CHAMPAIGN—Brandon Paul scored 19 points and No. 11 Illinois bounced back from a tough loss in its Big Ten opener to beat No. 8 Ohio State 74-55 on Saturday.The Illini (14-2, 1-1 Big Ten) led 37-25 at halftime and used a 13-2 run early in the second half to build a 50-27 lead.Illinois used stingy defense to shut down the Buckeyes (11-3, 1-1), who shot just 33 percent from the field and turned the ball over 16 times.Deshaun Thomas led Ohio State with 24 points, but beyond him the Buckeyes had no one to turn to for offense. Aaron Craft had a quiet 11 points and Lenzelle Smith Jr. finished with eight, all in the first half.And while the Buckeyes searched for offense, the Illini got double-figure production from four players.Sophomore center Nnanna Egwu had 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds for the Illini point guard Tracy Abrams added 13 points and five assists, while reserve Joseph Bertrand scored 12 points.Illinois came into the game off a stunning 68-61 loss at Purdue in its Big Ten opener, and had lost two of its last three over a stretch in which the team struggled to get stops.But on Saturday, Illinois became the first team to hold the Buckeyes under 30 points in the first half this season, taking a 37-25 lead.The efforts of Illini big men Egwu, Sam McLaurin and Tyler Griffey were a big part of that success. Ohio State had just 10 points in the paint in the first half. Illinois added to its edge early in the second half with a 13-2 run. Bertrand finished it, driving to the basket and hitting a short jumper as the shot clock wound down for a 50-27 lead with 15:05 to play.The Buckeyes scratched their way back within 60-46 with 6:37 left on a jumper by Thomas. It capped a 15-4 run that melted what had been a 25-point deficit at 56-31 and put the sellout crowd – still uneasy about just how good Illinois might be – on edge.But Richardson answered Thomas’ shot with a 3-pointer with 6:13 to play. That put the Illini up 63-46 and let the crowd roar with relief.Paul followed that with two free throws and Egwu added a dunk that pushed the lead to 67-46 with 4:52 to play, and Ohio State was all but finished.

MILWAUKEE—Greg Whittington calmly made the first two of three free throws to bring No. 15 Georgetown within a point of Marquette with 2.3 seconds to play on Saturday.Golden Eagles coach Buzz Williams called a timeout, and after the short break, Whittington clanked the front of the rim on the third attempt, allowing Marquette to hang on for a 49-48 victory that snapped the Hoyas’ seven-game winning streak.With Marquette leading 49-46, Whittington took a pass from Otto Porter on the baseline and was fouled by Trent Lockett on a 3-point attempt.Whittington only had made 62 percent of his free throws this season, but he confidently swished the first two before Williams decided to ice the Georgetown forward.

“The way he stepped up and hit those first two I was, I guess, not so confident he would miss the third one, but I sure was glad he did,” Lockett said.

Lockett grabbed the rebound in the lane and was fouled, but missed two free throws and the game ended without the Hoyas attempting a final shot.

SOUTH BEND—Seton Hall knew it was in for a challenge trying to slow Jack Cooley and Eric Atkins against No. 21 Notre Dame. When Scott Martin began hitting 3s over the Pirates’ zone defense, they had no chance.Martin had a season-high 22 points on a career-high six 3-pointers to lead the Irish to a 93-74 victory Saturday.

“That was great to see,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “That’s a weapon that is a new kind of a weapon for us that we’re really going to need to count on through the rest of the Big East.”

Cooley added 19 points and 13 rebounds and Atkins had 17 points and 10 assists as the Irish (13-1, 1-0 Big East) won their 11th straight, their second-longest winning streak in 13 seasons under Brey. The loss ended a seven-game winning streak for Seton Hall (12-3, 1-1).It was the best game of the season for Martin, whose previous high was 14 points with four 3-pointers in a victory over Brown. Martin, a sixth-year senior, said he focused on improving his outside shooting during the offseason with the help of his younger brother, Andy.

