McCamey, Illin win fight to the finish against Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - It's too soon to gauge who'll win the battle of wills between Illinois coach Bruce Weber and junior point guard Demetri McCamey.

It's a daily war that might not end until McCamey walks across the stage and accepts his diploma.

Early returns, though, show two initial losers: Iowa and Indiana.

McCamey, kept out of the lineup for the second game in a row after 46 straight starts, steered Illinois back from a 13-point halftime deficit for a 66-60 Big Ten victory on Saturday night at Indiana.

McCamey produced 13 of his 19 points and 7 of his game-high 9 assists after the Illini trailed 43-28 with 19 minutes left.

"I don't like to mess with him and play mind games," Weber said. "But at the same time, I've got to hold him accountable. And he's got to hold himself accountable. If this does it, I'm happy.

"I guess I'm finding the hot button that makes a difference."

Attacking the basket again and again - frequently after getting a high screen from center Mike Tisdale - McCamey alternated between driving in for a runner and kicking the ball it to an open teammate.

Similar to his 7-assist, 0-turnover showing against Iowa on Tuesday, McCamey had 9 assists versus 1 turnover against the Hoosiers.

"One on one, I think I can beat anybody off the dribble in the country," McCamey said. "But at the same time, I've got to make the right decisions: Either going in for layups or kicking it to Mike Tisdale."

Tisdale, who put his 7-foot-1 length to use all night, contributed a game-high 27 points with 9 rebounds.

Tisdale set career-highs with 13 free throws in 14 attempts as the Illini had their biggest night at the line (27 of 39) since Feb. 2, 2008.

"The ball screen with Demetri and me getting in the post was a successful play for us tonight," Tisdale said. "We kept going to it until they stopped it."

In other words, the Illini (11-5, 3-0) never stopped going to it as they pulled into a share of the Big Ten lead with Michigan State.

Of course, the night's downside was that Illinois, for the umpteenth time this season, looked lifeless and stagnant early while building a double-digit deficit.

The Illini went 10 minutes and 6 seconds without a basket in the first half to help Indiana (7-8, 1-2) barge out to a 41-28 halftime lead.

"Coach came in and said the same thing he said at Clemson, the same thing he said at Gonzaga, the same thing he said at Georgia," said senior Dominique Keller. "He said, 'We've been in this position before, you know what we've got to do. I'm not going to yell. There's no point.' "

Illinois clipped its 15-point deficit to 6, but Indiana regained a 52-40 lead with 11:39 to go. From that point forward, the Hoosiers managed just 8 points as they shoot 3-for-17 from the floor.

Illinois took its first lead since early in the first half with just 1:17 to go. After Jeff Jordan got on the runway and rose above two Hoosiers for an offensive rebound, Weber used his last timeout to set up a play.

With Indiana focused on another two-man game between McCamey and Tisdale, freshman D.J. Richardson ran off screens from Mike Davis and Bill Cole to swish a 3-pointer that put the Illini ahead for good.

"It's big to come back on the road, especially in the Big Ten," Tisdale said. "We've got start learning not to get down by that much, I guess."