Illinois tops Iowa in Big Ten opener

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Demetri McCamey went home for the holidays hoping to relax and leave Illinois' losses to UIC and Missouri far behind.

Instead, the senior point guard got two earfuls from virtually everyone he ran across.

“Coach (Mike) Mullins, Coach (Gene) Pingatore, family, Coach (Bruce) Weber, everybody,” McCamey said. “They were saying we had 3 losses we probably shouldn't have, but we got them.

“And (they were) just telling me to take over and just be the player I can be.”

So far, so good.

Every time Iowa made a run in No. 23 Illinois' Big Ten opener Wednesday night, McCamey had the answer in the 87-77 win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

After Iowa (7-6, 0-1) slashed a 19-point deficit to 6 midway through the second half, McCamey drilled a 3-pointer and then swished an improvised 17-foot runner at the shot-clock buzzer to lead the Illini to safety.

McCamey (20 points, 10 assists) finished with the second 20-point, 10-assist game of his career as the Illini shot 67 percent from the floor.

Illinois (11-3, 1-0), which won for the first time since Dec. 12, hit a season-high 13 3-pointers. That included 7 of 7 in the opening 7:05 of the game to set the tone.

McCamey started the spree with a pair of 3-pointers before D.J. Richardson and Bill Cole each hit 4 as Illinois built a 49-37 halftime lead. Cole finished 4 of 4 on 3-pointers for a season-high 14 points, while Richardson drilled 5 of 7 en route to a season-high 17.

Neither Peoria native tried a shot inside the arc. They credited the team's renewed focus on screening and moving for reversing the team's 9-of-35 showing on 3-pointers against UIC and Mizzou.

“Coach has been doing a good job with us in practice the last couple of days of making us move, crossing out,” Richardson said. “That's been our downfall in our offense that we don't screen enough and we don't move enough. We did more of that tonight.”

Cole and Richardson were wide open on most of their shots against an Iowa defense that hadn't allowed so many points or 3-pointers all year.

“This is a team that's difficult to defend because they have multiple 3-point shooters and a phenomenal point guard,” said first-year Iowa coach Fran McCaffery.

Weber might add another adjective to describe his point guard: fat. He limited him to 35 minutes to try to preserve him for just the late-game threat McCamey provided.

Apparently while getting those earfuls at home, McCamey mixed in too many mouthfuls.

“He's got to get in better shape,” Weber said. “I've been on him. He ate too much Christmas candy, too much turkey and potatoes.

“He's got to get lean and mean if he's really going to be successful for us.”