Wednesday's Shootaround: Purdue, Vandy, and Illinois all pick up wins

Purdue 76, Michigan State 64: Purdue handed Michigan State their third straight loss, further entangling the top of the Big Ten standings. The Boilermakers used a 13-0 run midway through the first half to open up a 47-33 lead at the break. Michigan State didn't guard a soul in the first 20 minutes, as Purdue shot 65% from the floor and opened up a lead as big as 18 early in the second half.

But Michigan State had a run in them. They started getting some stops, forced a few more turnovers, and Chris Allen got hot as they cut the lead all the way down to three points, 65-62, with just four minutes remaining in the game.

Purdue would answer in the form of E'Twuan Moore, who finished the game with 25 points and 6 assists. After Allen hit the three to cut the lead to three, Moore responded at the other end with a three of his own to quiet the crowd. The next possession, he found a cutting Robbie Hummel for a lay-up. On the very next possession, Moore drove the lane for a layup, putting Purdue back up 10 and sealing the win.

With the win, Purdue moves into a de facto tie for the first place lead in the Big Ten. There are four teams with three league losses, and Wisconsin is sitting a game back with four league losses. More on that later today.

Illinois 63, Wisconsin 56; In Bo Ryan's tenure as Wisconsin head coach, the Badgers had lost five league games at the Kohl Center. Only once had Ryan lost to a team that was unranked. Well, the Fighting Illini went into the Kohl Center as an unranked conference opponent and came out victorious. The Badgers went up big early, but Demetri McCamey led a comeback charge. He struggled to get going in this one, but McCamey followed his co-Big Ten player of the week award with 27 points an 7 assists, including a big jumper with two minutes left that gave Illinois a four point lead.

With the win, Illinois moves into a first place tie in the Big Ten. Two games ago, they were on the bubble. Now, they are in first place in the league a virtual lock for the tournament with wins over Michigan State and at Wisconsin. Pretty good week for the Illini, don't you think?

Vanderbilt 90, Tennessee 71: The Vols just never showed up for this one. Vanderbilt was up 19-4 in the blink of an eye, took a 17 point lead into the break, then used an 18-3 run to put the Vols away midway through the second half. Jeff Taylor scored 16 of his 26 points in the first half, and Jermaine Beal added 20 in the win.

The loss is devastating to Tennessee's SEC title hopes. They are now two games behind Kentucky, and have to play the Wildcats in Lexington on Saturday night.

Other notable scores

• Kentucky 66, Alabama 55: John Wall had 22 points and 10 boards, and DeMarcus Cousins added 16 points and 13 rebounds, his seventh straight double-double, and Kentucky won despite looking relatively mortal on the offensive end of the floor.
• Georgetown 79, Providence 70: The Hoyas got 21 points from Chris Wright, 16 in the second half, and Greg Monroe went for 12 points and 12 assists as the Hoyas rallied to beat the Friars. Of note - PC had 22 offensive boards, which is way too many for Georgetown to be allowing.
• Wake Forest 92, BC 85: Wake got 22 points from Al-Farouq Aminu and 14 and 11 from Chas McFarland as the Demon Deacons stayed a game in the loss column off the pace of Duke and Maryland.
  
• Texas Tech 72, Oklahoma 71: The Sooners lost a must win game as they were unable to score on their final possession. Of note is that the two freshman that were arrested this week both were suspended by Jeff Capel for the game.
• George Mason 82, VCU 77: Mason overcame a 13 point half time deficit to force overtime, where they beat VCU. The win keeps GMU a game out of first in the CAA.
• Evansville 65, Wichita State 62: There goes the Shockers at-large hopes.