Kendrick Perry hit a jump shot with 5 seconds left in the game to give Youngstown State a 68-66 victory over Loyola at Gentile Arena on Saturday.Youngstown State (9-6, 1-1 Horizon) trailed 50-36 with 14:10 left in the game before beginning its rally.Youngstown State finally took the lead 66-65 on a basket by D.J. Cole with 58 seconds remaining. The Rambler’s Ben Averkamp tied it with a free throw with 40 seconds left, setting up the late sequence for Youngstown State.Damian Eargle scored 20 points and blocked six shots for Youngstown State. Perry scored 18 points and Kamrin Belin scored 13, including three 3-pointers.Averkamp led Loyola (10-4, 1-1) with 18 points. Christian Thomas and Cully Payne scored 11 points each, and Devon Turk added 10.

MIAMI—Carlos Boozer scored 27 points and the Bulls dominated on the boards to become only the third visiting team to win in Miami this season, beating the Heat 96-89 Friday night.The Bulls outrebounded Miami 48-28. The Bulls had 19 offensive rebounds to four for the Heat.The Eastern Conference-leading Heat fell to 15-3 at home. Their other home losses came against the Knicks and Warriors.Miami’s LeBron James scored 30 points, extending his streaks of scoring at least 20 points to 31 consecutive games this season, and 52 games in a row overall when including last year’s playoff run. He has scored at least 25 in eight consecutive games.The first meeting between the teams this season was a bruiser, and the Bulls repeatedly outfought and outfoxed Miami on the boards. The Heat had won four games this season when outrebounded by 15 or more, but this time the disparity beat them.Boozer collected one offensive rebound in a sitting position after the ball rolled between his legs, which led to two more second-chance points.The Bulls’ final offensive rebound helped seal the win. Jimmy Butler grabbed it and fed Boozer for a layup with 46 seconds left to put them up 93-86.The Bulls had 20 second-chance points to seven for Miami.Boozer and Joakim Noah had 12 rebounds apiece, and Taj Gibson added nine in 17 minutes. James led the Heat with six.Boozer went 12 for 17 after scoring a season-high 31 points Wednesday at Orlando. Noah, back after missing one game with flu-like symptoms, had 13 points and set the tone with his physical play.While the Heat were often on their heels, they kept coming back. A jarring foul by Kirk Hinrich near the sideline staggered James and he collapsed on the Bulls bench, then was helped to his feet by coach Tom Thibodeau.Seconds later, James sank a 3.Noah drew a flagrant foul when he tackled James around the neck with one arm to stop a drive early in the fourth quarter. The violation led to a four-point possession for the Heat, with James sinking four consecutive free throws.The next time Miami had the ball, James drove for a dunk that cut the lead to 75-72. But the Heat got no closer.The Bulls won with more than mere muscle. The Bulls’ 5-foot-9 Nate Robinson made a leaping interception of a James pass, then smartly bounced the ball off Miami’s Shane Battier to avoid traveling. The ball dribbled out of bounds, allowing the Bulls to keep possession.Robinson’s 3-pointer with 6 1/2 minutes left gave the Bulls their biggest lead, 83-73.The Bulls pounded the boards from the start and scored the final 10 points of the first quarter for a 26-22 lead. Jimmy Butler’s buzzer-beater to end the first half put them up 49-48.Marco Belinelli sank a 3-pointer to put the Bulls up 75-66 after three quarters.The Heat had won their past two games, both in overtime, but this time they couldn’t get to OT.

NOTES—Regarding All-Star voting, James said with a chuckle: “It looks like I’m going to be a starter. Surprising.” … The Bulls are 9-8 home and 9-5 on the road. …They improved to 8-1 on the road against the Eastern Conference.

HOFFMAN ESTATES—The Chicago Soul earned their first shutout in franchise history, defeating the Syracuse Silver Knights 11-0 on Friday night at the Sears Centre Arena. Jeff Richey recorded an impressive 45 saves to carry the squad to victory.

