John Blackwell scored a career-high 34 points with six 3-pointers, and No. 23 Wisconsin hung on to beat Washington 85-82 in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday at the United Center.
Nick Boyd added 23 points with five 3-pointers while Andrew Rohde hit two free throws in the closing seconds to stretch it to a three-point game after the Badgers (23-9) let an 18-point lead in the second half shrink to one. The Huskies’ Zoom Diallo missed a pull-up 3 just before the buzzer.
Wisconsin will face No. 9 Illinois, which had a bye through three rounds, in a Friday quarterfinal. The Badgers will try to beat the Illini again after squeezing out a 92-90 overtime win Feb. 10 in Champaign. Boyd scored 25 points and Blackwell 24 in that game.
Washington’s Hannes Steinbach cut it to 81-79 with a driving layup with just two minutes remaining. Diallo made it a one-point game a minute later when he was fouled on a reverse layup and hit the second free throw after missing the first.
Blackwell then pulled up in the paint and scored for Wisconsin to make it 83-80 with 49 seconds to play. Diallo cut it to one with a driving layup with 17 seconds left after the Huskies’ Quimari Peterson missed a 3.
Rohde made it 85-82 when he hit those two free throws with eight seconds remaining, and the Badgers hung on when Diallo missed the potential tying 3 from the top of the key.
Blackwell had 10 rebounds and made 6 of 12 from 3-point range. Boyd was 5 of 6 from beyond the arc. The Badgers made 15 3-pointers after setting a school record with 18 in a road game Saturday in a 97-93 win over Purdue. It was the Badgers’ Big Ten-leading 23rd game with 10 or more 3s.
Steinbach had 25 points and 16 rebounds for Washington (16-17). Diallo scored 24.
Ohio State 72, Iowa 69
Bruce Thornton had 24 points, John Mobley Jr. scored all 12 of his points in the second half, and No. 8 seed Ohio State held off a late rally by No. 9 seed Iowa.
The Buckeyes (21-11) advanced to play top-seeded and third-ranked Michigan (29-2) in a Friday quarterfinal. Ohio State lost both regular-season meetings by double figures.
Thornton had a personal 10-0 run to give Ohio State its largest lead at 51-35 with 13:55 remaining. But Iowa rallied down the stretch to get within 70-69 with 38.7 seconds left.
Ohio State worked the clock down before Thornton drove into the lane for a shot that rolled off the rim. Amare Bynum’s putback attempt did not go, but Ohio State secured the rebound, and Mobley was fouled before making two free throws for a three-point lead with 8 seconds left.
Iowa got past midcourt to call a timeout with 7.2 seconds left. Brendan Hausen’s 3-point attempt from the corner did not hit the rim, but Iowa got another chance after Ohio State missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
Iowa forward Alvaro Folgueiras missed a free-throw attempt in the closing seconds, but Isaia Howard stole the rebound and ran out to the 3-point arc for a shot that hit off the back of the rim as time expired.
Bennett Stirtz led Iowa (21-12) with 17 points.
Results, schedule
United Center
Thursday’s third round
- (8) Ohio State 72, (9) Iowa 69
- (5) Wisconsin 85, (12) Washington 82
- (7) Purdue 81, (15) Northwestern 68
- (6) UCLA vs. (14) Rutgers, 8 p.m. (approx.), BTN
Friday’s quarterfinals
- (1) Michigan vs. (8) Ohio State, 11 a.m., BTN
- (4) Illinois vs. (5) Wisconsin, 1:30 p.m. (approx.), BTN
- (2) Nebraska vs. (7) Purdue, 5:30 p.m., BTN
- (3) Michigan State vs. UCLA-Rutgers winner, 8 p.m. (approx.), BTN
Saturday’s semifinals
- First two quarterfinal winners, noon, CBS-2
- Last two quarterfinal winners, 2:30 p.m. (approx.), CBS-2
Sunday’s final
- Semifinal winners, 2:30 p.m., CBS-2
