Illini beat Penn State in opener

Although both teams shot poorly, Michigan beat Iowa.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Illinois picked the right time to figure out how to win a close game.

Chester Frazier’s reverse layup with 3.8 seconds left gave the Fighting Illini a 64-63 win over Penn State on Thursday in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

Penn State’s Talor Battle had a final shot, but his long 3-pointer bounced off the backboard to give Illinois the victory.

The Illini had lost their last five games that had been decided by four points or fewer. Two of those losses had been against the Nittany Lions.

“It’s been so many games down the stretch where we’ve been up or down a point, and we let the game go,” Illinois center Shaun Pruitt said. “It’s good to be on the other side for once.”

Frazier’s shot came off an assist from Trent Meacham, who found Frazier open on the baseline.

Brian Randle led Illinois (14-18) with 17 points. Meacham scored 14 points and Pruitt had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the 10th-seeded Illini.

The Illini have won three of four heading into today’s quarterfinal matchup with No. 17 Purdue. Illinois coach Bruce Weber joked that he hoped Purdue coach Matt Painter would have mercy on his team.

Michigan 55, Iowa 47

Michigan missed 13 shots in a row during a stretch in the second half. Iowa’s shooting was even worse.

Michigan’s Manny Harris scored 19 points and the Wolverines survived a 10-minute scoreless second-half stretch to beat Iowa.

The win sent ninth-seeded Michigan into today’s quarterfinals against No. 8-ranked and top-seeded Wisconsin, which beat the Wolverines twice in the regular season.

Minnesota 55, Northwestern 52

In case anyone forgot, Lawrence Westbrook can score.

Westbrook scored 11 of his career-high 17 points in the second half Thursday, and Dan Coleman added 16 points and forced a key turnover late as Minnesota rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat Northwestern.

Craig Moore took a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it wasn’t even close.

The sixth-seeded Gophers (19-12) will play No. 22 Indiana in the quarterfinals. Minnesota probably needs to at least make it to Sunday’s championship game to have any shot at an at-large bid and extending coach Tubby Smith’s streak of 14 straight appearances in the NCAA tournament.