Morning Box Score: Bulls Beat Brooklyn; Illinois Husks Nebraska
By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 3, 2013 4:15PM
The Bulls are already one of the NBA's better defensive units. Against the Nets at the United Center Saturday night they added a new wrinkle to their defensive strategy, double-teaming the Nets in the half-court to build an large lead in the second and third quarters. Brooklyn managed just 11 shots in middle 24 minutes after taking 12 field goal attempts in the opening quarter. The Bulls frontcourt once again led the way. Joakim Noah, following his historic triple double against Philadelphia, led five players in double figures with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Carlos Boozer added 20 points and eight rebounds. Brooklyn's Brook Lopez led all scorers with 20 points.
Illinois is peaking at the right time and improving their chances of an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament after putting away pesky Nebraska at Assembly Hall. Tracy Abrams led a balanced attack with 16 points. Brandon Paul scored 14 and D.J. Richardson added 13. But Nebraska held a 57-55 lead with just over six minutes to play before a 7-0 run put the Illini ahead to stay. Illinois is now 21-9 on the season and 8-8 in Big Ten play with two games and the conference tournament remaining.
In other local college basketball scores, Central Michigan defeated Northern Illinois 69-50, Detroit easily handled UIC 79-67 and Loyola routed Cleveland State 87-60.