College basketball

Illini stop Badgers' home streak

MADISON, Wis. - 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.

Led by Luther Head's 18 points, Illinois 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, who led by eight midway through the second half, fell to 53-3 at home under coach Bo Ryan, 26-1 in the Big Ten.

Wisconsin took a 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 it beat Ohio State in 1962 soon faded.

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

Augustine, who scored 12 of his 14 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, Sharif Chambliss 14 and Mike Wilkinson 13.

The Badgers, who trailed 35-33 at halftime, made 5 of 12 free throws. 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 Dee 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.

[Last modified January 26, 2005, 00:31:02]