scored both goals for Buffalo, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Sabres from extending the team’s record road-losing streak.Toews has goals in three straight games, and four goals and three assists in a five-game point streak.Corey Crawford made 25 saves in the win. Buffalo’s Jhonas Enroth stopped 29 shots.Hayes, who assisted on Bolland’s goal, and Shaw continued their impressive production since being recalled from Rockford.Shaw has five goals in his first eight NHL games, and has scored in four straight since being called up on Jan. 5. Hayes has four goals and three assists in 10 games since his recall on Dec. 30.Pominville, who leads Buffalo with 46 points, recorded his second two-goal game this season.Pominville opened the scoring 9:30 in on a breakaway. He took Jochen Hecht’s stretch pass at the Hawk blue line, slipped behind the defense and fired a rising slap shot past Crawford on the stick side.Shaw tied it at 1 with 7:02 left in the first, 4 seconds after a Hawk power play ended. He banged in a rebound from the edge of the crease after Enroth stopped Duncan Keith’s drive from the blue line.Toews’ power-play goal just under three minutes later put the Hawks ahead 2-1. Brent Seabrook’s shot from the top of the slot hit the right post, and Toews put in the rebound.Pominville’s second goal, on the power play 3:28 into the second, tied it at 2. He beat Crawford on the short side with a one-timed shot from the left circle.Hossa put the Blackhawks ahead 3-2 just under two minutes later when he took a pass at the blue line and got behind the Sabres’ defense. Hayes stretched the lead to two goals with 6:35 left in the second by redirecting Andrew Brunette’s pinpoint cross-ice feed.The Blackhawks pulled away in the third.Set up by Hayes’ drop pass, Bolland made it 5-2 at 4:11. Toews slid in a shot from a sharp angle 9 seconds into a 5-on-3 power play at 6:48 for the final goal.

NOTES—The Sabres longest road winless streak is 23 games, set in 1971-72, their second season in the NHL. Buffalo went 0-15 with 8 ties in the stretch….Hossa extended his point streak to six games (one goal, six assists)…..Patrick Sharp (fractured left wrist) missed his fifth game….Daniel Carcillo underwent reconstructive knee surgery on Tuesday and is out for the season.