BIG TEN Providence shuts down Illinois, 70-51

The No. 14 Illini did not seem to know how to attack the Friars defense.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- Providence has been playing zone defense for years under coach Tim Welsh. The Friars never played as well as they did Tuesday night.
Ryan Gomes had 24 points and 12 rebounds, Donnie McGrath scored all 15 of his points in the second half and Providence used its 2-3 zone to beat No. 14 Illinois 70-51 in the opening game of the Jimmy V Classic.
"We were active, we rotated and helped each other, just what you're supposed to do in a zone," Welsh said.
And the zone did what it's supposed to do: It made it very difficult for Illinois to score.
"We held Illinois to 30 percent shooting and 21 points in the second half," said Welsh, in his sixth season at Providence. "That might be the best we've played the zone since I've been here."
Overcame deficit
The Friars (4-1) overcame a terrible start and a 30-24 halftime deficit behind the offense of Gomes and McGrath and the effectiveness of their 2-3 zone that shut down the backcourt of the Illini (4-2).
Providence, coming off a loss at Rhode Island, didn't score for the opening 71/2 minutes, falling behind 12-0. Despite getting within 12-11, the Friars were down six at halftime and it seemed like it could have been a lot worse.
"I just told them to start playing, that's all," Welsh said of the poor start. "I told them at half we were only down six and we just had to start playing."
Gomes and McGrath scored all the points in an 11-0 run that gave Providence a 44-35 lead with 13:07 to play. Illinois couldn't get good perimeter shots against the zone and with McGrath starting to hit from the outside and Gomes leading the way inside, the Friars pulled away to the easy victory.
"We didn't seem to know how to attack the zone all night," first-year Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "We couldn't even get open 3s and there was nothing we could do to get going."
McGrath finished 5-for-7 from the field, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range, and had five assists. He hit three 3s in the opening 51/2 minutes of the second half. Rob Sanders added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Friars.
"I just went to the offensive glass a lot harder in the second half," said Gomes, who had all eight of his offensive rebounds in the second half. "We tried to be patient and wait for the shots to fall and Donnie's did."
James Augustine had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Illini, while Roger Powell had 13 points. The starting backcourt of Deron Williams and Dee Brown entered with a combined scoring average of 32.0.
N. Iowa 77, No. 24 Iowa 66
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Erik Crawford made a couple of tough shots look easy.
Crawford scored a career-high 24 points and hit two late 3-pointers with the shot clock about to expire, lifting Northern Iowa.
Northern Iowa (3-3) had been 0-for-14 on 3-pointers before hitting three straight in the final 51/2 minutes to pull away from the Hawkeyes (6-1), who broke into the Top 25 for the first time this season Monday.
"Those are easy shots to shoot when the shot clock is running down," said Crawford, who hadn't scored more than nine points in a game this season. "All you can do is catch and shoot. There's not a whole lot of time to think about it."
It was the second straight time Northern Iowa upset a nationally ranked Iowa team in Cedar Falls. Iowa was ranked 11th when it lost 78-76 here in 2001.