Illini drop a stunner to Indiana
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — As Illinois sunk past another marker measuring its descent to Big Ten mediocrity, Tom Crean crossed a milestone off his list.
[--]Facing a 20th-ranked Illini crew that was taller, healthier, older and toting a better basketball resume, Indiana earned its first win over a ranked team during Crean's three-year tenure.
Center Tom Pritchard's tip-in with 44 seconds left erased Illinois' last lead as the Hoosiers triggered a mad mid-court dash by their fans with a 52-49 Big Ten victory before 16,297 at the Assembly Hall.
The Illini (14-7, 4-4) managed just 5 baskets and 17 points in the second half to lose for the fourth time in the last five games.
“We didn't make any defensive mistakes today,” Crean said of his a team that came in allowing 76.4 points per Big Ten game. “That was crucial.”
Seniors Demetri McCamey and Mike Tisdale combined to shoot 4 of 21 from the floor as Indiana rotated defenses— including a “line-and-3” that clogged up the lane to force the Illini into 32 percent shooting.
“Just look at the numbers,” said Illinois coach Bruce Weber. “We're not playing good basketball. I've got to do it. It's my fault. It's my program and I've got to get them going.”
Perhaps it's not fair to project an entire game's result from its first 10 seconds, but that's all it took for D.J. Richardson to forget he was guarding Indiana shooter Jordan Hulls.
After Hulls claimed the opening tip, he headed to the top of the key and swished an unguarded 3-pointer.
After the ball went through the net, Richardson looked at the Illini bench and stood with his palms upraised as if to say, “Did you ask me to guard him?”
From there, Illinois and Indiana traded the lead 14 times as interior efforts by Mike Davis (14 points, 7 rebounds) and Jereme Richmond (9 points, 11 rebounds) were offset by Hulls' shooting.
Hulls drilled four of five 3-pointers en route to a game-high 18 points, including a 25-footer from the wing to give the Hoosiers (11-10, 2-6) a 46-42 lead with 5:01 to go.
Illinois rallied with a Davis jump hook, two Paul free throws and then Paul's go-ahead 3-point from the corner with 2:44 to go.
From there, Illinois got nothing out of its final four possessions
Davis missed a 2-footer and Christian Watford snuffed the 7-foot-1 Tisdale's layup underneath the basket.
Tisdale threw away a pass with 16 seconds to go, then D.J. Richardson and Paul missed tough 3-point tries in the final seconds.
“The rim was just closed shut for us,” McCamey said. “We missed layups. Jump shots. Anything you can name. We're a better team than we showed tonight.”