Ohio State is the champion of the Big Ten tournament — again. Deshaun Thomas scored 17 points and the 10th-ranked Buckeyes used their stout defense to beat No. 22 Wisconsin 50-43 for their conference-best fifth tournament title on Sunday. Thomas was 6 for 19 from the field, but made some big free throws down the stretch as Ohio State won the championship for the third time in the last four years. Aaron Craft had nine points and six rebounds, and LaQuinton Ross delivered a couple of huge plays.The Buckeyes (26-7) were rewarded with a No. 2 seed in the West Region for the NCAA tournament and a second-round game in Dayton, Ohio, against Iona. Wisconsin is in the same region, with the fifth-seeded Badgers to play Ole Miss in their first game in Kansas City, Mo. Traevon Jackson scored 10 points for the Badgers (23-11), who shot 38.3 percent from the field. None of his teammates reached double figures, with Sam Dekker next up at eight points.

“It’s a disappointment,” senior Ryan Evans said. “We definitely wanted to leave here with some hardware, but moving forward, we’ve got the NCAA tournament. It’s a bigger thing, and I’m looking forward to that.”

Wisconsin and Ohio State were close for most of the second half, but the Buckeyes seized on a cold spell by the Badgers to move in front down the stretch.After Dekker scored on a reverse layup with 7:01 remaining, Wisconsin went scoreless for the next 4 1/2 minutes while Ross stepped up for Ohio State. He had a strong offensive rebound and putback, then converted a layup to make it 47-41 with 2:39 to go.Jackson made two free throws to stop the scoring drought for the Badgers, who forced a shot clock violation on the other end. But Ben Brust missed a long 3-pointer and Thomas went 3 for 4 at the line in the final minute.Dekker’s basket was Wisconsin’s last field goal of the game. Thomas had seven rebounds as the Buckeyes enjoyed a 39-28 advantage on the glass.

“We got beat physically inside a little bit, so I think that told a lot on the offensive glass,” Badgers coach Bo Ryan said.

Wisconsin advanced to the final with a pair of impressive victories over No. 6 Michigan and third-ranked Indiana, while the Buckeyes beat Nebraska handily and edged No. 8 Michigan State to reach the title game for the fifth consecutive season. Sam Thompson added eight points for the Buckeyes, who had 13 second-chance points, compared to four for Wisconsin. While the lithe Thompson is a potent scorer, the Badgers took advantage of his lack of size at times when they had the ball. The 6-foot-7, 190-pound Thompson started at forward for the Buckeyes, and Wisconsin’s senior starting front court of Jared Berggren, Evans and Mike Bruesewitz all had at least 18 pounds on the sophomore. The Badgers used the advantage to get high-percentage shots inside or force a double team that left one of their 3-point shooters open. It was particularly noticeable during a 14-0 first-half run that included 3s from Bruesewitz and Frank Kaminsky and a slick reverse layup by Evans. But Thad Matta also did a nice bit of coaching for the Buckeyes. After Thomas got off to a slow start, Matta pulled the junior aside for a quick chat during a timeout late in the first half and the forward responded with a nice jumper that trimmed Wisconsin’s lead to 24-23 at halftime.

Jeremy Robinson scored 17 points and Chicago State won its first conference championship as a Division I program, defeating Houston Baptist 75-60 Saturday in the finale of the Great West Conference tournament.Nate Duhon added 15 points and six steals for the third-seeded Cougars (11-21), and Matt Ross and Clarke Rosenberg each scored 10 points.Fourth-seeded Houston Baptist (14-17), which lost by double digits three times to Chicago State this season, got 17 points from Art Bernardi, 16 from Marcel Smith and 11 from Rob Lewis.The Cougars took control early, leading by as many as 21 points in the first half and taking a 44-25 lead into the break. The Huskies never got closer than 15 points in the second half.There is no automatic NCAA tournament berth for the winner of the Great West Conference. Four of its five members are joining new conferences next season. CSU will join the WAC next season.

DALLAS—Flashing the form that propelled them on their record streak, the Blackhawks got rolling early and never looked back.Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa each scored twice in leading the Blackhawks to an 8-1 rout of the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.Nick Leddy and Patrick Kane each had a goal and two assists as eight Hawks scored two or more points and the Hawks boosted their road record to 12-1-2 with a dominant win on the second stop of a four-game road trip.

