EVANSTON – Andrew Smith scored a season-high 24 points and Butler pulled away in the second half for a 74-65 win over Northwestern on Saturday.
Smith had 19 points in the second half – including nine straight – and added 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs (7-2), who shot 48 percent en route to their fourth straight win overall and fourth straight against the Wildcats (7-3).
No. 13 Illinois 85, No. 10 Gonzaga 74: At Spokane, Wash., Brandon Paul scored 35 points to lead No. 13 Illinois over No. 10 Gonzaga in a matchup of unbeaten teams.
Tracy Abrams added 14 points for Illinois (10-0) and new coach John Groce is off to the best debut for an Illinois coach in the team’s modern history.
No. 19 Michigan State 73, Loyola 61: At East Lansing, Mich., Gary Harris scored 14 of his career-high 20 points in the second half as the 19th-ranked Spartans beat Loyola. Harris shot 7 for 11 from the field, including 5 for 7 on 3-pointers.
Ben Averkamp had 25 points, including four 3s, and eight rebounds for the Ramblers (6-3). Devon Turk added 10 points.
Illinois-Chicago 64, Colorado State 55: At Chicago, Gary Talton scored 20 points, including a perfect 12 for 12 from the free-throw line, and added five rebounds and five assists to lead Illinois-Chicago to its seventh straight victory by defeating Colorado State.
UIC (8-1) trailed 46-45 with 5:45 remaining after Wes Eikmeier hit a free throw for Colorado State. Seconds later, Will Simonton made a lay-up to give the Rams a 47-46 lead and Colorado State went on a 17-9 run from that point on to seal the victory.
Toledo 67, E. Illinois 59: At Charleston, Rian Pierson had 22 points and nine rebounds to lead Toledo to a win over Eastern Illinois.
Dominique Buckley scored 13 points for the Rockets (3-6). Julius Brown and Matt Smith added 10 points for Toledo, which has played eight of its nine games on the road.
Western Illinois 55, SIU-Edwardsville 38: At Macomb, Adam Link scored 14 points to help Western Illinois beat SIU-Edwardsville, extending WIU’s winning streak to four games.
Link was 6 of 10 from the field. Don McAvoy III had 11 points, and Terell Parks had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Leathernecks (7-3).
Illinois State 85, Western Michigan 63: At Normal, Jackie Carmichael scored 24 points and Illinois State rolled to an 85-63 victory over Western Michigan.
Illinois State (6-3) also benefited from 50.8 percent shooting from the floor (31 of 61) and a 39-8 scoring advantage off the bench.
No. 22 Notre Dame 84, Brown 57: At South Bend, Ind., freshman Cameron Biedscheid had a career-high 17 points and No. 22 Notre Dame beat Brown.
Jack Cooley added 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (8-1), who committed just three turnovers and finished with 22 assists. Scott Martin made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Eric Atkins had 10 points and 12 assists.
No. 1 Indiana 100, Central Connecticut St. 69: At Bloomington, Ind., Christian Watford scored 21 points, Cody Zeller had 19 points and 19 rebounds, and No. 1 Indiana routed Central Connecticut State.
No. 3 Michigan 80, Arkansas 67: At Ann Arbor, Mich., Jordan Morgan scored a season-high 12 points and matched a season high with 10 rebounds to help No. 3 Michigan beat Arkansas.
No. 7 Ohio St. 89, Long Beach St. 55: At Columbus, Ohio, Deshaun Thomas had 18 points, including a 3-pointer in an 11-point run in the first half, to lead No. 7 Ohio State past tired Long Beach State.
Marquette 60, Wisconsin 50: At Milwaukee, Junior Cadougan scored 13 of his 18 points in the final 10 minutes and Vander Blue added 17 points to lead Marquette past rival Wisconsin.
Eastern Michigan 47, Purdue 44: At Ypsilanti, Mich., Eastern Michigan had the prettiest number in an ugly game.
Penn State 78, Army 70: At State College, Pa., D.J. Newbill scored 19 points and Jermaine Marshall added 16 as Penn State survived a second-half surge by Army.