“It was a great game, and definitely special for me,” said Richey. “I felt like I was in the zone. I was in good position the whole time, stood up strong, and didn’t back down to any shots. It felt really good. But you don’t get a shutout in this league without your teammates helping and making defensive plays and blocks. It’s a group effort when you have a shutout in indoor soccer.”

The Soul got things going on a goal by Bato Radoncic in the opening minutes of the first quarter. Eric Lukin followed up with a goal on a pass from Carlos Farias to make it an early 4-0 lead. Both teams remained scoreless in the second quarter as Richey made a flurry of saves to hold off Syracuse scoring.The second half saw more action from the Soul as Matthew Stewart scored the lone goal of the third quarter on a power play advantage to extend the lead to 6-0 heading into the final period of play. Carlos Muñoz made it an 8-point Soul lead at the 10:36 mark in the fourth, and Farias put the game away on a 3-pointer in the final minutes. Richey managed to hold off the Silver Knights, and the Soul picked up the 11-0 victory.

“All credit goes to Jeff [Richey],” said Soul Head Coach Novi Marojevic. “It was an amazing performance. I’ve played in this league for 15 years, and I’ve never seen any goalkeeper play the way he did today. He was simply amazing.”

The Soul resume action at home when they face the Baltimore Blast on January 11 at the Sears Centre Arena. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT.

EVANSTON—This one was over as soon as it started.No matter how many victories Michigan piles up, Trey Burke insisted one thing will not change. The Wolverines will keep seeing themselves as underdogs, even after nights like this. Burke scored 23 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. added 21 and No. 2 Michigan pounded Northwestern 94-66 on Thursday to remain unbeaten. Off to their best start since they opened the 1985-86 season with 16 victories, the Wolverines (14-0, 1-0) had no trouble in the Big Ten opener after breezing through the non-conference portion of their schedule.The rout was on as they built a 21-point halftime lead with Burke and Hardaway Jr. leading the way and were never challenged by Northwestern (9-5, 0-1).

“14-0, that’s a great start — and 1-0 in the Big Ten — but we’ve got to keep the attitude where guys are still doubting us,” Burke said.

He’ll get no argument from his coach.

“We’re always working that way, like we’re hunting all the time and we don’t ever want to lose that,” John Beilein said. “It’s not a negative to always be working.”

Michigan shot 59.6 percent overall and made 13 of 22 3-point attempts with the two guards doing most of the damage. Burke shot 9 of 16 overall and hit 4 of 6 3-pointers. Hardaway was 6 of 8 from the field and 4 of 5 from long range, and the ankle injury that kept him out of the previous game didn’t seem to be an issue.

“Just to see him back out there after his injury,” Burke said. “Back in action. Back in the groove. It was great.”

Jordan Morgan added 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Wolverines, while Glenn Robinson III and Nik Stauskas scored 10 points apiece.Jared Swopshire and Kale Abrahamson each scored 11 points for NU, but the Wildcats gave up the most points they have allowed this season while being outclassed by one of the nation’s best teams.

“Eventually, we’ve got to start doing things that the coaches get on us about,” guard Dave Sobolewski said. “We keep messing up the same things in the 1-3-1. We keep missing assignments. We keep falling asleep on defense. A lot of it will come down to heart and how bad we want it on defense mainly, too.”

It was a sharp contrast from their two meetings last season, when Michigan needed overtime to win both games.Then again, the Wildcats were short-handed. Besides suspending guard JerShon Cobb for the season for violating team policy, they also shut down one of their best players, Drew Crawford, for the remainder of the season last month because of a shoulder injury. Leading scorer Reggie Hearn sat out his second successive game because of a sprained ankle. Even so, Michigan wasn’t showing any mercy. Instead, the Wolverines ended the suspense early.Burke, averaging a team-leading 17.8 points coming in, scored 15 in the first half. Hardaway added 12 points, hitting all four 3s, and Michigan barely broke a sweat before taking a 51-30 halftime lead.