“A great effort all-around by the team,” said Kane, whose 15th goal of the season was a highlight-reel beauty in the third period. “It was a game that we probably needed, since we’ve been in so many close games, to get some guys some confidence scoring some goals. It was good to see a lot of guys step up.”

Corey Crawford made 18 saves for his 13th victory, and Johnny Oduya and Duncan Keith had the Blackhawks’ other goals.

“We had all areas of our game with us, puck possession, playing a sound game system-wise. Everybody contributed,”  coach Joel Quenneville said.

The Blackhawks are 2-2-0 since their record 21-0-3 streak to start the season.Defenseman Trevor Daley scored for the Stars, who have been outscored 16-3 in losing four straight (0-3-1). Three games into a stretch in which the Stars play nine of 11 at home, they have lost all three and are 2-5-1 in their last eight in Dallas.

“If this wasn’t an alarm clock, I don’t know what is,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said.

The return of offensive catalyst Jamie Benn, who missed two games with a wrist injury, wasn’t enough to help the Stars, although he assisted on Dallas’ only goal, feeding Daley for a one-timer on a power play at 6:30 of the third period to spoil Crawford’s shutout bid.Kari Lehtonen took the loss in goal for Dallas, surrendering four goals on 17 shots before he was pulled midway through the second period. Richard Bachman made 13 saves in relief.

“We dumped on our first goalie and we dumped on our second goalie,” Benn said. “We left them to hang out to dry and it’s unacceptable. We need to do something within this room to change that. It’s an unacceptable effort tonight. These guys gave us a wakeup call tonight.”

Toews struck twice within 1:35 to propel the Hawks to a 2-0 lead in the first period and the Blackhawks never looked back.At 9:05, Toews cruised through the top of the crease and his nifty deflection of Leddy’s slap shot from the left point beat Lehtonen.His second goal came seconds after he won an offensive zone face-off, and set up in front of the net, where Duncan Keith’s point shot ricocheted off Daley right to him for an easy tap-in into the open side of the net at 10:40.

“I think maybe the fact that we were able to distance ourselves early and not let them back into the game maybe took the wind out of their sails,” said Toews, who has 13 goals. “And as the game went along, the puck just seemed to keep bouncing our way. We worked for our success. I think whether you score eight goals or not, we did what we had to do to win and played a full 60 minutes.”

The Blackhawks extended their lead to 3-0 on Leddy’s third goal of the season at 17:54. Lehtonen stopped Viktor Stalberg’s point-blank shot, but Leddy managed to jam home the rebound.The Blackhawks continued to control the action in the second, nearly going up by four at 7:30 when a turnover by Dallas rookie defender Brenden Dillon gave Jimmy Hayes an uncontested wrist shot from the slot, but he fired it over the crossbar.Oduya made it 4-0 at 8:01 when his slap shot from the blue line sailed past a screened Lehtonen, pinged off the left post and dropped in for his second goal in as many games.That goal prompted Gulutzan to pull Lehtonen in favor of Bachman.The Blackhawks scored on their first shot against Bachman, taking a 5-0 lead at 12:18 while the clubs were skating four aside, on Hossa’s one-timer from in front off a nifty backhand pass from Kane.

“We were talking about it before the shift,” Hossa said of the play, “and I knew as soon as he went on the right side, he’d throw it in the middle and I tried to just try to find a way to best position myself to score the goal.”

Skating with a 5-on-3 advantage, the Hawks struck again with 50.8 seconds left in the period when Hossa launched a blistering snap shot from the right circle that beat Bachman over his glove.Keith’s second goal of the year, off a wrist shot that glanced off Benn’s stick in front, beat Bachman at 2:06 of the final period.Two minutes after Daley snapped the shutout in the third period, another Dallas goal was wiped out. Eric Nystrom’s wrist shot found its way over Crawford’s shoulder, but the officials ruled that Vernon Fiddler interfered with Crawford on the play.

“We certainly got humbled,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “We knew they were a good team coming in. We’d like to think we were prepared for it and expected it, but obviously we weren’t. This was deflating for us. We’ve got some work to do.”

Kane made it 8-1 on the ensuing power play with a spin move in the right circle for a backhander that beat Bachman past the glove at 9:59.

