Illinois’ Henson Will Step Down at End of Season

Illinois Coach Lou Henson announced that this season would be his last after the Illini beat No. 18 Iowa, 91-86, Saturday at Champaign, Ill.

Henson made his announcement first to his players in the locker room after the game, then to the fans in a radio interview piped through a public address system.

Henson said he had wanted to stay on for another season, but decided to retire at the end of this season amid continuous speculation about the Illinois coaching position.

“I did what was best for the university, rather than what I want personally,” he said. “It was hurting our recruiting.”

Henson said didn’t want his retirement to serve as a motivating force for the Illini, which at 17-9 overall and 6-8 in the Big Ten is still in contention for an NCAA tournament berth.

“I want them to go out and play for themselves, for the institution, and just do the best they can,” Henson said.

Illinois senior guard Richard Keene doesn’t see it that way.

“He caught us by surprise,” said Keene, who had a career-high 25 points and six of Illinois’ school-record 14 three-point baskets in the victory over Iowa (19-7, 8-6). “We’ve got more to play for now. There’s going to be a lot of emotion and we’ve got to feed off of that.”

Henson has a record of 422-220 at Illinois and a career mark of 661-327. He ranks 16th all-time among NCAA Division I coaches in victories and is one of 10 coaches to take two different schools to the Final Four--New Mexico State in 1970 and Illinois in 1989.

Henson said his favored replacement would be Jimmy Collins, a standout guard at New Mexico State under Henson and an assistant at Illinois since 1983.

Illinois Athletic Director Ron Guenther said he planned to make a decision on Henson’s replacement within “a month or two,” but would not indicate whether Collins had the inside track to the job.

No. 2 Kentucky 94, Florida 63--The Wildcats, No. 1 at the start of the season, figure to reclaim that position after convincingly stretching what is now the nation’s longest active winning streak to 23 games on the same day that top-ranked Massachusetts lost to George Washington.

Kentucky (24-1, 14-0) won in typical fashion over Florida (10-14, 5-9) in the Southeastern Conference game at Gainesville, Fla.--taking command early and using balanced scoring to record its 22nd double-digit victory margin.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 25-12 lead and didn’t allow the Gators to get any closer. Forward Antoine Walker had 20 points to lead six double-figure scorers.

Kentucky has an average victory margin of 22.8, with Indiana and Georgia being the only teams to lose by less than 10 points to the Wildcats since their 92-82 loss to Massachusetts in the second game of the season.

Florida center Dametri Hill had another strong game against Kentucky with 24 points and 10 rebounds. He had a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds in the Gators’ 14-point loss on Feb. 3.

No. 5 Kansas 77, Kansas State 66--The Jayhawks (23-2, 11-1) won the Big Eight regular-season championship for the fifth time in the last six years with their 13th victory in a row at Manhattan, Kan.

Guard Jacque Vaughn scored 20 points and made four of five three-point shots.

Kansas State (15-9, 6-6) missed its first nine shots and never got closer than two points to Kansas after Vaughn made a three-point shot with 10:59 left in the first half.

No. 8 Utah 74, Air Force 50--Forward Keith Van Horn scored 23 points and eight rebounds for the visiting Utes (22-5, 14-3), who clinched at least a tie for the Western Athletic Conference championship.

Utah opened the second half with an 18-2 run to put away last-place Air Force (5-20, 1-15).

No. 9 Texas Tech 75, Texas 58--The Red Raiders (24-1, 13-0) clinched their first outright Southwest Conference regular-season championship since 1975 by winning at Austin, Texas, for the first time in eight years.

Center Tony Battie had 22 points and nine rebounds for Texas Tech, which extended several school records--most wins in a season, consecutive victories (17) and consecutive road victories (11).

Texas (17-7, 10-3), the SWC’s worst-shooting team at 41%, was well under that for the game (36%) and made two of 26 three-point shots. Guard Reggie Freeman, the SWC’s leading scorer at 22.7 points a game, was 7-for-24 shooting and had 16 points.

Virginia 67, No. 10 Wake Forest 49--Senior center Chris Alexander, playing his last home game, played superb defense against Tim Duncan and the Cavaliers (12-13, 6-8) shot 60% in the Atlantic Coast Conference game at Charlottesville, Va.

Duncan made only six of 20 shots and finished with 15 points. Also frustrating for the Demon Deacons (18-5, 10-4) was the fact they couldn’t take advantage of a 25-1 edge in offensive rebounds.

Guard Harold Deane made five of seven three-point shots and had 18 points.

No. 11 Georgetown 67, No. 20 Boston College 64--The Hoyas (23-5, 12-4) held the Eagles (16-8, 9-7) to two field goals in the final 8:15 of the Big East game at Landover, Md.

Boston College’s halfcourt defense frustrated Georgetown guard Allen Iverson, who missed 13 of 18 shots and didn’t score the first 12 1/2 minutes of the second half. He finished with 16 points.

