No Rest for Minnesota Defense in Illinois’ Win

Minnesota is ranked seventh in the country because of a swarming defense that smothers the opposition.

But Kevin Turner refused to be swarmed or smothered Tuesday night in Champaign, Ill.

Turner, who had hit only one of nine shots against Penn State last week, was five for seven from three-point range and scored 24 points for the Illini, which snapped Minnesota’s 10-game winning streak, 96-90, in a Big Ten Conference game.

“After the second three-point shot I took, I felt like every shot I took was going to go in,” said Turner, who made three free throws over the final 36 seconds. “My confidence tonight was way high.”

The Gophers (15-2, 4-1 in the Big Ten) led for most of the second half, but Illinois (13-4, 3-2) came back behind some scrappy defense of its own and a 23-15 rebound advantage after halftime.

Minnesota entered the game holding opponents to an average of 60 points.

“The guys did a good job of continuing to attack,” Illinois Coach Lon Kruger said. “I don’t think the guys ever got tentative.”

No. 5 Kentucky 86, No. 21 Georgia 65--The Wildcats rebounded from a rare Southeastern Conference loss, getting 24 points from Derek Anderson and a strong first-half performance from its reserves in a rout in Athens, Ga.

Kentucky (15-2, 3-1) broke open a close game with a 15-6 run against Georgia (12-3, 1-2) in the final 5:43 of the first half to build a 40-26 lead.

The Bulldogs got no closer than 12 points thereafter, even though four Kentucky players fouled out and the Wildcats had brought only 10 players to the game.

Georgia had 50 free throws but made only 30.

Kentucky, playing its 900th SEC game, showed little effects from a 73-69 loss at Mississippi on Saturday, its first regular-season conference defeat since the 1994-95 season. The Wildcats are 711-189 in SEC play.

No. 16 Villanova 68, Notre Dame 57--Alvin Williams scored seven of his 16 points during a 14-0 second-half run that sealed the Big East win for the Wildcats (13-3, 4-2) in South Bend, Ind.

Notre Dame (7-7, 1-5) had cut Villanova’s lead to 45-44 midway through the second half by making four free throws generated by technical fouls on the Wildcats’ Tim Thomas and Coach Steve Lappas, Pete Miller’s three-point basket and Phil Hickey’s layup.

Chuck Kornegay’s layup started the 14-0 run that finished off the Irish.