NOTES—Daley’s goal snapped an 0-for-10 power play drought for the Stars over the past three games…..After a 2-for-6 showing with the man-advantage, the Hawks are 5 for 21 over its last nine contests on the power play….The Stars honored their general manager, former C Joe Nieuwendyk, as part of their all-time team. Nieuwendyk played in Dallas from 1995-2002, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1999 while helping the Stars earn the franchise’s only Stanley Cup.

Ryan Evans jumps when he shoots free throws. Ben Brust looks as if he just got his driver’s license, and Mike Bruesewitz’s shaggy hair draws snickers every time Wisconsin goes on the road.The Badgers may not look like a top team, but they sure play like one.Evans scored 16 points in a terrific all-around performance and No. 22 Wisconsin upset No. 3 Indiana 68-56 in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament Saturday.

“We’re playing our best basketball at the end of the season, and that’s what you want to do,” Bruesewitz said.

The Badgers allowed only seven points after the top-seeded Hoosiers pulled within one with 9:45 left. They earned their 12th consecutive win against Indiana, tying a record for any school against the powerhouse program.

“There are just things in this game, no matter how you try to explain them, they defy explanation,” Ryan said, shrugging away Wisconsin’s long run against Indiana. “But we have players who are willing to work, to listen, to buy in.”

Brust added 12 points for Wisconsin (23-10), which has won three straight and six of eight. Sam Dekker scored nine of his 11 points in the second half, including seven in a row during one impressive burst.

Christian Watford scored 14 points for Indiana (27-6), and Cody Zeller had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Victor Oladipo scored 10, but was 4 for 12 from the field.The Hoosiers, who won the regular-season conference title, now have to wait until Sunday to see if they did enough to earn a coveted No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament.

“Obviously we wanted to get this win today,” Zeller said. “We’ll learn from it, we’ll figure out what we did wrong. We’ll make the corrections and be ready for next week.”

Zeller and Oladipo each made a couple of big plays when Wisconsin tried to pull away in the second half. Zeller scored the first five points in a 10-0 run that gave the Hoosiers a 41-40 lead with 13:27 remaining. Oladipo soared in for a big offensive rebound and made a pull-up jumper during a quick six-point burst that got Indiana within one with 9:45 remaining.The Badgers then ripped off eight of the next 10 points to open a 58-51 lead. Evans had a layup, Brust went 1 for 2 at the line, Jared Berggren made a big 3-pointer and Dekker dunked inside off a nice pass from Jackson.

“Just biding my time, picking my spots,” Berggren said of his only 3-point attempt in a 4-for-4 performance from the field. “I was open a couple times. Coaches told me to be aggressive. I was looking for a great shot, not a good one. It felt good.”

That strong stretch was enough to put away the Hoosiers, who managed just two field goals in the final 5:02. Watford also hurt Indiana’s chances when he missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 2:15 to go and the Badgers up by five.

“We made a couple comebacks this game, and did an excellent job of that,” coach Tom Crean said. “But every time we made that comeback with what was working for us, we got away from it. We had some critical turnovers at key times, we had some critical second shots we gave up at key times.”

Berggren finished with 11 points for the Badgers, who shot 51 percent from the field. Evans had eight rebounds, four assists, four blocked shots and a steal.Wisconsin joins Purdue as the only schools with 12 straight victories against Indiana. The Boilermakers put together their run from Feb. 26, 1908, to Feb. 9, 1914.

“You take advantage of what you can, try to get good opportunities every time down, and try to limit their opportunities,” Ryan said. “It’s that constant clash. The game never changes. I’ve never outcoached anyone, outmaneuvered anyone, outstrategized anyone.”

With open looks hard to come by on each side of the court, the Hoosiers and Badgers turned to the 3-pointer in the first half to try to make some room for their big men inside.Watford and Remy Abell made 3-pointers on consecutive Indiana possessions to help the Hoosiers open a 20-14 lead with 9:04 remaining. Wisconsin responded with a 12-2 spurt that included 3s from Brust and Bruesewitz.

Wisconsin was 7 for 18 from long range for the game, compared to 5 for 17 for Indiana.

“The biggest story for us was we’ve been defending the 3 the last six, seven games at an incredibly high level, and today we didn’t,” Crean said. “They got some kick-out 3s and things of that nature, but we got away from what had been making us better.”

