McCamey gets 27, Illinois shocks No. 11 Wisconsin

[February 10, 2010]  MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Demetri McCamey scored 27 points and Mike Tisdale added 19 on 8-of-11 shooting to lead Illinois to a 63-56 upset over No. 11 Wisconsin on Wednesday night, snapping the Badgers' 51-0 home record against unranked Big Ten opponents under coach Bo Ryan.

The Illini (17-8, 9-3) became the first team to beat Ryan three times at the Kohl Center after wins in 2005 and '06 and ended Wisconsin's 18-game home winning streak. More important, Illinois won its fifth straight game after a 78-73 win over then-No. 5 Michigan State on Saturday that featured fans rushing the court.

This one may have been better, because the Illini are now in prime position to challenge the Spartans for the regular-season conference crown. The schedule isn't easy for Illinois, which plays four more ranked teams in its final six games, including two games with No. 13 Ohio State and a rematch with the Badgers in the regular-season finale.

It was a shock for Wisconsin (18-6, 8-4), which got 15 points from Jason Bohannon, including 13 in the second half, and 12 from Trevon Hughes.

The Badgers built a 22-11 lead while only Tisdale could find the basket, hitting every field goal for the Illini until just over 6 minutes to play in the first half.

That's when McCamey took over.

McCamey, the Big Ten player of the week for his performances against Iowa and the Spartans, scored 15 of Illinois' final 20 points of the half and the Illini hit 10 consecutive shots straddling halftime to erase the double-digit deficit.

With 5:16 left, Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor fell to the ground, but managed a pass to Bohannon for a 3 that tied it at 53-all. But D.J. Richardson and McCamey answered with jumpers to push the lead to 57-53, and Wisconsin went cold, going scoreless for 5 minutes.

The Badgers missed nine consecutive shots down the stretch, including a layup by Taylor with just over 2 minutes to play and 3s by Keaton Nankivil, Taylor and Bohannon.

McCamey hit one free throw with 58 seconds left and Richardson hit two more 16 seconds later to seal it.

With a winter storm making life miserable in southeastern Wisconsin, there were several open seats throughout the Kohl Center and the top of the student section was sparse.

Wisconsin went up 22-11 on a four-point play by Hughes and early only the 7-foot-1 Tisdale hit six of his first seven shots.

His teammates, meanwhile, missed 10 straight shots until McCamey's layup with just over 6 minutes left until halftime.

But the Illini hit eight straight shots to end the half, 10 in a row and 17 out of 21.

[Associated Press; By COLIN FLY]

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