“I guess that’s what happens when you’re running the fastbreaks and getting easy baskets. It all comes off of defensive stops,” Hardaway said.

Burke did his best to bury Northwestern almost as soon as the game started.The sophomore guard scored 13 straight points for Michigan to help the Wolverines grab a 20-4 lead.

“He’s got a presence out there,” Beilein said. “He’s got a great ability to know when he can score and when he can find other people.”

Hardaway got going midway through the half, making consecutive 3-pointers that made it 33-13 and drew an “M Go Blue! M Go Blue!” chant from the maize-and-blue contingent in the stands.He struck again from the outside on consecutive possessions later in the half. And Burke wowed the crowd in the closing minutes when he laid the ball in after a nasty crossover. For Northwestern fans, there was little to cheer in the early going other than when football coach Pat Fitzgerald addressed the crowd on the heels of his team’s Gator Bowl victory.

LAS VEGAS—Anthony Bennett had 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead UNLV to a 74-52 victory over Chicago State on Thursday night.Bennett, a freshman who came in averaging 19.2 points per game, was one of four players to score in double figures for the Runnin’ Rebels (12-2) and has now led UNLV in scoring in 12 of their 14 games. Khem Birch added 13 points and 12 rebounds, Katin Reinhardt had 12 points and Carlos Lopez-Sosa chipped in 11.UNLV overcame a relatively sloppy performance and a season-high 21 turnovers. The Runnin’ Rebels pulled away late with a 13-0 run, going up 66-42 after the Cougars (4-13) had pulled within 11.Jamere Dismukes scored 13 points and Matt Ross added 11 for the Cougars, who couldn’t compete with the Rebels in the paint. UNLV outrebounded the Cougars 49-27 and outscored them 30-22 in the paint and 23-8 on second-chance points.

ORLANDO—The Bulls haven’t felt like themselves for much of the past few weeks.They’re hoping a much-needed win is the first step in finding their way back.Carlos Boozer had a season-high 31 points and 11 rebounds, Luol Deng scored 23 points and the Bulls hung on to beat the Orlando Magic 96-94 on Wednesday night. Taj Gibson added 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who played without center Joakim Noah. The Bulls were was outrebounded 37-34 in Noah’s absence but exploited an injury-plagued Magic front court, outscoring them 42-32 in the paint.Jameer Nelson missed a leaning jumper in the closing seconds that would have tied it, sending Orlando to its seventh straight loss overall and fifth in a row at home.

“We’re down. We’ve been shorthanded all season,” Boozer said. “But this game we were without Joakim and I thought Taj came in and played a monster game. Luol was normal with his All-Star performance. We did a god job at the end being resilient … We did a good job of when we needed to of getting stops at the very end.”

Nelson returned to the lineup after missing two games with a sore hip and scored a season-high 32 points. Nik Vucevic finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Arron Afflalo added 19 points for the Magic. They dropped to 0-7 without Glen Davis, who could be sidelined for a few more weeks as he rehabs a sprained left shoulder.

“I think teammates would agree that there’s no secret that Glen adds a different element to our team,” Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. “But … it’s about time for us to realize as a team that Glen’s probably not going to play two days from now, so we need to continue to work together … and muster the energy and approach still.”

Vaughn rested forward Maurice Harkless for the second consecutive game. But he said it was simply a coach’s decision to ensure the rookie, who was thrust into a starting role while Hedo Turkoglu was injured, is getting enough rest. In the meantime, Orlando has just a handful of days to attend to its continuing shortcomings with the Atlantic division-leading New York Knicks visiting Saturday.

“That’s something we need to do,” Vucevic said of the Magic’s fourth-quarter effort. “We never give up. We stick together as a team … That’s something going forward that is going to help us going down the road.”

Despite Noah watching the game from the team hotel as he fought flu-like symptoms, the Bulls did get back guard Kirk Hinrich after he missed a game with a sore left knee. Hinrich’s shooting ability and ball handling allowed them to spread the court and get some easy looks inside against the smaller Magic lineup.They took advantage of the absence Davis, and a tender Gustavo Ayon (sore thigh), as the Bulls starting frontcourt of Deng, Boozer and Gibson outscored their Magic counterparts 75-30.