Wisconsin faces Ohio State in Sunday afternoon’s Championship Game.

Aaron Craft came on strong in the second half to finish with 20 points and lead No. 10 Ohio State past No. 8 Michigan State 61-58 on Saturday in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament. Craft keyed a seven-point spurt midway through the second half that stretched the lead to eight at 55-47, and the Buckeyes (25-7) came away with the win after the Spartans (25-8) pulled within one. The victory avenged a loss in last year’s championship game.It was 57-56 after Derrick Nix converted a three-point play for Michigan State with 1:54 remaining, but Craft hit a free throw. Thomas grabbed a huge rebound off a missed 3 by Shannon Scott to keep the possession going and scored in the paint after a timeout to make it a four-point game, sending the Buckeyes back to the conference final.They’ll go for their third championship in four years when they meet No. 22 Wisconsin, a 68-56 winner over top-seeded and third-ranked Indiana in the other semifinal.

EVANSTON—Bill Carmody will not return to Northwestern for a 14th season as the men’s basketball coach, the school announced Saturday.

The Wildcats lost their final nine games this season and finished 13-19. More important, they never made the Field of 68 (or 65 or 64) under Carmody(or anybody else-EVER), which is typically considered the pass-fail mark for power-conference coaches. The New Jersey native came close a few times, made the NIT from 2009 to 2012, and is generally respected within the sport. But change sometimes must come for the sake of change and to give hope to fans who no longer have it or, perhaps, have never had it. So, development is rooted in that. An attempt to reach Carmody for comment was not immediately successful.

Expect Duke associate head coach Chris Collins to emerge as the leading candidate.He’s from the area and has local support.

OAKLAND—Embarrassed one game, handing out humiliation the next.Such is life for the Bulls right now.Luol Deng scored 23 points, Carlos Boozer had 21 points and nine rebounds, and the banged-up Bulls bounced back from their most lopsided loss of the season to whip the Golden State Warriors 113-95 on Friday night.

“I do know we have pride,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We’ve taken a hit. We’ve lost some guys along the way. Our guys will battle. We know that we’re short-handed. But if we have the right intensity and we do it collectively, we have a chance. And we’ve shown it throughout the year.”

Maybe this week more than any other.Two nights after a 121-79 shellacking at Sacramento that renewed calls for Derrick Rose’s return, the Bulls outscored the Warriors 38-17 in the third quarter en route to snapping a season-high, five-game road losing streak. They led by 36 points early in the fourth quarter before both sides cleared the benches.Nate Robinson added 20 points and seven assists, while Joakim Noah finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Bullos, who had lost four of five overall. The Bulls outshot the Warriors 52 to 45 percent and won the rebounding battle 43-34, though the final box score hardly showed how much of a blowout the game really was.The Bulls had spent the past two days trying to regroup after being routed by one of the Western Conference’s worst teams. The team held a meeting to re-emphasize what had made them such a tough out in recent years: pride and effort.

“The great thing about it is we kept it up for virtually the whole game,” Boozer said. “It was fun to watch us play like that.”

Jarrett Jack scored 20 points and David Lee had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors, who missed their first 11 shots from 3-point range before making their last three. Golden State ended its longest homestand 4-3.

“Loose balls, rebounds, screens, moving without the basketball – any way you want to measure playing with force, we failed,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said.

The Bulls of course again played without Rose, the NBA’s MVP of the 2010-11 season who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last April and whose possible return has fueled fodder in recent weeks. Kirk Hinrich (right foot), Taj Gibson (left knee) and Richard Hamilton (lower back) also remain out with injuries.Both teams played with relatively small lineups — with the exception of Noah and Warriors center Andrew Bogut — and spread the floor, creating space all over the perimeter. Noah and Boozer gave Bogut and Lee fits with their interior passing, rampant rebounding and overall energy to outwork the Warriors throughout.The Bulls blitzed the Warriors at the end of the first half and at the start of the second.After Lee’s dunk tied the score at 44, Chicago went on a 20-2 run that showed the kind of heart and hustle that has defined the Thibodeau Era: Boozer dove on the floor to squirt the ball away from Jack, and Jimmy Butler converted a difficult layup over Lee on the other end to start a three-point play.

“One of the best hustle plays all season,” Robinson said.

