Jan. 25, 2005

Box Score

By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Top-ranked Illinois ended Wisconsin's 38-game home winning streak, the nation's longest, beating the Badgers 75-65 Tuesday night by scoring 14 of the game's final 15 points.

Led by Luther Head's 18 points, Illinois (20-0, 6-0 Big Ten) snapped a five-game losing streak in Madison and became the first team to beat the Badgers at the Kohl Center since Wake Forest on Dec. 4, 2002.

The 18th-ranked Badgers (13-4, 4-2), who led by eight points midway through the second half, fell to 53-3 at home under coach Bo Ryan, including 26-1 in the Big Ten.

The Badgers' most recent home win came when they scored the final 11 points of the game to beat Michigan State 62-59.

Wisconsin took at 64-61 lead on Alando Tucker's drive to the basket with 4:31 left. But dreams of Wisconsin's first win over a top-ranked opponent since beating Ohio State in 1962 soon faded.

James Augustine, who was limited by foul trouble to 4 minutes in the first half, made two free throws with 4:11 left and Jack Ingram did the same at 3:39, putting the Illini ahead for good, 65-64.

Augustine, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, added consecutive dunks to make it 69-64.

The only break in Illinois' run came when Kammron Taylor made one free throw with 1:07 left to make it 71-65.

Deron Williams added 13 points for Illinois and Roger Powell Jr. had 11.

Tucker had 16 points for Wisconsin and Sharif Chambliss added 14 and Mike Wilkinson 13.

The Badgers, who trailed 35-33 at halftime, were just 5-of-12 from the free throw line and Illinois was 17-of-20.

With the score tied at 44 in the opening minutes of the second half, the Badgers committed two loose ball fouls on one possession and appeared to be cracking under the pressure.

Instead, they were about to take control - at least for a while.

Powell missed a jumper and Tucker hit an open 3-pointer at the other end. After Brown stole Tucker's inbounds pass, Ray Nixon made an acrobatic block of Brown on a fast break and Tucker scored again to make it 49-44. Williams turned it over and Taylor's basket made it 51-44.

Tucker's 3-pointer made it 56-48, and the Badgers had a chance to go up by double digits - the most the Illini had trailed this season was by nine at Purdue on Jan. 8 - but Andreas Helmigk traveled and the Badgers unraveled.

Rich McBride's 3-pointer was followed by two free throws from Williams and two more from Head. After Taylor's basket gave the Badgers a 58-55 lead, Ingram hit consecutive 3s to cap Illinois' 13-2 run and give the Illini a 61-58 lead.

Illinois coach Bruce Weber proclaimed his team the underdog for once, saying until Wisconsin lost at home, nobody, no matter how good, could be considered a favorite, not even a team that has been atop the polls for eight weeks.

"Maybe we'll have a little bit of a fear factor instead of having the target on our back," he said. "It'll be a different mind-set for us."

They wore the underdog tag as well as they've handled the targets on their chests all season.