No Frazier? No problem. Illinois beats Michigan
INDIANAPOLIS - On Wednesday, Illinois senior guard Chester Frazier injured his right hand when he collided with a teammate during practice.
On Thursday, Frazier underwent "minor surgery" on his shooting hand in hopes he can play next week in the NCAA Tournament.
On Friday, Frazier didn't need to lend Illinois a hand.
The Illini proved something to lots of people - including the NCAA Tournament committee and themselves - by handling Michigan just as convincingly as if their leader had played.
With Frazier cheering and offering copious coaching advice from the bench, Illinois unleashed a withering second-half run to defeat Michigan 60-50 on Friday night in a Big Ten quarterfinal at Conseco Fieldhouse.
The Illini (24-8) hit 10 of their first 13 second-half shots to transform a 1-point halftime edge into a 19-point bulge with 11:33 to go.
"Mentally, I'm thinking this is a chance," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "We can show (the committee), hey, Michigan's a good team. They've beaten Duke, they beat UCLA, they beat some pretty good folks.
"If we can do it on a neutral court without who people think is probably our MVP or the heart of our team, I think it shows a lot for our kids."
Sophomore forward Mike Davis led Illinois with 22 points and 10 rebounds - his Big Ten-best ninth double-double - while Calvin Brock took Frazier's spot on the floor and harassed all-Big Ten guard Manny Harris into 9 points on 3-for-11 shooting.
"Coach and Chester, they told me to get into him," Brock said. "Try to make him put the ball on the floor, not let him square me up and shoot 3s on me. That's what I tried to do, and I had great help on defense from my teammates."
Another beneficiary of Frazier's injury? Sophomore guard Jeff Jordan played a Big Ten season-high 16 minutes off the bench and kicked in ferocious defense against Michigan's point guards - with a little verbiage on the side.
"Definitely a little bit," Jordan said with a laugh. "Emotions get up and I'm so passionate. I'm a lot like my dad that way."
Illinois' helping man-to-man defense also limited Michigan's DeShawn Sims, who lit up Iowa for 27 points Thursday, to 15 points on 6-for-19 shooting.
The Wolverines (20-13) shot just 33 percent for the night and committed 9 second-half turnovers.
"We just really had trouble with a couple of - the pressure they were putting on us and we didn't respond," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "A bit uncharacteristic for how we've responded over the last month."
Second-seeded Illinois (24-8) now has a chance to beat third-seeded Purdue (23-9) for the third time this season in today's second semifinal.
Frazier won't be available for that, but Weber holds out hope he'll return next week.
"Anyone else on our team, I don't think would play," Weber said. "Now, I'm not saying he's going be able to play 40 minutes, but I think he'll be able to give us 10-15 minutes and be a factor for us."
Then Weber grinned.
"If he can dribble and pass, he'll play because he doesn't shoot anyway," Weber said.