Marco Belinelli opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer, and then Robinson – who played 51 games for the Warriors last season – intercepted a pass from Harrison Barnes for an easy layup. Deng stole another pass from Klay Thompson, and Robinson capped the spurt by tipping in Deng’s miss.Headed for a possible playoff berth for only the second time since 1994, Golden State came up short in front of a 23rd straight sellout crowd announced at 19,596. Even Stephen Curry tried to dunk on an open fast break late in the second quarter, though at least Barnes swooped in to slam the miss.

“This was an embarrassing performance by us, point blank,” said Curry, held to eight points and four assists on 2-for-13 shooting.The rest of the game turned into a series of Bulls highlights, including a put-back slam and a slash to the rim for another dunk by Boozer — both on slow rotations by third-string center Andris Biedrins, who later just grazed the bottom of the net on a free throw.Warriors owner Joe Lacob sat in in his courtside seat looking miserable. At the end of the third quarter, he rested his chin on his fist and just stared at the scoreboard: Bulls 94, Warriors 63.Co-owner Peter Guber moved four seats over to chat with Lacob during the break. A large chunk of Warriors’ fans filed out of the arena, and some even booed.

“It’s embarrassing to us, to the organization, to the coaching staff, to the fans,” Jackson said.

NOTES—Rose went through pregame warm-ups as he has for the past couple of weeks. Asked again how Rose is progressing, Thibodeau remained vague. “He’s fine. He keeps getting better,” Thibodeau said….The Warriors wore their short-sleeve jerseys with pinstripe shorts for the third and final time this season.

Wisconsin just kept missing. The Badgers were icy cold from long range, simple layups a risky proposition. And they only trailed by three at the break.When Ben Brust and Co. finally found their stroke, it was all over for Michigan.Brust scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half and No. 22 Wisconsin knocked off the sixth-ranked Wolverines 68-59 in the second round of the Big Ten tournament on Friday.Traevon Jackson had 16 points for the Badgers (22-10), who will play top-seeded Indiana in the semifinals on Saturday. Ryan Evans added 12 points, six rebounds and six assists.Trey Burke had 19 points and seven assists for Michigan (26-7), but the Big Ten player of the year was 8 for 22 from the field. Tim Hardaway Jr. shook off an ankle injury in the first half and finished with 14 points and nine boards.

Sam Thompson grew up in Chicago and went to high school near the United Center. Like all kids in the area, he was a big fan of Michael Jordan.So this was one special homecoming for the silky smooth sophomore.Thompson had a career-high 19 points to help No. 10 Ohio State rout Nebraska 71-50 in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals on Friday night.

“It felt great to be home, playing front of my family and all that,” he said. “It’s always fun to play back in Chicago.”

Thompson was 6 for 6 from the field in the second half, when the Buckeyes were 17 for 22 overall. The 6-foot-7 forward also had a steal and blocked a shot while playing 28 minutes in his first game in the current home of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls.

“It was cool. We got here about 30 minutes before we were able to touch the basketball and stuff,” said Thompson, a former prep star at Whitney Young High School. “Just coming out here, seeing all the banners, seeing the Madhouse on Madison United Center, it was a great feeling.”

The Buckeyes turned a close game into a runaway with an impressive 30-5 spree spanning halftime that included a little bit of everything. LaQuinton Ross connected on three consecutive 3-pointers, Aaron Craft made a couple of nifty passes and Thompson had two jams to go along with a 3-pointer.

Adreian Payne had 18 points and 10 rebounds, leading No. 8 Michigan State to a rugged 59-56 victory over Iowa in the Big Ten quarterfinals on Friday night.Keith Appling and Gary Harris had 13 points apiece for the Spartans (25-7), who trailed by 12 midway through the second half. They advance to play Ohio State in the next round in a rematch of last season’s tournament championship, won by Michigan State.Iowa (21-12) was oh so close to an upset victory that could have cemented a spot in the field for next week’s NCAA tournament. Instead, the Hawkeyes will have to sweat out a nervous Selection Sunday.The Hawkeyes got at least one basket from 11 players, but none of them scored in double figures. Mike Gesell led the way with nine points, and Devyn Marble and Melsahn Basabe each had eight.

