CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Dee Brown says it's time for the naysayers to shut up. A player on a 25-0 team can do that.\n"Everybody's waiting for us to lose, saying they think we're not the best team in the country," Brown said after his two late 3-pointers iced top-ranked Illinois' 70-59 win over No. 20 Wisconsin and preserved the nation's longest major-college winning streak. "Watch TV, they'll show you, they'll tell you. The No. 1 team? It's not us."\nNot only was the victory Illinois' 25th in a row overall, it was their 21st in a row in regular-season Big Ten play and their 19th in a row at home, where an Assembly Hall-record crowd of 16,865 watched. It also assured the Illini will be No. 1 for the 11th straight week when The Associated Press poll comes out Monday.\n"We're not worried about what people say about us," Brown said. "We're just going to continue to win."\nThe Illini (25-0, 11-0) had their troubles with the Badgers (16-6, 7-4). Wisconsin took a 28-27 lead just seconds into the second half on two Alando Tucker free throws, but Deron Williams scored eight in a row before Luther Head finished off a 10-0 run with two of his 12 free throws.\nStill, the Badgers fought back and the Illini didn't take total control until Brown hit the first of his two late 3-pointers. It ended a 6-2 Wisconsin run and gave Illinois a 57-49 lead. Then, with 1:43 left, Brown hit an NBA-range 3 that pushed the lead to 62-51.\n"Luther saved us in the first half," said Illinois coach Bruce Weber. "Deron comes out and gets us going early in the second half. Luther comes back and then Dee finished it."\nHead tied his season-high with 26 points. Brown, who played in foul trouble all day, had 16 and Williams scored 15.\n"None of them are selfish. They all share the ball," said Tucker, who led the Badgers with 24 points. "They don't care about who scores. That's something you look for in a great team."
No. 2 UNC 77, \nNo. 19 UCONN, 70\nHARTFORD, Conn. -- Rashad McCants and Raymond Felton had big second halves Sunday to help No. 2 North Carolina bounce back from a tough loss with a 77-70 win over No. 19 Connecticut.\nMcCants had 11 of his 15 points in the second half for North Carolina, while Felton had 14 of his 16 points and seven of his 10 assists in the final 20 minutes.\nThe performances by the junior stars enabled the Tar Heels (20-3) to leave the court at the Hartford Civic Center with smiles on their faces instead of the stunned looks they wore following the last-play breakdown in a 71-70 loss at No. 7 Duke on Wednesday night.\nMarcus Williams had a career-high 18 points for the Huskies (15-6), who had won three straight and four of five.\nConnecticut led 34-31 after a first half that was played at the pace the Huskies were looking for. The second half was more to the liking of the Tar Heels, who lead the nation in scoring at 91.2 points per game.\nFelton hit a 3-pointer with 12:10 left to break the game's final tie and give North Carolina a 51-48 lead. That started a 16-6 run that was capped with McCants' only 3 of the game that made it 64-54 with 7:54 to go.
Maryland 99, \nNo. 7 Duke 92, OT\nCOLLEGE PARK, Md. -- For 40 minutes, Duke withstood a spirited effort by Maryland in front of a fervent, hostile crowd.\nIn overtime, however, the seventh-ranked Blue Devils were worn out -- and nearly out of players.\nTravis Garrison had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and the Terrapins pulled away for a 99-92 victory Saturday night. Including their win in the finals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament last March, the Terps have won three straight against Duke for the first time since 1982.\n"I think it's great. You realize the games were close, so you don't gloat," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "You just feel good because you beat a great program and a great coach."\nJohn Gilchrist scored 19 points, Chris McCray had 17 and reserve guard Mike Jones added 15 for Maryland (15-7, 6-5 ACC), which completed its first regular-season sweep of the Blue Devils since 1995.\n"Good teams play well against each other," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "That's why we play well against them. They're a very good basketball team; they played with high energy and a sense of purpose."\nThe Blue Devils (18-3, 8-3) staggered to the finish without five players, all of whom fouled out late in regulation or in overtime. Shelden Williams had 23 points and 16 rebounds, and Daniel Ewing also scored 23. But both were gone long before the finish, as were Shavlik Randolph, Sean Dockery and Lee Melchionni.\n"It was frustrating. We were definitely at a disadvantage missing five of our main players," Duke guard J.J. Redick said. "They just had more overall athleticism than we did in overtime because they still had their main guys."\nDuke went 0-for-9 from the field in overtime, scoring all four of its points at the line.\nWith Maryland up 91-90 in the extra session, Garrison scored on a follow and McCray made two foul shots for a five-point cushion. The Blue Devils simply didn't have enough firepower to mount a comeback.\nAt the final buzzer, the crowd poured onto the court to celebrate another Maryland victory in one of college basketball's fiercest rivalries.\n"It was 12 rounds," Maryland forward Nik Caner-Medley said. "From the break it was up and down and back and forth."\nRedick scored 21 for Duke, which fell a game behind first-place Wake Forest in the ACC.\nDuke led 86-82 with 1:34 left in regulation, but three-point plays by Gilchrist and Ekene Ibekwe put the Terrapins ahead 88-86 with 39 seconds left. Williams fouled out on the latter play, leaving the Blue Devils lacking in the middle.\nDeMarcus Nelson scored on a drive to tie it with 34 seconds left, and Gilchrist and Caner-Medley misfired before the final buzzer.\nHeld to eight points before halftime, Redick sank his first 3-pointer with 10 seconds elapsed in the second half. He then put the Blue Devils in front 52-50 with another shot from beyond the arc with 18:08 left -- Duke's first lead since 27-26.\nMinutes later, Williams scored on a tip and followed a Maryland turnover with a three-point play to make it 59-55. Another 3-pointer by Redick put Duke up by five, and after Maryland pulled even, Williams made a layup and Melchionni hit a 3-pointer to spark an 11-2 run.
