Curtis Stinson, who scored a game-high 29 points, hit a pull-up jumper with 5.3 seconds left in overtime as surging Iowa State shocked No. 2 Kansas 63-61 in Big 12 action at Allen Fieldhouse.
Jared Homan added 14 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out in the extra frame for the Cyclones (15-8, 7-5 Big 12), who have won seven straight conference games after an 0-5 start in Big 12 play.
PHOTO: AP
"Our team played their hearts out the whole game," said Iowa State head coach Wayne Morgan. "Not a lot of teams come in here and win, so I am very proud of them."
Wayne Simien scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Jayhawks (20-3, 10-2), who lost their second in a row and had a 20-game home win streak snapped.
Keith Langford, whose layup with 4.8 seconds remaining in regulation sent the game to overtime, finished with just nine points for Kansas in the loss.
Hawkins opened the scoring in overtime with a three-pointer that put Kansas up 59-56, but four straight points by Stinson gave Iowa State a 60-59 advantage with 3:42 left.
A pair of free throws by Simien put the Jayhawks back up by one, but Stinson made a shot from the line to tie the game at 61-61 with 3:02 remaining.
The game remained that way into the final minute of the extra session. Langford missed a pair of free throws with 1:33 left and Stinson misfired on a three-point attempt at the other end, giving the ball to Kansas with 1:02 remaining.
But the Jayhawks' J.R. Giddens missed a three-pointer and Iowa State got the ball back with 28 seconds to play. Stinson capitalized on that possession, hitting a jumper from the lane to put the Cyclones up 63-61 with 5.3 seconds remaining.
"When I shot it, it felt like it was going in," Stinson of the game-winner. "Rashon [Clark] was wide open, but I did not want to turn it over so the best thing for me to do was shoot it."
Following a time-out, Langford missed a jumper as time expired to give Iowa State the win.
It was the second consecutive overtime loss for Kansas, which dropped an 80-79 decision in double overtime at Texas Tech last Monday.
"We played good at Texas Tech, but played miserable today with only one guy in double figures," said Kansas head coach Bill Self. "We have got to do a better job in a lot of areas. We just weren't on the same page today."
No. 4 UNC 88, Clemson 56
In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Jawad Williams scored a game-high 17 points as the fourth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels continued their perfect dominance of the Clemson Tigers in Chapel Hill with an 88-56 victory in Atlantic Coast Conference action at the Smith Center.
Williams went 6-of-10 from the floor for North Carolina (22-3, 10-2 ACC,) which moved into a tie atop the conference standings with fifth-ranked Wake Forest, which is scheduled to tangle with No. 7 Duke on Sunday.
No. 8 Oklahoma St. 85,
Texas Tech 56
In Stillwater, Oklahoma, John Lucas scored 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting to lead Oklahoma State to an 85-56 win over Texas Tech in Big 12 action at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
JamesOn Curry added 15 points for the Cowboys (20-3, 10-2 Big 12), who extended their longest active home win streak to 28 games. Oklahoma State won its sixth straight overall.
Martin Zeno scored 19 points to lead the Red Raiders (16-7, 8-4), who have dropped two of three.
Jared Dudley scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to lead sixth-ranked Boston College to a hard- fought 65-60 victory over No. 9 Syracuse in a key Big East showdown at Conte Forum.
Craig Smith racked up 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Eagles (22-1, 11-1 Big East), who owned a convincing 44-31 advantage on the glass and continue to separate themselves from the rest of the pack in the Big East. Jermaine Watson scored all 11 of his points after intermission to help Boston College to its second straight win.
No. 1 Illinois 75, Iowa 65
The challenges for Illinois started early, from the moment the Illini got out of bed.
"We had no hot water this morning at the hotel," coach Bruce Weber said. "That was brutal."
t didn't get any easier after that.
Top-ranked Illinois had to overcome foul problems, a determined opponent and a subpar game by leading scorer Luther Head to remain unbeaten with a 75-65 victory over Iowa on Saturday.
Deron Williams and Dee Brown each scored 18 points for the Illini (27-0, 13-0 Big Ten), who turned back repeated threats from the short-handed Hawkeyes.
"Stuff like this happens all year," Williams said. "It seems like every game, somebody steps up and does something at the right time."
The Illini had plenty of that happen Saturday. James Augustine came up with 13 points and eight rebounds, Head made a key steal late in the game and 7-foot-2 Nick Smith hit a 3-pointer in the final minute to preserve a victory that kept several streaks intact.
The Illini are off to their best start ever, have won 23 straight conference games and now have 14 consecutive road victories. They would clinch the Big Ten championship by winning their next two games, at home against Northwestern and Purdue.
Illinois finishes the regular season at Ohio State on March 6. No team has gone unbeaten in Big Ten play since Indiana in 1976.
