Nearly a storybook night for Illinois

CHAMPAIGN -- When did Eric Gordon know he wasn't in Indiana anymore?

Perhaps when an ESPN cameraman jumped in his face the moment he stepped off the team bus … for the Hoosiers' shootaround eight hours before tipoff.

And when the Assembly Hall stationed most of its 10 extra security men directly behind the Indiana bench.

And when most of the Orange Krush students in the stands greeted him with chants of "Bleep-bleep, Gordon!" moments after the national anthem.

And when Illinois junior guard Chester Frazier planted his right shoulder hard into Gordon's chest as they shook hands during pregame introductions.

Gordon stepped back from Frazier's blow and smiled as if to say, "All right, so that's how it's gonna be?"

While all of those events might have made Gordon wish his lone Assembly Hall appearance would go as quickly as possible, he and his teammates gladly played for 2 hours, 45 minutes in order to walk out with an 83-79 double-overtime Big Ten triumph that frustrated a bloodthirsty sellout crowd of 16,618.

After senior center Shaun Pruitt missed free throws near the end of regulation and the first overtime that would have given Illinois the win, perpetual Illini killer Armon Bassett scored 11 of his 16 points in the second overtime to enable the 14th-ranked Hoosiers to keep their share of first place.

Gordon, who managed just 1 point in the first half, banked a 28-footer with 24 seconds left to force the first overtime and wound up with a team-high 19 points.

That in spite of the fact Frazier and Calvin Brock took turns hounding him worse than the ESPN cameraman -- and with the fans booing the Big Ten's top scorer every time he touched the ball.

"I wasn't really worried about it," said Gordon, referring to the incendiary atmosphere that included chants of "Traitor!" and "Liar!"

"The only thing I was worried about was trying to get a win."

"He probably was pressing a little bit," said Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson. "But I thought the second half he played like a man."

Freshman guard Demetri McCamey, who committed to Illinois when he thought Gordon would be a teammate, played like a man the entire way.

He led everyone with a career-high 31 points, the highest total by an Illini since Dee Brown hit Michigan State with 34 on Jan. 5, 2006.

Coincidentally, Brown (wearing his trademark headband) was in the house Thursday night and gave McCamey a pep talk beforehand.

"Dee came in and just told me to play my game," McCamey said. "He got all in my head and said, 'Time to go. Time to perform.' "

Thanks to McCamey's 3-point spree early in the second half, Illinois (10-14, 2-9) built a 42-30 lead with 16:33 to go.

"I don't know if we can play any better than we did tonight for the first 35-36 minutes," said Illinois coach Bruce Weber.

But Gordon and the Hoosiers (19-3, 8-1) gradually reeled in the hosts and took their first lead since early in the first half when Gordon bagged 2 free throws with 2:04 to go in regulation.

The Illini regained a 63-60 advantage when Chester Frazier, balancing on a painful sprained left ankle that kept him out of overtime, made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 40.6 seconds to go.

After Gordon tied it with his banked 3-pointer, Pruitt had a chance to win it with 4.2 seconds to go but rimmed the front end of a 1-and-1.

Pruitt, a 54 percent shooter at the line, missed 2 free throws with 2.2 seconds left in the first overtime to force five more minutes.

"I feel bad for Shaun," Weber said. "I thought he gave us a pretty good effort. It's a shame for him and our kids that he couldn't get one of the free throws down."