Illini's Davis hits the boards in win over Wisconsin
CHAMPAIGN — At one point during Illinois' Big Ten opener Wednesday at Iowa, Bruce Weber sent in someone for senior forward Mike Davis.
“He said, ‘Why am I coming out?'” Weber said. “‘Well, you're not doing anything. You've got to do something.'”
That message hit home before No. 23 Illinois' Big Ten home opener on Sunday against Wisconsin.
Davis soared for a season-high 14 rebounds and chipped in 11 points as the Illini snapped the Badgers' seven-game winning streak with a hard-earned 69-61 decision before an announced sellout crowd at Assembly Hall.
Senior guard Demetri McCamey (21 points) salted away Illinois' second 2-0 Big Ten start in six years by scoring 14 of the team's 16 points over the final seven minutes.
McCamey drilled a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch — including one with one second on the shot clock — to parry various Wisconsin rallies.
“Those two 3s for them, that was huge,” said Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan.
But Davis played so hard for such long stretches, Weber kept him on the floor for a team-high 37 minutes. Davis forced Wisconsin stud Jon Leuer into 7-of-18 shooting in addition to grabbing 10 more rebounds than any other Illini.
To put Davis' 14-rebound effort into further perspective, he managed a total of 12 rebounds in his 89 minutes against UIC, Missouri and Iowa. What gives?
“There's no reason,” Davis said. “I told you Coach got on me pretty good about rebounding and threatened to sit me and stuff like that.
“I don't want to sit. I want to be on the floor helping the team win. ... I want to go back to last year and have 15 double-doubles for the season.
“I want to get the Big Ten rebounding championship again this season. Those things are kind of fun.”
Davis won last season's rebounding title with 9.2 per game. Sunday's double-double effort, his third of the season, moved him to 6.9 rebounds per game.
That's good for 10th place in the league — well behind Ohio State's Jared Sullinger (10.1 rpg) and Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe (9.9 rpg).
“I've got to get double-figure rebounds probably every game,” Davis said. “I know I can do it. I've just got to put my mind to it. Me and my dad talked too. He told me if I want to get drafted, it's going to be off rebounding. But, you know, I've got to get rebounds.”
Illinois shot 56 percent for the night but won at the defensive end of the floor. The Badgers shot a season-low 35 percent and lost the boards by 9.
The Illini wanted to turn Wisconsin into a two-man operation and didn't succeed early as center Keaton Nankivil drilled three 3-pointers for 11 first-half points.
But after the break, Nankivil went scoreless as Leuer (19 points) and point guard Jordan Taylor (19 points) combined for 22 of the team's 27 second-half points.
More to the point, the duo made just 7 of 18 shots after halftime and 13 of 34 for the night.
“We did do a better job — adjusted a little bit at halftime,” Weber said. “I don't know if they just missed shots. Or, hopefully, (it was) a little bit what we did on defense.”