Illini upset of No. 1 Ohio State falls short
CHAMPAIGN — Illinois coach Bruce Weber didn’t have his guys work on much during Friday’s practice, but he did ask them to protect an imaginary 7-point lead with six faux minutes to go.
Weber didn’t mention how that drill turned out, perhaps because he didn’t need to bother.
A national CBS-TV audience and a disappointed sellout crowd could guess the answer after the Illini squandered an 8-point second-half lead against top-ranked Ohio State on Saturday afternoon.
The Buckeyes reeled off 14 points in a row during a 5-minute, 34-second dry spell and held on for a 73-68 Big Ten triumph at manic Assembly Hall.
No. 23 Illinois (14-6, 4-3), which received a season-low 5 points from senior point guard Demetri McCamey, dropped to 2-20 all-time against No. 1 opponents.
“We’ve hit points in the game where we watch the clock,” Weber said. “We don’t cut hard. We don’t move hard. Defenses pick up. They put their hands on you. They grab you. They hold you.
“Now you’ve got to react to it. It came back to haunt us.”
Erratic freshman Deshaun Thomas, who hadn’t made a 3-pointer in a month, drilled 2 3-pointers during Ohio State’s defining 14-0 spree — covering for the only stretch in which superstar freshman center Jared Sullinger didn’t dominate the proceedings.
Sullinger delivered 27 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks while playing every second for the Buckeyes (20-0, 7-0).
Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale and Meyers Leonard took turns trying to slow down Sullinger, whose variety of powerful post moves earned 15 free-throw attempts. Illinois shot just 10.
“He’s tough,” Davis said. “He’s bigger than I thought he was. He’s a good player. We didn’t do a good job of stopping him.
“The next time we play him, we’ve got to do a better job on him. If he goes for this, we’re going to lose again.”
In that vein, McCamey will need to bring the form that had Ohio State coach Thad Matta calling him perhaps the best point guard in the country. McCamey (5 points, 5 assists) struggled through his worst offensive game since Dec. 2, 2009, as he shot just 2 of 11 and committed 4 turnovers.
Buckeyes freshman Aaron Craft drew two charges from McCamey and generally gave him little room to maneuver.
“He just didn’t play well,” Weber said. “And he’s been so good for us. He’s our guy. And we still found a way to stay close. I think it shows, as a team, how good we are because he’s been the guy that has made us go.”
In McCamey’s stead, freshman Jereme Richmond came off the bench to produce his first double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds). Tisdale put up 15 points and Davis added 11 points with 7 rebounds.
The Illini trailed 68-61 with a minute to go, but pulled within 71-68 and had the ball with 15.2 seconds left.
“I asked the huddle, ‘Who wants to make the 3?’ and Billy (Cole) said he wanted it,” Weber said.
Illinois ran a double screen to try to free Cole, but Ohio State covered and forced McCamey to try to hit Tisdale on a roll to the hoop.
Jon Diebler stripped Tisdale and forced the clinching turnover with 4.5 seconds left. A red-faced Weber, for the umpteenth time in the game, glared holes through the officials while Assembly Hall went silent.
“I thought we should have got some fouls, I’m going to be honest,” Weber said. “We drove with their hands on (us) and we didn’t get the call. You’ve got to play strong. But you’ve got to move harder, cut harder.”
And not go more than five minutes without a point in order to knock off No. 1.
“I think we feel encouraged,” Davis said. “We really had nothing to lose, kind of, in a way. We had the No. 1 team in our house, had a chance to beat them when no one expected us to win.
“We put ’em down to the ropes. We had ’em at the end. I really believe we had ’em. A credit to those guys. They made good plays and we didn’t get stops.”
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