Illini have Blue Devil of a time
The early-season verdict is in.
If basketball were solely about crashing the offensive glass, then Illinois deserves consideration as a Top 25 team.
But in every other aspect of the game, No. 13 Duke left the Illini wanting in an intense Maui Invitational semifinal on Tuesday night at the Lahaina Civic Center in Hawaii.
The Blue Devils shot 60 percent for most of the way as their calm efficiency overcame Illinois' wild energy in a 79-66 triumph.
"They're a good team," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "They have a lot of weapons. They can make shots. We had a lot of second-chance points, but they had a lot of first-chance points."
Nearly half of the fiery Illini's production came on second-chance points (31), but that wasn't nearly enough to prevent Duke (4-0) from meeting Marquette (5-0) in today's championship game.
Senior Brian Randle shrugged off 3 first-half fouls to lead Illinois with 16 points, while Calvin Brock added 14 points off the bench before fouling out.
Sophomore swingman Gerald Henderson led all scorers with 23 points as Duke improved its all-time Maui Invitational record to 11-0.
The Blue Devils authored a 24-5 blitz midway through the first half -- a stretch when senior center Shaun Pruitt sat on the bench with two fouls and the remaining Illini misfired on 9 shots in a row -- to give coach Mike Krzyzewski his 779th career win.
That ties former Illinois coach Lou Henson for eighth on the all-time Division I list.
The Illini fell into today's third-place game against Oklahoma State (3:30 p.m., ESPN2). The Cowboys lost 91-61 to Marquette earlier in the evening.
It will be interesting to see how much energy Illinois (3-1) has to offer against the Cowboys (2-2) in a game that begins less than 17 hours after Tuesday's battle ended.
Thanks to a 33 percent shooting night, which included a 2-for-21 stretch in the second half after chopping a 17-point deficit to 3, the Illini flew to the boards in a desperate attempt to hang with the Blue Devils.
Junior forward Rodney Alexander (9 rebounds) and junior guard Chester Frazier (8 rebounds) combined for 9 of Illinois' 18 offensive rebounds as they did their best to keep missed shots alive.
But every time Illinois tried to cut its second-half deficit to single digits, Henderson would bury a shot or the Blue Devils would sink free throws.
Illinois and Duke played even for the first 10 minutes as Randle led a feverish defensive effort.
During one memorable stretch, Randle rejected a ferocious Henderson dunk at one end and then Duke's Nolan Smith blocked a Brock drive at the other.
Not long after, prized Duke freshman Kyle Singler dribbled through his legs, spun and tried to take Randle to the hoop, but the fifth-year senior threw his layup out of bounds.
Gushed ESPN analyst Jay Bilas: "That's National Defensive Player of the Year stuff right there."
But Randle and Pruitt spent their share of time on the bench with foul trouble and their younger teammates couldn't hang with the precocious Blue Devils.