NEW YORK—Russ Smith scored 20 points and Peyton Siva added 12 to lead No. 4 Louisville to a 69-57 victory over No. 24 Notre Dame on Friday night, the third straight year the Cardinals beat the Fighting Irish in the semifinals of the Big East tournament.Siva, the tournament MVP last year when Louisville won its second Big East title, had six assists and seven steals, which tied the tournament record in another solid defensive outing by the Cardinals.Second-seeded Louisville (28-5), one of the Big East’s tri-champions in the regular season. will face fifth-seeded and 19th-ranked Syracuse in the championship game Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The Orange (26-8) beat top-seeded and fifth-ranked Georgetown 58-55 in overtime in the semifinals.This will be Louisville’s fourth championship game appearance in the last five years. The Cardinals also won the title in 2009, and they beat Syracuse in that game.Jack Cooley and Jerian Grant both had 14 points for sixth-seeded Notre Dame, which was making its fourth straight and last semifinal appearance. The Irish (25-9) are heading for the Atlantic Coast Conference next season and they will leave the Big East without ever having reached the title game.The Cardinals, who reached the Final Four last season, did what they have done so well in their nine-game winning streak, play defense at a level coach Rick Pitino’s teams usually do at the end of the season. In the first eight games of the winning streak Louisville held its opponents to 54.2 points on 36.4 percent shooting from the field while forcing 17.9 turnovers with 10.4 of them being steals.Friday night looked the same.Notre Dame shot 36.5 percent from the field (19 of 52), including going 7 of 21 from 3-point range. In their wins over Rutgers and Marquette the Irish went 17 of 37 from beyond the arc (45.9 percent). Notre Dame committed 16 turnovers and with Siva leading the way the Cardinals had 11 steals.Gorgui Dieng had eight points, 12 rebounds and four blocks for Louisville.This was Louisville’s second win over Notre Dane this season. The Irish won 104-101 in an epic five-overtime game, while the Cardinals also won at home, 73-57.Louisville had five players score in a 10-3 run to close the first half that gave the Cardinals a 32-25 lead.The Cardinals gave themselves some breathing room with another 10-3 run capped by Luke Hancock’s 3-pointer that made it 55-44 with 4:09 to play.Syracuse and Louisville spit their meetings this season with both winning at home. The Orange won 70-68 on Jan. 19, while the Cardinals won 58-53 on March 2.

No matter what happens the rest of the way, Indiana coach Tom Crean said he believes his team deserves a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.He probably won’t have to lobby hard if the Hoosiers keep this up.Cody Zeller scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead No. 3 Indiana past Illinois 80-64 on Friday in the Big Ten quarterfinals.The top-seeded Hoosiers (27-5) are off to a good start after claiming their first outright conference title in two decades and earning a first-round bye.They took control midway through the first half and withstood a mild push in the second, avenging a two-point loss at Illinois (22-12) last month.Win or lose, though, Crean said his team should get a No. 1 seed come Sunday.

“I would think — I would hope — we’ve done enough,” he said. “I think when you have the league the way that it is and you win it outright the way that we did. … I think one of the bigger things is the way that we played on the road, and the only home losses that Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State have are to us. I think that says a lot because those are also three teams that can win a national championship and have been considered that way most of the year.”

Ohio State actually lost at home to Kansas in December. Even so, Crean’s bigger point holds.The one-point win at Michigan on Sunday gave the Hoosiers the conference championship, and just as he did in that one, Zeller came up big in this game. He was 9 of 11 from the field and hit all six free throws after scoring a season-high 25 against the Wolverines.

“They were double teaming so I was trying to find the open man,” he said. “But even if I don’t score it, it opens up a lot of things for our shooters on the outside. I thought we did a nice job of that and it opened up a lot.”

Victor Oladipo added 12 points and 11 rebounds and drew the loudest cheers with a 360-degree fastbreak dunk with 90 seconds left. The Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year, he also helped contain Brandon Paul.Christian Watford scored 15, and the Hoosiers shot 54 percent overall even though they were just 5 of 17 on 3-pointers.They were able to get good shots, though, because they locked up the Illini on defense and dominated them on the glass 38-26.Paul finished with 16 points, but most of them came from the free throw line, where he was 11 of 12. Otherwise, it was a rough afternoon. He shot just 2 of 13 after scoring 25 and hitting the winning jumper at the buzzer in the first round against Minnesota.Tracy Abrams scored 16, but Illinois was out of sync at the start and couldn’t make up for it down the stretch.

