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No. 14 Illinois beats No. 13 Tennessee 75-62 in Music City Madness

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tomislav Ivisic and Keaton Wagler each scored 16 points and No. 14 Illinois beat No. 13 Tennessee 75-62 Saturday night in the second part of the Music City Madness.

The Fighting Illini (7-2) came in rested after an eight-day break with this their last of four Top 15 opponents over a seven-game stretch. Illinois snapped a five-game skid on neutral courts against ranked opponents and also gave coach Brad Underwood his first win in three tries against Tennessee.

Illinois is averaging 90.4 points a game this season after leading the Big Ten in scoring last season. Leading scorer Kylan Boswell went to the bench in the opening minutes grabbing at his left shoulder. He returned and finished with 15 points.

David Mirkovic added 10 for the Fighting Illini.

Tennessee (7-3) has lost three straight after going 30-8 last season and reaching the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie led Tennessee with 15 points. Freshman Nate Ament, who has been averaging 17.1 points a game, finished with nine.

The Vols never led by more than two and had their last lead at 49-48 on a dunk by J.P. Estrella when Illinois went on a 15-3 spurt started by Andrej Stojakovic’s layup taking the lead back for good, and Boswell’s layup with 6:55 to go put the Fighting Illini up 63-52. Illinois pushed that to as much as 14 in the final minutes.

Illinois controlled much of the first half. Ivisic scored the last 10 of the half for the Fighting Illini, but the Vols finished the half on an 11-4 run with Cade Phillips’ layup with 51 seconds left putting Tennessee up 34-32 at halftime.

Up next

Illinois: At Ohio State on Tuesday night.

Tennessee: Hosts No. 6 Louisville on Dec. 16.

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Hawkeyes are set to play Vanderbilt in a November women’s basketball game in Sioux City, Iowa

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Vanderbilt and Iowa, both ranked in the top 10 late last season, will meet in a women's basketball game early next season in northwest Iowa, the schools announced Tuesday. The neutral-site game is set for Nov. 15 at the Tyson Events Center, which is 290 miles from Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Vanderbilt is 4-0 all-time against the Hawkeyes. This will be the teams' first meeting since 1997. The Commodores are expected to return national scoring leader Mikayla Blakes. She averaged 27 points per game and was Southeastern Conference player of the year. Vanderbilt was ranked as high as No. 5 and finished No. 10 with a 29-5 record after reaching the NCAA Sweet 16.
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