The Morning After: Olympian Blackhawks Advance

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Feb 25, 2010 4:00PM

Winter Olympics
All six Olympic Blackhawks advanced to tomorrow's semifinal round of the men's ice hockey tournament. First up, Patrick Kane and Team USA topped Switzerland 2-0 to advance to tomorrow's semifinals where they'll take on Finland (2 p.m., NBC 5). Next up, a still-ticked off Team Canada crushed Russia 7-3. Both Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith were credited with two assists each while Brent Seabrook made the box score thanks to two minutes in the penalty box. That trio of 'Hawks advance to the semis to take on Tomas Kopecky, Marian Hossa and the rest of Team Slovokia after they upset Sweden 4-3. Kopecky netted what would be the winning goal and Hossa contributed three assists in the big win. It'll be the Battle of the Blackhawks (8:30 p.m., CNBC) for a shot at the gold medal.

Bulls Outduel Pacers
It was a strange game at the United Center last night as the Bulls never trailed but still had to fight off a spirited Pacers team for a 120-110 victory. The Bulls led by as many as 23 in the first quarter before the Pacers battled back to force a tie late in the second quarter. The Bulls then played solid defense in the second half to keep the Pacers from making it that close the rest of the way. Luol Deng led all scorers with 31 points, Derrick Rose scored 23, and Taj Gibson earned a double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds). The Bulls are now 30-27 (including winning 7 of their last 10) and find themselves only 1.5 games behind Toronto for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. Not bad for a team everyone (us included) left for dead before Christmas. The Bulls next welcome Portland to town tomorrow night (7 p.m., CSN).

College Basketball

• Notre Dame may be on the outside looking in as far as the tournament picture goes right now, but they're doing everything they can to change that. And they helped their own cause with last night's 68-53 upset win over No. 16 Pitt. Four Irish starters scored in double-figures, led by Tim Abromaitis, who had 17 points.
• DePaul's Big East woes continued as they lost their ninth straight game and fell to 1-14 overall in conference play with their 74-69 loss to Cincy last night. Will Walker led the Blue Demons with 24 points; Mac Koshwal scored 19.
• The news was better for NIU who snapped a 10-game skid with a 67-65 victory over Central Michigan. Darion Anderson hit the game-winning shot and led the team with 23 points. Xavier Silas added 17.