Another Illini letdown as Gonzaga picks up win

If you've seen any of Illinois' games away from Assembly Hall this season, then you can guess the epic (and tragic) storyline that played out at United Center on Saturday afternoon.

It took the Illini less than 10 minutes to fall behind Gonzaga by 21 points, but they needed less than 13 minutes to get it all back.

From there, a sellout crowd and a near-national CBS-TV audience watched raptly as Illinois and Gonzaga traded great plays and grand mistakes.

In the end, the game rested on Illinois freshman guard Brandon Paul's lengthy fingertips.

After Gonzaga power forward Elias Harris hit a sweeper across the lane with 12.6 seconds left in overtime, Illinois eschewed its final timeout and got the ball to Paul on the wing as diagrammed a minute before.

"I came downcourt and played in my mind that the shot was going in," Paul said.

But his arching 3-point attempt rimmed off and Harris' rebound just before the horn clinched an 85-83 Gonzaga victory that might still resonate come NCAA Tournament selection time.

Illinois (9-5) now stands 0-5 on neutral courts this year with only Big Ten games ahead - an issue the NCAA committee can't possibly see as a positive.

"I don't know if I've been so upset after a loss," said Illinois coach Bruce Weber, who tried to call a timeout as Paul's game-winning try went airborne. "It sucks. I don't like to lose. A great crowd. It's no fun. I mean, it's pretty simple."

At the same time, it seemed pretty inexplicable that Gonzaga (11-3) pounced on the Illini from the jump.

Not only did Illinois have 20,000 fans wearing orange and ready to roar, the Bulldogs finished their previous game shortly before midnight Central time on Dec. 31.

Then they flew to Chicago on Friday, arrived in the early evening and headed to the UC - where they weren't allowed the customary day-before shootaround.

Gonzaga wasn't affected by its compressed schedule. With 10:40 left in the first half, the Bulldogs already owned a 32-11 lead thanks to the outside shooting of Steven Gray (20 points) and the inside presence of Harris (19 points, 16 rebounds) and 7-footer Robert Sacre (19 points).

Meanwhile, Illini 7-footer Mike Tisdale picked up two fouls in the first 85 seconds and fouled out after playing just 11 minutes.

That forced senior forward Dominique Keller into the biggest role of his career.

Playing a career-high 34 minutes - 10 more than his previous high - Keller delivered career bests for points (22) and rebounds (9) along with 3 assists, 2 blocks and 3 steals.

He, along with junior guard Jeff Jordan off the bench, seemed in the middle of every big play as Illinois posted four breakaway dunks in the second half on its way to a 68-60 lead with 8:26 to go.

But Gonzaga kept alternating easy post baskets with 3-pointers and wound up leading 79-76 in the waning moments o regulation.

That's when Keller took advantage of Mike Davis' offensive rebound and drilled a 3-pointer with 7.4 seconds left to forge overtime.

The Illini took an 83-80 edge in extra time on free throws by Demetri McCamey (20 points) and Paul, but they got nothing out of their final three possessions and allowed Gonzaga a crucial second chance that turned into Harris' winning basket on a post isolation against Illinois' slender Mike Davis.

"We just couldn't get stops and we just can't stop people in the paint," Weber said. "I think in the second half, one of our coaches said they were 8 for 8 or 9 for 9 from 2."

Those are good odds - a lot better than Illinois' NCAA odds at this juncture.

"I feel it's definitely the big guys' fault this game," Keller said. "I felt like we gave them too many easy opportunities to shoot layups.

"We wanted this win bad. It's too bad we didn't get it."