Wednesday's Shootaround: Syracuse, Villanova, and Kentucky all survive, Michigan State wishes they never left East Lansing

Wisconsin 67, Michigan State 49: With Jon Leuer out and Trevon Hughes in foul trouble, Wisconsin looked like they were in dire straits, but Jordan Taylor and Jason Bohannon shot the lights out in the first half, providing the Badgers with a spark as they opened up a 15 point lead at the break. In the second half, Michigan State looked ready to make a push, getting the lead into the single digits. But about midway through the second half, Kalin Lucas pulled up for a jumper and landed on a defenders foot, rolling his right ankle. He was down in a heap of pain, and couldn't put any pressure on the ankle as he left the court.

Bohannon had 19 points and Taylor scored 17, as the Badgers committed just five turnovers on the game and held Michigan State to 37% shooting. Wisconsin handed Michigan State their first lost in Big Ten play, and in the process moved to within two games of first place in the Big Ten.

Villanova 81, Seton Hall 71: The Wildcats were down 58-56 with about eight minutes left in the game when the decided to start playing. They finished the game outscoring the Pirates 25-13, but the decisive run came with the score tied at 62. Corey Stokes hit two threes and Scottie Reynolds had a bucket and an assists as Nova went on a quick 11-0 spurt to build a lead that would not be overtaken.

Antonio Pena led Villanova with 16 points and 8 boards, and Corey Stokes scored all of his 11 points in the second half. Scottie Reynolds added 15 points and 5 assists, including the 2,000th point of his career. He has an outside chance of catching Kerry Kittles to become Nova's all-time leading scorer. Jeremy Hazell's 32 points led the Hall, but no one else reached double figures.

Syracuse 85, Providence 68: Syracuse got a career-high 23 points from Kris Joseph and a season-high 20 points from Arinze Onuaku as the Orange rolled past Providence. The Frias were able to cut a big lead down to four close to halftime, but Syracuse came out on fire in the second half and opened a 20 point lead.

There was a scary moment in this one. Wes Johnson was going up for an alley-oop and had his legs taken out in mid-air by a PC defender. He flipped over, landing on what appeared to be the back of his head and the top of his back. He was stay down for a few minutes, but eventually walked off the court and came back in the game.

Kentucky 85, Ole Miss 75: John Wall looked like he was finally having fun again. He scored 17 points and added 7 assists for the Wildcats as Kentucky jumped out to a big lead and held off several Rebel runs. DeMarcus Cousins added 18 points and 13 boards, Darnell Dodson (who got his second straight start) scored 14 points, and Patrick Patterson went for 12 points and 6 boards.

Bubble Watch

• Northwestern 67, Michigan 52: The Wildcats got 17 points from Drew Crawford, 15 points from John Shurna, and used a 21-4 run in the second half to win a game they desperately needed to keep their tourney hopes alive. They are currently sitting at 4-6 in the league, but only play one more game against a team with a winning conference record. With wins over Purdue and Illinois, along with a couple of decent non-conference wins, NW has a real shot of dancing if they can get to 10-8.
• Rhode Island 90, La Salle 83: Rhody picked up a big road win last night, as Will Martell scored 16 points to lead six players in double figures. As long as the Rams can avoid any bad losses, they should feel pretty confident about their status.
  
• Wake Forest 62, Miami 53: Wake didn't necessarily look like a tournament team, as they shot 41%, were beaten on the offensive glass, and turned the ball over 16 times as they blew a 17 point lead. But the Demon Deacons pulled out the win, which is what the committee is going to be looking at.
• Northeastern 70, Delaware 48: Matt Janning scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half as the Huskies their slim at-large hopes alive.
• San Diego State 70, Air Force 48: The Aztecs are on the outside looking in right now, but they will have a chance to win some notable games in MWC play. As long as they avoid losing games they should win, SDSU still has a shot.
  

Other notable games

• Kansas State 76, Nebraska 57: The Wildcats took their frustration out on Nebraska, as Denis Clemente hit five threes and scored 23 points in the win.
• BYU 76, TCU 56: The Cougars jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back. Jimmer Fredette had 26 points and 6 assists.
  

Tuesday's Best

• Artsiom Parakhouski had 30 points and 22 boards for Radford as they beat VMI 111-84.
• Jamine Peterson had 25 points and 11 boards in PC's loss to Syracuse.
• DJ Kennedy had 27 points and 9 boards, but it was not enough to overcome 33 points from Mike Rosario as Rutgers knocked off St. John's.