With Illinois down by a point and time running out on its season, everyone in area code 801 saw coach Lou Henson frantically signaling for a timeout.
Everyone, that is, but Rennie Clemons. Unaware of his coach’s gyrations, Clemons spun down the lane and hit the biggest shot in Illinois’ 75-72 victory over Long Beach State in the opening round of the NCAA West regional Thursday afternoon.
“I saw Coach, but I didn’t want to say anything,” freshman Richard Keene said. “When Rennie gets going, he’s hard to stop. I didn’t want to get in his way.”
The sixth-seeded Illini (19-12) are headed for a Saturday shootout with third-seeded Vanderbilt (27-5), which blew out Boise State 92-72 in the other matinee. It’s a rematch of the Great Alaska Shootout, where Illinois beat the eventual Southeastern Conference champion by 16.
Clemons’ play was all the more interesting because only a player on the court can call time out in the NCAA men’s game; it didn’t matter whether the officials saw Henson’s signal. Henson sometimes shouts at length at a player who disobeys him, but he had only applause for his blazing point guard.
“What he did is what we would have told him to do” during the timeout, Henson said.
“Really?” Clemons said. “That’s good.”
What he did was put the Illini up 71-70 with 1 minute 22 seconds to go. Clemons drove for another layup with 16 seconds left to make it 73-70 after Keene stripped Long Beach star Lucious Harris at the other end. When Harris’ bomb glanced off the rim with :02 left, the Illini had outlasted the feisty 49ers (22-10) and earned their first postseason victory since advancing to the Final Four in 1989.
If Harris’ shot had dropped, Henson would have been answering questions about why the Illini hadn’t fouled someone and given up only two free throws. Instead, Keene was fouled immediately after Harris’ miss and sank two foul shots before Illinois allowed reserve Mike Atkinson an uncontested layup at the buzzer.
But that’s academic. Illinois survived because it dominated the backboards 36-22, because its thin bench produced some big points and rebounds and because Clemons overcame early jitters to provide 10 points, six assists and only four turnovers in 34 high-altitude minutes.
The Illini, used to taking on the behemoths of the Big 10, took advantage of a team that starts only one player taller than 6 feet 7 inches.
“We’ve been beaten on the boards badly in several games this season, but today it was a joint effort,” Henson said. “A lot of different people went to the boards.”
Deon Thomas, the team’s season leader, had nine rebounds. The “different people” were Marc Davidson with six, Keene with five and T.J. Wheeler with four.
Illinois came out nervous in its first NCAA tournament appearance in three years, falling behind by seven late in the first half and committing 11 turnovers before intermission.
But the Illini pulled within 33-32 at the half. They charged to an eight-point lead midway through the second half, most of it built on Thomas’ inside work against double- or triple-team defenses. He ended up with a team-high 20 points.
When the 49ers sagged on Thomas too much, he kicked the ball back to Andy Kaufmann, who drained back-to-back three-pointers on his way to 14 points.
Still, the 49ers refused to crumble. They wiped out an eight-point deficit in less than four minutes, then grabbed a 70-69 lead when Harris scored on a back-door pass behind Keene with 1:38 left.
That gave Harris, a possible NBA first-round draft pick, 27 points. Clemons decided it was up to him to answer. He dribbled up the floor, missed Henson’s signal and then slipped into the lane for the layup.
“I didn’t think we’d call time out because we just had one,” Clemons said. “We wanted to run the clock down a little.”
Plenty of time remained for the 49ers. They set up a play for Harris, but as he tried to slice to the hoop, Keene stood his ground and poked the ball away.
Keene made “a heck of a play,” Long Beach State coach Seth Greenberg said. “We were in a position to win the game.”
