Minnesota holds off Illinois, 62-60, helping its tournament chances

CHAMPAIGN - Considering Saturday's matinee meant so much to Illinois' NCAA Tournament hopes and dreams and visions, no motivation seemed necessary.

Yet with 9:49 to go, Bruce Weber had to plead with his players during a timeout to "leave it all out on the court."

A short time later, junior point guard Demetri McCamey had to give Weber's words a more urgent spin.

"We're already embarrassing ourselves by not making shots and giving up easy points," McCamey recalled saying. "So don't hold back."

Trailing by 19 points with seven minutes to go, the Illini slapped on a full-court press and sliced the Gophers' margin to 1 with 1:22 left.

But with the Assembly Hall crowd going nuts and the Gophers prepared to squander another double-digit, second-half lead, the visitors gathered themselves and converted a dunk and a free throw.

Illinois had a chance to tie or win when Ralph Sampson III missed a pair of free throws with 7.8 seconds to go, but D.J. Richardson's contested 19-footer hit the front of the rim at the buzzer for an abrupt end to a 62-60 Big Ten loss.

"I was supposed to shoot a 3, but I took an extra dribble," Richardson said. "I wasn't comfortable with the shot, so I tried to take a dribble and tried to get into a more comfortable spot."

Now the Illini (18-11, 10-6) couldn't be in a more uncomfortable spot heading into the regular season's final week.

Thanks to Minnesota's first win at the Assembly Hall in 14 years, Illinois damaged its standing with the NCAA Tournament committee and must do something with Tuesday's trip to No. 9 Ohio State and/or Sunday's home finale with No. 17 Wisconsin.

"They're humongous," said Illinois junior forward Bill Cole, who hit all of his career-high five 3-pointers during the second half. "They're the biggest two games we're going to play this season."

It didn't need to be that way, but Minnesota (17-11, 8-8) made the most of an unlikely combination.

Not only was McCamey way off with his shot and his shot selection (4 of 18 overall, 1 of 12 on 3s), but no teammates picked him up as the Gophers became content to sit in their 2-3 and 3-2 zones.

At halftime, Minnesota owned a 24-14 lead as the Illini went 7-for-31 from the field and 0-for-11 on 3-pointers while not getting to the line.

The shooting percentage picked up in the second half, but the Gophers stretched their lead to 51-32 with 7:13 to go as they shredded Illinois' first full-court press of the day for a dunk and a foul.

From that point forward, though, the Illini picked up energy and steam as their pressure worked wonders.

McCamey (9 points, 10 assists) found Mike Davis (10 points, 12 rebounds) for a transition dunk, then McCamey dived at half-court to knock the ball away from Devoe Joseph. Davis picked up the loose ball and flew in for another slam to cut the margin to 51-38.

Freshman Brandon Paul then drilled a 3-pointer to kick off a streak in which the Illini nailed six 3-pointers in four minutes - and the sellout crowd grew increasingly loud and hopeful.

Richardson's 3-pointer with 1:22 to go capped that run and made it 59-58, but the Illini got no closer.

For the first time, Weber wondered whether the Illini's arduous late-season schedule has been more than they can chew ... and other such toothy analogies.

"It's been a tough stretch. We had kept our head above water," Weber said. "Now the shark's got us by the leg and pulling us down. We've got to see if we can survive it."