Nash's 22 lead Northwestern past Illinois 73-68

Unless something goes terribly wrong, Northwestern guard Michael "Juice" Thompson usually will be on the floor for nearly 40 minutes a game.

Well, something went terribly wrong in the first half Saturday night against visiting Illinois and Thompson found himself on the bench for 12 of the first 20 minutes thanks to some early foul trouble.

To put that in perspective: In Northwestern's first six Big Ten games combined, Thompson had sat a total of seven minutes.

Thompson's absence was certainly felt Saturday at Welsh-Ryan.

With him on the floor to start the game, the Cats jumped out to a 13-2 lead. With him battling foul trouble, the Illini went on a 20-2 run to pull ahead.

"When he went down, we kind of went down," admitted NU coach Bill Carmody.

"We're used to him playing 40 minutes," Northwestern guard Jeremy Nash said.

"He's a leader; he runs their show," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said.

Fortunately for Carmody and the Cats, Thompson avoided fouling out in the second half and his teammates came through in the clutch to pull out a 73-68 victory over the Illini, snapping Illinois' 11 straight wins in the rivalry.

"It was a real important win," Carmody said of a game that might prove beneficial in terms of the postseason. "Real important because we had already lost two at home. You have to win here."

The victory also served as revenge for the Cats, who last year at home led by 14 points with 5:21 to go only to see visiting Illinois rally for a 60-59 win on Demetri McCamey's running 14-foot bank with 2.9 seconds left.

Not this time.

Nash, who struggled along with his teammates from long distance all night, nailed a 3-pointer with 5:24 remaining to give NU its first lead since early in the game, a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

"Coach told me to keep shooting," said Nash, who led all scorers with 22 points. "I finally banged one."

That was followed by a 3 by Thompson and another one shortly thereafter by John Shurna (19 points) and the Cats' were on their way.

"Last year we were up 15," Nash said, "and coach told us in the timeout to remember last year.

"The feeling is tremendous. This was a must-win."

And another tough loss for Weber, who came in hopeful after going through "the best shootaround we've had all year."

But -

"In the second half we were up by 8 points and we lost our poise a little bit," Weber said. "You could write the same story you've written all year: We don't get stops in the second half."

D.J. Richardson led the Illini with 17 points, followed by Mike Tisdale with 14 and McCamey with 13.

It wasn't enough.

"We just have to win a game," Weber said.