“It was better, but it’s not what it needs to be,” Tom Thibodeau said. “We had good offensive energy, and not the necessary defensive energy. It was better, but we still have to do much better than we did tonight.”

The Bulls led by as many as 18 in the third quarter before a 13-6 run by the Magic trimmed it to 82-71 entering the fourth. Despite its size disadvantage, Orlando held its own on the boards and stayed close down the stretch. Nelson scored five straight points to cut the deficit to six and Vucevic dropped in back-to-back layups that trimmed it to 86-84 with 5:12 left.Two shaky Magic possessions and a turnover allowed the Bulls to respond with eight straight points, pushing the lead to 94-84.J.J. Redick hit a 3-pointer and a Vucevic got a dunk to give Orlando life, and following a Bulls miss, Redick found Afflalo, who swished a 3-pointer from the corner to cut it to 94-92 with 46.3 seconds on the clock. The Bulls came up empty on their ensuing possession, and Gibson blocked a Nelson layup attempt out of bounds with only 11.3 remaining. Nelson then found a lane to the basket, but put up an off-balance, leaning floater that bounced off the rim. Deng rebounded the miss and knocked down two free throws with 4.2 left to secure the victory. The Bulls’ starting frontcourt held a 37-15 scoring advantage over the Magic in the first half, helping the Bulls build a 54-46 halftime lead. Boozer was the most active, scoring 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting. The Bulls also held a 20-14 edge on points in the paint.

NOTES—Vucevic’s double-double was his 14th of the season….Vladimir Radmanovic missed his third consecutive game with flu-like symptoms.

WEST LAFAYETTE—Purdue’s players finally figured out what Matt Painter wanted all season. Toughness. Defense. Big plays late in the game. The Boilermakers did it all Wednesday night, slowing the tempo with a strong defensive effort, finding enough scorers and rallying twice in the second half — once to take the lead and finally to hold off frantically-charging Illinois — in a 68-61 upset of the No. 11 Illini.

“It means a lot,” Terone Johnson said after scoring a career-high 25 points. “It’s kind of like coach said in the locker room, `We just went out there and did it, so why couldn’t we have been doing it before?”‘

Good question. Purdue (7-6, 1-0 Big Ten) came into the conference opener with the worst record in the league and a schedule that had them facing Illinois at home, visiting No. 18 Michigan State and hosting No. 8 Ohio State by Tuesday. They left Mackey Arena with their third straight win, a record over .500 for the first time all season and an eighth consecutive victory over Illinois dating to the second of three meetings during 2008-09. Yes, the Boilermakers needed the win and they did it with their trademark grit, too. The 6-foot-2 Johnson played big in the paint, making 9 of 18 shots, grabbing nine rebounds and finishing with four assists.Senior D.J. Byrd who struggled for most of the first 30 minutes, made three of his four 3-pointers during a key 16-3 second-half run that flipped the game. He also grabbed the rebound off an errant free throw, called timeout with 21 seconds left from his knees before falling out of bounds, then grabbed the inbound pass and completed a three-point play to make it a two-possession game. Byrd finished with 15 points, two assists and a beaming smile across his face.

“Terone hit me on the wing and it was in rhythm so I just caught it and shot it. The next one I caught it and shot it, and then I kind of got lucky on that one dropped in,” Byrd said. “You’ve just got to keep shooting it like the next one’s going in.”

For Illinois, it was a rough start to conference play. The Illini (13-2, 0-1) have now lost two of their last three games and their eighth straight Big Ten road game since winning at Northwestern almost exactly one year ago. The losing streak against Purdue the school’s longest against a league foe since it lost nine straight to Purdue from 1996 to 2000, and the Boilermakers are the only Big Ten team this year’s seniors have not beaten.