Illinois Pushes Record to 29-0

Dee Brown and Deron Williams put on a three-point shooting clinic for top-ranked Illinois at Champaign, Ill.

Brown scored a career-high 27 points and tied the school record with eight three-point baskets, and Williams had 21 points, 12 on three-pointers, in Illinois’ 84-50 victory over Purdue on Thursday night.

The Illini, who are 29-0 overall and 15-0 in the Big Ten Conference, were 15 for 27 from three-point range, setting a school record for three-pointers in a season with 265 -- 10 more than they had in 2001-02.

“They were just unconscious,� Purdue Coach Gene Keady said. “That was a tremendous show of shooting ability.�

Brown had 24 points in the first half.

“My teammates screened for me. We had good ball movement,� Brown said. “Once I came off the screens, the rim just looked so [big] and I just continued to follow through and they went in.�

Purdue (7-19, 3-12), playing without injured leading scorer Carl Landry, got 12 points from Gary Ware and 10 from Matt Keifer.

The Illini celebrated their second consecutive conference championship by closing out the Boilermakers by halftime, building a 50-26 lead. Illinois won its 25th straight Big Ten game and 21st in a row at Assembly Hall.

The Illini raced to an 11-4 lead, and Purdue never got closer than five points after that. The Illini had a 21-0 run in the second half and led by as many as 44 points in handing Purdue its fourth straight loss.

After the game, Illinois players cut down the nets to celebrate.

“This was one of our goals,� Illinois Coach Bruce Weber told the crowd. “But we still have some unsettled business.�

No. 2 North Carolina 91, Florida State 76 -- Sean May scored a career-high 32 points to help the Tar Heels (25-3, 13-2) secure at least a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title with a win over the Seminoles (11-18, 3-12) at Chapel Hill, N.C.

May also had 12 rebounds, and freshman Marvin Williams had 17 points North Carolina, which played without scoring leader Rashad McCants for the third straight game because of an intestinal disorder.

No. 6 Duke 83, Miami 59 -- J.J. Redick led the Blue Devils (22-4, 11-4) with 29 points, and senior Daniel Ewing had the first double-double of his career with 14 points and a career-high 10 assists in an ACC victory over the Hurricanes (16-11, 7-9) at Durham, N.C.

Shelden Williams had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Duke.

Robert Hite led Miami with 17 points.

No. 9 Louisville 94, No. 19 Charlotte 82 -- Larry O’Bannon scored a career-high 33 points -- 26 in the first half -- and the Cardinals (25-4, 13-2) clinched a share of the Conference USA regular-season title with a victory over the 49ers (21-5, 12-3) at Louisville, Ky.

Taquan Dean made six three-pointers and had 27 points for Louisville, which clinched the top seeding in next week’s conference tournament in Memphis, Tenn.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Last to Fall

Illinois, which ran its record to 29-0 with a victory over Purdue on Thursday, is only the eighth team to take a perfect record into March since 1976, the year Indiana was the last team to finish a season unbeaten. The first losses experienced by the last team to lose in each season since, with the length of their season-opening winning streaks:

*--* Year Team Date Opponent Score Streak 2004 St. Joseph’s March 11 Xavier 87-67 27 2003 Duke Jan. 18 Maryland 87-72 12 2002 Duke Jan. 6 Florida State 77-76 12 2001 Stanford Feb. 3 UCLA 79-73 20 2000 Syracuse Feb. 7 Seton Hall 69-67 19 1999 Connecticut Feb. 1 Syracuse 59-42 19 1998 Utah Feb. 1 New Mexico 77-74 18 1997 Kansas Feb. 4 Missouri 96-94 22 1996 Massachusetts Feb. 24 George Washington 86-76 26 1995 Connecticut Jan. 28 Kansas 88-59 15 1994 UCLA Jan. 30 California 85-70 14 1993 Virginia Jan. 20 North Carolina 80-58 12 1992 Oklahoma State Feb. 5 Nebraska 85-69 20 1991 Nevada Las Vegas March 30 Duke 79-77 34 1990 Georgetown Jan. 20 Connecticut 70-65 14 1989 Illinois Jan. 26 Minnesota 69-62 17 1988 Brigham Young Feb. 6 Alabama Birmingham 102-83 16 1987 DePaul Jan. 25 Georgetown 74-71 16 1986 Memphis State Feb. 1 Virginia Tech 76-72 20 1985 Georgetown Jan. 26 St. John’s 66-65 18 1984 North Carolina Feb. 12 Arkansas 65-64 21 1983 Nevada Las Vegas Feb 24 Cal State Fullerton 86-78 24 1982 Missouri Feb. 6 Nebraska 67-51 19 1981 Oregon State March 7 Arizona State 87-67 26 1980 DePaul Feb. 27 Notre Dame 76-74 25 1979 Indiana State March 26 Michigan State 75-64 33 1978 Kentucky Jan. 23 Alabama 78-52 14 1977 San Francisco March 5 Notre Dame 93-82 29

*--*

Note: Other teams carrying a perfect record into March were Stanford, which won 26 games in 2004 before losing to Washington, 75-62, on March 8, and Alcorn State, which won 28 games in 1979 before losing to Indiana, 73-69, on March 12, in the second round of the NIT.