Illinois Downs Penn State, College Basketball Roundup

Illinois Drops Penn State

(Champaign, IL) -- Rayvonte Rice had 15 points and seven rebounds to lead Illinois in Saturday's 75-55 win over Penn State in Champaign. Tracy Abrams added 12 points and six boards as the Fighting Illini moved to 13-and-2 with a 2-0 Big Ten mark. The Illini play at Wisconsin Wednesday.

SIUE Upsets Eastern Kentucky Saturday

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Four players scored in double figures, and SIUE men's basketball shot 58 percent from the field Saturday night en route to an 85-79 upset win over Eastern Kentucky in Ohio Valley Conference action at Vadalabene Center.

Eastern Kentucky, the preseason favorite in the OVC, began the night ranked 19th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top 25 poll.

"I'm so pleased for our guys," SIUE Head Coach Lennox Forrester said. "I told them in the locker room, 'Feel good that you beat a good team in Eastern Kentucky.' "

SIUE improved to 1-1 in the OVC and 4-11 overall with the win. Eastern Kentucky dropped to 10-5 overall and 1-1 in the OVC following the loss.

e games are games we were losing at the start of the season. Hopefully our guys are learning what it's going to take to win basketball games. No one is going to give us any wins. We have to scratch and claw to come up with the wins."

Defensively, the Cougars held EKU to just five three-pointers and a 29.4 shooting percentage from long range. The Colonels came into the game averaging 9.9 three-pointers a game and were second in the OVC with a 37.8 percentage from beyond the arc.

Cosey led the Colonels with 23 points. Corey Walden added 19 points, while Williams scored 18.

SIUE now heads on the road for OVC games at Jacksonville State Thursday and Tennessee Tech Saturday.

College Basketball Roundup

In college hoops Saturday, Notre Dame upset Duke 79-77 in South Bend. Also Saturday, DePaul suffered a 66-56 loss at Marquette. Sunday, Northwestern suffered a 74-51 loss at Michigan. UIC hosts Youngstown State tomorrow night while NIU plays at Buffalo on Wednesday.

#24 Buffs Beat #9 Ducks

(Boulder, CO) -- Askia Booker tallied 27 points and seven rebounds to carry the number-24 Colorado Buffaloes to a 100-91 win over the ninth-ranked Oregon Ducks in Boulder. Spencer Dinwiddie added 23 points and seven assists for Colorado, which improved to 13-2 and 2-0 in the Pac-12. Josh Scott contributed 15 points and 12 rebounds in the win. Mike Moser had 24 points for Oregon, which slipped to 13-1 and 1-1 in the conference. Joseph Young and Damyean Dotson each scored 16 points in the setback.

#19 Aztecs Upset #17 Jayhawks

(Lawrence, KS)  --  Xavier Thames hit four free throws in the last nine seconds of the game and number-19 San Diego State stunned 17th-ranked Kansas 61-57 at Allen Fieldhouse.  The Aztecs broke a 68-game non-conference home win streak for the Jayhawks.  Thames led the Aztecs with 16 points.  Skylar Spencer finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots for SDSU.  The Aztecs also got 10 points and 14 rebounds from forward Josh Davis.  San Diego State improved to 12-and-1 overall.  Kansas shot only 30-percent from the floor and made just 4-of-16 three-point attempts.  Joel Embiid scored 12 points to go with 12 rebounds and five blocked shots.  Andrew Wiggins and Frank Mason led the Jayhawks with 14 points apiece.  KU dropped to 9-and-4 with its first loss at home this season.

Sunday, January 5 Scoreboard

NCAA Top-25 Men's Basketball  ("USA Today" Rankings)

#5 Wisconsin Badgers 75, #23 Iowa Hawkeyes 71

#7 Wichita State Shockers 67, Northern Iowa Panthers 53

#24 Colorado Buffaloes 100, #9 Oregon Ducks 91

#14 Villanova Wildcats 91, Providence Friars 61

#19 San Diego State Aztecs 61, #17 Kansas Jayhawks 57

Wake Forest Demon Deacons 73, #19 North Carolina Tar Heels 67

Monday, January 6 Schedule

NCAA Top-25 Men's Basketball  ("USA Today" Rankings)

No Games Scheduled