McCamey listens, and Illini blow past Georgia

From now on, perhaps Illinois coach Bruce Weber should route all of his helpful hints for Demetri McCamey through the sophomore point guard's little brother.

Weber has been telling McCamey he needs to attack the basket more and shoot fewer many 3-pointers.

But when DeAndre McCamey, a junior standout at St. Joseph High School in Westchester, told his brother he needed to quit chucking so many 3s, Demetri finally listened.

"When my little brother says it," Demetri said with a laugh, "I mean, everybody has noticed."

"If it helps, that's fine," Weber said. Mixing 3s and shorter shots, McCamey poured in 13 of his game-high 19 points in the first eight minutes as Illinois trounced Georgia 76-42 Saturday morning before an announced crowd of 12,139 at the United Center.

The Illini (7-1), who never trailed, reeled off the game's final 22 points as they finished their third win over a 2008 NCAA Tournament team.

Don't think Illinois doesn't know the importance of beating foes like Vanderbilt, Kent State and Georgia - even when a team like the Bulldogs (5-3) features a bunch of inexperienced players who teamed up for 27 turnovers and 35 percent shooting.

"Making the tournament this year, that's our goal," said sophomore forward Mike Davis, who contributed 14 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.

"We talk about every game in the nonconference as an NCAA (Tournament) game, to be honest," Weber said. "It's kind of a little bracket and every time you get a win, you're moving on into the Tournament."

Illinois raced out to a 19-6 lead on the strength of McCamey's 13 early points. But when he took a seat, Georgia switched to a 1-3-1 trap that flummoxed Illinois.

The Illini scored just 11 points and committed 7 turnovers during the final 12 minutes of the first half as Georgia crept within 30-23 by the break.

"We didn't attack the zone very well," Weber said. "We knew they'd play zone, (but we didn't have) much preparation time. We talked at halftime about pushing it and attacking them."

McCamey was instrumental after the break as he kept finding open teammates for 3-pointers and layups.

Sophomore center Mike Tisdale scored 8 of his 14 points after the break, while backup forward Dominique Keller contributed 9 points in 7 minutes as he drilled the first 3 3-pointers of his Div. I career.

As for McCamey? He finished with 6 assists and 3 steals to go with his 19 points.

Oh, and he also received a not-so-gentle nudge from Weber as the Illini rush to prepare for Hawaii on Monday and Chicago State on Wednesday.

"If you study him over the course of time, he has very good games and then he has a tendency not to be real consistent," Weber said. "That's where he's got to mature and play every game and be motivated and prepare himself.

"I gave him an article last night. It was on Derrick Rose; I think it was in Sports Illustrated. It talked about his preparation his first time around in the NBA and taking notes and things like meeting with the coaches and things like that.

"Here's a guy that's a superstar already and he's doing these things. That's the kind of thing Demetri has got to learn to do."