"If we take care of business at home, now we can clinch the outright title, then go see what happens at Ohio State," Weber said. "But that's a long way off. Right now, we're worried about the bus ride home and Northwestern."
A gritty effort wasn't quite enough for Iowa (16-9, 4-8), which fell to 1-4 since leading scorer Pierre Pierce was kicked off the team. The Hawkeyes, lost in overtime at Illinois earlier in the season, trailed by just two points with 4 1/2 minutes to play before a 14-5 run finished them off.
Every Illinois starter had at least three fouls and forward Roger Powell had four, which limited him to eight points after he had made all 10 of his shots against Penn State in the previous game. The Illini were outrebounded 36-21, Head shot 1-for-7 while scoring only seven points and they still got it done.
"Good team, good players -- they find a way to make plays," Iowa coach Steve Alford said. "They don't feel the pressure. I think they're as good as anyone in the country."
Adam Haluska led Iowa with 20 points, while Greg Brunner had 15 and Jeff Horner 12.
"We weren't coming in here just to be close," Horner said. "I thought that we had a chance to win there. We just couldn't make a play down the stretch."
Roughly 3,500 orange-clad Illinois fans swelled the crowd to a sellout, just the second for Iowa this season. Both sides had plenty to cheer during the intense game, one team battling to stay perfect, the other trying to keep its fading NCAA tournament hopes alive.
Trailing by 12 early in the second half, Iowa kept clawing and got within two points three times, the last at 60-58 on Mike Henderson's two free throws with 4:34 left.
Then, as they have done all season when threatened, the Illini responded.
Smith made two free throws, Williams hit a 10-footer and the ultra-quick Brown scored on a breakaway after Head knocked away an inbounds pass to make it 66-58. After Horner drained a 3-pointer, Brown answered with a deep 3 of his own.
When Smith drained a fadeaway 3 from the right corner -- his second of the season -- with 51 seconds to play, the Illini were up 72-63 and -- finally -- out of danger.
"James was wide open underneath and I was kind of disappointed [Smith] didn't pass," Weber said. "But it went in and kind of broke their backs."
Iowa slowed Illinois for much of the first half with solid defense, starting out in man-to-man, switching to zone and then back to man. The Illini often had to go deep into the 35-second clock before getting a shot and once were forced into a violation.
But after Horner passed out of a double team to Erek Hansen for a wide-open dunk to tie the score at 20, Powell made two free throws, Williams followed with a jumper and the Illini never trailed again.
Williams high-arcing shot in the lane with 3 seconds left gave Illinois a 36-28 halftime lead and he started the second half with two jumpers to make it 40-28.
The Illini then went more than 5 minutes without a field goal and Iowa responded with a 10-1 run, drawing to 41-38 on Horner's 3 from the top of the key.
The pattern never changed after that: Iowa threatened and Illinois answered.
"We're going to keep coming at teams," Brown said. "If our shots aren't falling, we're going to keep shooting and making plays."
Josh Smith went retro to win the NBA's dunk contest.
Smith scored a 50 on his first dunk of the finals wearing the jersey of former Atlanta star Dominique Wilkins, then had another perfect score on his second dunk in his own Hawks jersey to beat Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire on Saturday night.
"He didn't know I was going to do that, but I was going to do a dunk symbolizing what he did in his previous years," said Smith, Atlanta's first round pick in 2004 after making the jump from high school. "He was real excited and shocked that I would do that."
Wilkins, a two-time dunk champion, handed the mantel and his jersey over just before Smith's first dunk of the final round, and the rookie didn't disappoint.
Looking a whole lot like 'Nique -- other than being left-handed -- Smith leaned in for a windmill dunk that left the backboard and rim shaking and earned him a perfect score.
Smith switched back to his No. 5 Hawks jersey and earned another 50 off a reverse-spin 360 -- ala Vince Carter at the 2000 dunk contest in Oakland.
"I think the whole jersey thing kind of made everybody a little nervous," said Wilkins, who won the dunk contest in 1985 and 1990. "Like I said, he shocked me with that one. That was outstanding."
But it wasn't the only outstanding part.
Though former Nuggets player Chris Andersen drew some boos after needing eight tries to finish his first dunk, Smith and Stoudemire got the crowd going with their second dunks of the first round.
Smith started things off, earning a 50 by taking a pass from Denver's Kenyon Martin, who was seated in a chair, and throwing it down with a vicious windmill dunk after soaring over Martin.
Stoudemire did him one better on the next dunk, passing the ball off the backboard to teammate Suns teammate Steve Nash, who headed the ball back to Stoudemire for a one-handed 360 dunk.
"That was a good dunk by Amare and Steve, and I knew I had to pull something out of my hat to get by and win," Smith said.
Smith did and it prevented the Suns from completing a sweep on All-Star Saturday.
Phoenix's Quentin Richardson won the 3-point shooting contest, making his final nine shots of the finals after opening with an airball to edge Philadelphia's Kyle Korver by one point.
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