CHICAGO -- Michigan State isn't going to win any tournaments like this, Big Ten or otherwise.
Joe Crispin made an off-balance 3-pointer with 21 seconds left, then sealed Penn State's victory with a pair of free throws as the Nittany Lions upset the sloppy Spartans 65-63 in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament Friday night.
The No. 2 Spartans are the highest-ranked team Penn State (19-10) has ever beaten, and the players rushed the floor as the buzzer sounded. Coach Jerry Dunn hugged his daughter and son while Gyasi Cline-Heard picked up the Nittany Lion mascot and threw him over his shoulder.
Crispin finished with 22 points, 12 from 3-point range. Titus Ivory added 17 and Cline-Heard had 10. More...
With Ken Johnson on the bench, No. 24 Ohio State got that sinking feeling Friday night.
Johnson, a two-time Big Ten defensive player of the year and the league's career leader in blocked shots, had to sit with foul problems and Iowa made the most of his absence.
Glen Worley scored 18 points, and Iowa rallied from a 13-point deficit in the second half to stun the Buckeyes.
Iowa (20-11) will face Penn State in an unlikely semifinal Saturday night.
Dean Oliver added 16 points for Iowa, and Brian Brown led Ohio State with 18 in a foul-filled game that featured 31-of-45 free-throw shooting by the Hawkeyes and 27-of-39 by the Buckeyes.
Indiana didn't need 70 percent shooting against Wisconsin this time. A stifling defensive effort was enough.
Kirk Haston scored 19 points and the Hoosiers held No. 23 Wisconsin without a field goal for almost 14½ minutes as Indiana cruised to victory.
Indiana also outrebounded the Badgers 36-25, and had a huge edge at the free-throw line. Indiana (20-11) made 26 of 35 free throws, while Wisconsin went to the line just 10 times, making seven of them.
It was the first victory in the conference tournament since 1998 for the Hoosiers, who were 1-3 in the tournament under Bob Knight. It's the first time in four years Wisconsin (18-10) didn't win a game in the tournament.
Indiana has won eight of its last 10 games, and held its last four opponents under 60 points. The first of those sub-60 efforts came Feb. 24, when the Hoosiers smothered Wisconsin 85-55. Indiana shot a blistering 70.2 percent that day, its best shooting performance since 1989, and the fourth-best in school history.
Balance and depth, staples that earned Illinois a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship, carried the Illini into the tournament semifinals.
Frank Williams scored 13 points and dished out a season-best 11 assists as No. 4 Illinois shot 54 percent and cruised to an easy quarterfinal win over Purdue.
Marcus Griffin scored 14 points, and Cory Bradford and Sean Harrington 13 apiece for the top-seeded Illini. Brian Cook added 10 points, and he and Griffin grabbed nine rebounds each.
The Boilermakers (15-14) will now await a call from the NIT, their string of eight straight NCAA Tournament appearances almost certainly over.
Purdue's Maynard Lewis, who scored a career-high 22 points in an opening-round win over Minnesota, was held to five. Joe Marshall led Purdue with 13 points as the Boilermakers shot just 35 percent.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2001, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved