Illinois didn’t exactly miss Andy Kaufmann Saturday afternoon.
Playing without their No. 2 scorer, the Fighting Illini turned their most impressive offensive half of the season into a 74-66 victory over the last-place Penn State Nittany Lions in Rec Hall. Illinois (16-8 overall, 9-3 in the Big 10) shot a sizzling 67 percent in the first 20 minutes and easily ended a losing streak at two.
The performance raised a simple but touchy question: Are the Illini a better team without Kaufmann?
“Let’s put it like this: We felt we could play well without him,” head coach Lou Henson said in a diplomatic tone. “We felt we could win without him.”
According to the school, Kaufmann decided not to make the trip to Pennsylvania after Henson demanded Thursday that he increase his class attendance. Henson said the senior from Jacksonville was still on the team but that he won’t be allowed to play again until his class attendance improves. And Henson added he will ask the other players to vote to reinstate Kaufmann, who missed last season after failing to meet academic requirements.
After Saturday’s game, that vote might not be a landslide. Kaufmann is the second-leading scorer on the team and No. 8 on the all-time school scoring list, but the Illini didn’t miss him at all.
Tom Michael, who started in Kaufmann’s place, did not score in 17 minutes. But Deon Thomas (26 points) and Rennie Clemons (a season-high 22) more than made up for Kaufmann’s absence.
“When I heard about it last night, I was not happy,” Penn State coach Bruce Parkhill said. “That’s nothing against Andy, but he was 2 for 12 against us the first time out there. There’s 12 shots that someone else is going to get, most likely Thomas. I think they played great today, and that’s one of the reasons.”
Thomas hit 12 of 17 shots from the floor. He also helped clamp down on opposing center John Amaechi, holding him to 12 points, or 17 fewer than he scored against Illinois Jan. 21 in Champaign.
“The first game at Assembly Hall, he clearly outplayed me,” Thomas said. “I didn’t want that to happen again.”
It was an easy victory over the Nittany Lions, 1-11 in their first conference season, and yet another victory over a team Illinois was supposed to beat. The Illini’s three conference defeats have come against Indiana and Michigan.
Both of those powerhouses would have had trouble keeping up with Illinois in the first 20 minutes. The Illini hit 18 of 27 (67 percent) from the field, their best half of shooting since they made 18 of 26 (69 percent) against Vanderbilt in the Great Alaska Shootout. And they were passing the ball better than they have in recent weeks; their 11 first-half assists were two more than they managed in the entire wipeout at Indiana Wednesday night.
Clemons was a big part of the offensive explosion. He missed only two of 11 shots and ran the Lions dizzy.
His first burst spurred a 23-9 run that wiped out an early 17-12 Nittany Lion lead. He hit a 12-footer, then a free throw. Then he blew past 6-10 Amaechi and dunked over 6-10 Michael Joseph.
That play set up his next score. Clemons took the ball at the top of the key, feinted his defender onto his heels and then swished an 18-footer.
It’s no wonder that, with 20 seconds left in the half, the Illini cleared the court and let Clemons dribble the clock down to :03 before he knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the key. That sent the Illini into the locker room leading 40-29.
The Illini blew out to a 17-point lead midway through the second half, but once again they had trouble registering the knockout blow. They let the Nittany Lions draw to within seven with 5:15 to go.
The Illini didn’t panic. First Richard Keene hit a baseline jumper, then Clemons drove for a layup, then Thomas hit back-to-back hook shots to end the Nittany Lions’ upset ideas.
That restored any confidence Illinois might have lost in the Pittsburgh and Indiana routs. The Illini go into the homestretch feeling that it controls the battle for third place.
Whether they’ll go there without Kaufmann remains to be determined.
“When you lose a player, sometimes others step up and play better, and that’s what happened today,” Henson said.