“They get into you,” Paul said. “Obviously, Oladipo’s a great defender. They play hard. They’re scrappy. We missed some shots. I was trying to get to the free throw line. I think I did that well, but some shots just have to fall. They fell [Thursday]. They didn’t fall today. That’s just something that happens.”

The Illini got within single digits for the first time since the early going when D.J. Richardson hit two free throws with 8:17 left to make it 60-52, but Indiana held its ground.Jordan Hulls whipped a pass to Oladipo underneath for a layup after Abrams missed a 3, and the Hoosiers struck again after Richardson missed from long range. This time, Watford hit from beyond the arc to make it 65-52 with 5:31 remaining, and the Hoosiers fans let out a loud roar and maybe a sigh of relief.They were really rocking, though, when Oladipo threw down that dunk near the end. On an instinct, he decided to add some spice to it.

“It was just a last-second thought,” he said. “I thought about it while I was in the air. I just kind of turned around while I was in the air.”

Is that the best he has?

“No, that’s not my best one,” he said.

Then there was Zeller, dominating with 14 points as the Hoosiers built a 35-21 halftime lead.He keyed a 12-2 run that bumped their lead from five to 22-7, scoring eight during that stretch, and he finished the half with a neat basket. He grabbed the ball in midair and redirected it into the net after Jeremy Hollowell had his shot blocked by the Illini’s Nnanna Egwu.

“There’s a reason he was on all those magazines to start the season,” Illinois coach John Groce said.

Devyn Marble scored 19 points to help Iowa hold on for an important 73-59 victory over Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday night.Mike Gesell added 13 points, including a clinching three-point play with 1:41 left as the Hawkeyes (21-11) continued their late-season push for a spot in the NCAA tournament with their eighth victory in 10 games.Reggie Hearn powered a late Northwestern’s rally after an awful start, scoring 14 of his 19 points in the second half. He drove inside to trim Iowa’s lead to 50-43 with 8:27 left, but Marble and Gesell each hit a big 3-pointer to help the Hawkeyes hold on for their third consecutive victory.Melsahn Basabe had 10 points and 12 rebounds for Iowa, which shot just 37.1 percent but enjoyed a 48-31 advantage on the boards.Alex Olah scored 12 points for Northwestern (13-19) and Tre Demps finished with 11.Devyn Marble scored 19 points to help Iowa hold on for an important 73-59 victory over Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday night.Mike Gesell added 11 points, including a clinching three-point play with 1:41 left as the Hawkeyes (21-11) continued their late-season push for a spot in the NCAA tournament with their eighth victory in 10 games.Reggie Hearn powered a late Northwestern’s rally after an awful start, scoring 14 of his 19 points in the second half. He drove inside to trim Iowa’s lead to 50-43 with 8:27 left, but Marble and Gesell each hit a big 3-pointer to help the Hawkeyes hold on for their third consecutive victory.Melsahn Basabe had 10 points and 12 rebounds for Iowa, which shot just 37.1 percent but enjoyed a 48-31 advantage on the boards.Alex Olah scored 12 points for Northwestern (13-19) and Tre Demps finished with 11.Iowa’s third win this season against Northwestern likely won’t help its case very much, but a victory over No. 8 Michigan State in the quarterfinals could go a long way to earning an at-large bid.Iowa faced Michigan State way back on Jan. 10 and pushed them all the way to the brink before losing 62-59 at home. The game was tied at 56 with 1:04 left, but Keith Appling made four free throws down the stretch to lead the Spartans to the victory.NU dropped its last nine games of the season and 11 of 12 overall, putting coach Bill Carmody’s job in jeopardy after 13 years at the school. The Wildcats lost four players to season-ending injuries, but it was their worst record since they went 8-22 during the 2007-08 season.Iowa opened the game with a 15-2 run, using its stifling defense to disrupt Northwestern’s sets while keeping the Wildcats off the glass with a dominating rebounding effort. The Hawkeyes were working on a shutout before Nikola Cerina wriggled free for a layup with 12:32 left.Boosted by a strong contingent of fans clad in yellow and black, Iowa kept up the pressure and put together a 14-2 spurt to open a 29-11 lead. Eric May capped the surge with a drive right down the middle of the lane and a big slam with 5:10 remaining.