Brandon Paul stunning 43-point barrage topples Ohio State

Moments after swatting away Jared Sullinger's shot in the final minute of his team's 79-74 upset over fifth-ranked Ohio State, Illinois guard Brandon Paul stared down the national player of the year candidate and talked a little trash. It wasn't the classiest gesture, but Paul earned the right to brag under the circumstances. In perhaps the best individual performance of the college basketball season thus far, Paul erupted for 43 points on torrid 11-for-15 shooting the from the field and 13 of 15 from the foul line. His fallaway three-pointer as the shot clock expired with less than a minute left gave Illinois a commanding four-point lead, enabling the Illini to escape with a confidence-boosting win over the Big Ten favorite. To put Paul's performance into context, consider these stats for a moment: • Paul's 43 points were tied for the second most a player has scored in a game this season behind only Creighton's Doug McDermott, who had 44 on Saturday against...