Illinois keeps opening victory in perspective

CHAMPAIGN No cause for looting Campustown after Illinois' opener, a good sign beyond the obvious property considerations.

Not only did the 13th-ranked Illini open Monday night with a vastly improved effort over their exhibition games which kept expectant fans from forming an angry mob the players put their performance into proper perspective.

Sophomore guard Brandon Paul came off the bench and drilled five 3-pointers in his first seven minutes to expedite Illinois' 79-65 win over UC Irvine in regional action of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.

Seniors Demetri McCamey (13 points, 8 assists), Mike Tisdale (12 points, 8 rebounds) and Mike Davis (11 points, 8 rebounds) took turns coming through as the Illini built a 24-point halftime lead that withstood a casual second-half showing.

“We feel good, but at the same time it's something that we expect,” McCamey said. “So we're not going to go out and tear down Green Street because we beat 'em.

“But at the same time, we can look at it as a positive thing and look how we played the first half and say, ‘That's a good start to the season. We've got to keep that up and carry it over to the second half.'”

Illinois, playing the earliest opener in its 106-year history, throttled the Anteaters in the first half with ferocious, extended man-to-man.

Between the on-ball pressure and the stellar help-side defense, the long-armed Illini forced UC Irvine into 23 percent shooting and 11 turnovers. Illinois posted 4 of its 8 blocks and 6 of its 9 steals before the break.

“Their length is going to bother a lot of people, but it especially bothered us,” said UC Irvine coach Russell Turner.

Illinois coach Bruce Weber lauded McCamey, who finished with 3 steals, for playing perhaps his best half of defense since, well, ever.

He liked the freshly muscled Davis' work against 6-foot-6, 250-pound Eric Wise, who fell 5 points short of last year's average despite getting some junk hoops late.

“In the first half, especially defensively, it's what we envisioned,” Weber said. “We had energy. We were everywhere. We were getting deflections.”

Meanwhile, Paul (18 points) hit everything he shot after entering the game along with uber-frosh Jereme Richmond and Meyers Leonard at the 15:11 mark of the first half.

Paul soon swished 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions to open a 17-5 lead. After a short breather, he returned and hit 3s on back-to-back touches to put Illinois up 32-8 with 4:53 left before halftime.

“I thought our zone would be effective potentially,” Turner said. “One guy shot us out of it by himself … I thought the Illinois guys did a great job moving the ball until it got to him. They played really unselfishly against that zone.”