Meacham, Brock try but can't do it all

In their final college game Thursday night, Illinois' Trent Meacham and Calvin Brock did the work of three seniors.

While that might have been enough to make up for injured classmate Chester Frazier, they needed to do work for a couple of Illini sophomores, too.

Fifth-seeded Illinois nearly raised the ante on the program's fabled 2005 Arizona game but couldn't come all the way from a 17-point deficit in the final 4:12 and fell 76-72 to Western Kentucky in a South regional first-round game at Portland, Ore.

The Illini (24-10) became the highest seed to go bye-bye on the first day of the 2009 NCAA Tournament because their first 35 minutes in no way resembled the final five.

Meacham finished with a season-high 24 points - most of them in the second half - while Brock came through with his second career double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds).

They almost balanced out Mike Tisdale's zero-point night and early erratic play from sophomore point guard Demetri McCamey.

WKU seizes control

The Hilltoppers wanted a full-court, fast-paced game. Illinois allowed it and even pushed the pace on occasion.

The Hilltoppers wanted to shoot a bunch of 3-pointers. The Illini allowed them as many open looks as they could stand as the 12th seed built a 68-51 lead with six minutes left.

The Hilltoppers - particularly Sun Belt MVP Orlando Mendez-Valdez - wasted little time exploiting Illinois' man-to-man principles that call for copious help.

Here came the 3s

When Bruce Weber replays the tape of his team's second successive first-round knockout, it'll be an endless loop of the same play:

1) A Hilltoppers guard dribbles, penetrates and draws help defense.

2) Said guard passes to open teammate beyond the arc.

3) Open Hilltopper releases a perfect 3-pointer a half-second before an Illinois defender flies out and tries in vain to distract him.

Mendez-Valdez opened the game's defining early run with back-to-back 3-pointers. Then he fed Sergio Kerusch and A.J. Slaughter for wide-open 3s from the same spot.

Invisible big guys

By playing four guys 6-foot-5 and under, Western Kentucky was supposed to be susceptible to Illini big guys Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale. Illinois opened the game's scoring when Davis posted up 10 feet from the hoop and hit a turnaround.

On the Illini's next three possessions, McCamey missed a 3-pointer, missed another 3-pointer and then had a driving layup swatted away by Jeremy Evans.

Davis got to take just 9 shots all night and had 12 points.

Meanwhile, the 7-1 Tisdale managed 2 shots in the post.