Georgetown overcame Iverson’s off game and 38% shooting by forcing 19 turnovers and getting a solid game from center Othella Harrington (13 points, nine rebounds, four blocked shots). The Hoyas are 15-0 at home and have four consecutive victories over nationally ranked opponents.

Forward Antonio Granger, out of the starting lineup for the first time this season, led Boston College with 19 points; forward Danya Abrams had 17 points and 14 rebounds.

No. 15 Syracuse 77, Pittsburgh 60--The Orangemen won 20 games for the 14th consecutive season, beating the Panthers for the 10th time in a row at Syracuse, N.Y.

Reserve center J.B. Reafsnyder had a career-high 18 points and 11 rebounds for Syracuse (20-7, 10-6).

Three starters fouled out for Pittsburgh (9-15, 4-12), which lost its seventh in a row.

Florida State 84, No. 17 North Carolina 80--The Tar Heels (19-8, 9-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) lost for the third time in four games at Chapel Hill, N.C., marking the first time since the 1954-55 season that they had lost three games at home.

Guards James Collins and Geoff Brower combined to make 10 of 12 three-point shots for Florida State (13-11, 5-9), which beat North Carolina for only the third time in 22 meetings. Collins had a game-high 27 points and Brower had a career-high 17.

Guard Jeff McInnis had 18 points and 10 assists for North Carolina, which shot 61% in the first half but missed 15 of 18 shots, scoring only seven points in a 10 1/2-minute stretch of the second half.

No. 22 Iowa State 78, Missouri 74--Guard Dedric Willoughby made four three-point shots in a four-minute span late in the second half as the Cyclones (19-7, 8-4 in the Big Eight) defeated the Tigers (16-11, 6-6) for the first time at Columbia, Mo., since 1985.

Willoughby finished with 25 points as Iowa State bounced back from a loss to Oklahoma State on Wednesday in which it shot 32%. The Cyclones made 29 of 50 shots (58%) to overcome poor free-throw shooting (13 of 25).

Forward Julian Winfield had 25 points and 12 rebounds for Missouri, which had won its last 14 home games.

No. 25 Wisconsin Green Bay 73, Butler 66--Guard Ben Berlowski scored six of his 23 points in the closing seconds of overtime at Green Bay, Wis., as the Phoenix (24-2, 16-0 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference) stretched the nation’s second-longest winning streak to 22 games. Butler is 19-7 and 12-4.

Berlowski was one of four seniors honored after the game. The other seniors are point guard Eric Jackson, who scored 20 points; forward Gary Grzesk, who made a steal but missed a desperation shot as time ran out in regulation; and forward Jeff Nordgaard, who was held to 13 points but finished the regular season with a 23.6 scoring average. Wisconsin Green Bay has won 118 games in four seasons.

WEST COAST CONFERENCE

Santa Clara 77, Gonzaga 71--The visiting Broncos (19-7, 10-4) beat the Bulldogs for the second time this season to earn the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament, which starts Saturday at Santa Clara.

Guard Steve Nash led Santa Clara with 24 points. Gonzaga center Paul Rogers was held to seven points, 10 below his season average.

Gonzaga had won its previous 17 home games.

OTHER GAMES

Clemson (16-8, 6-8) forced 18 turnovers and held an opponent to less than 40% shooting for the seventh time this season in a home-court 68-61 victory over Maryland (14-10, 6-6). The Terrapins shot 36%. . . . Louisiana State (12-14, 4-10), which has lost its three best players to injury, got 45 points from three players (Rogers Washington, Maurice Carter and David Bosley) who had averaged a combined 11 for the season in a 93-67 Southeastern Conference victory over Auburn (18-9, 6-8) at Baton Rouge, La. The starting lineup was the 15th different one for LSU this season. . . . Mississippi (11-13, 5-9) won its sixth consecutive home game in a 75-65 SEC decision over South Carolina (15-9, 7-7). . . . Mississippi State (18-6, 9-5) led by as many as 27 points in a 73-65 SEC victory over Alabama (14-10, 7-7) at Tuscaloosa, Ala. . . . Tennessee (13-11, 6-8) shot 69% in a home-court 94-79 SEC victory over Vanderbilt (16-11, 6-8). Volunteer center Steve Hamer made 12 of 13 shots and had a career-high 30 points.

Michigan (17-10, 7-7) was a 65-62 Big Ten winner over Minnesota (15-11, 7-7), the 26th time in the last 27 games that the Wolverines have beaten the Golden Gophers at Ann Arbor, Mich. . . . Nate Reinking made 14 of 18 shots and scored a career-high 38 points to lead Kent (14-10, 8-8) to a home-court 91-73 Mid-American Conference victory over first-place Eastern Michigan (19-5, 12-4). . . . Dominick Young scored 25 points to lead Fresno State (18-8, 12-4) to a home-court 95-83 Western Athletic Conference victory over Brigham Young (9-8, 15-11). . . . Mark Schweigert scored his only points with two three-point baskets in the third overtime as visiting Southern Utah (13-13) was an 85-84 winner over American West Conference leader Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (15-11, 5-1), which made only 32 of 61 free throws.