When the scoreboard at Assembly Hall went blank with about 7 minutes remaining Saturday night, somebody should have reset it to record rebounds instead of points.
Rebounds have become a most important statistic for Illinois these days. When the Illini start to fall behind in that category, they just fall behind completely.
Through the first half, Illinois kept up with Indiana on rebounds; the Illini had 18, while the Hoosiers had 17 and a slim 38-36 lead.
But by the time the scoreboard went on the fritz, Indiana held a 35-29 rebounding edge and a 61-54 lead. That was a lot in this tight game, enough to tip the scales.
Indiana (10-6, 3-1 Big Ten) nurtured the lead, and wound up winning 85-71 before 16,450 fans. No. 21 Illinois–the ranking is mere dressing these days–dropped to 11-5, 0-4–its worst conference start since 1931.
The Illini have now been outrebounded in all four Big Ten defeats–it was 46-38 Saturday night–and their lack of boards works in direct correlation to their overall failure. During Saturday night’s game, the connection was more obvious than in previous contests.
Illinois further sealed its fate with horrendous second-half shooting of 23.5 percent. The Illini hit just 8 of 34 shots, including 2 of 15 three-point attempts.
The game turned on a two-minute stretch midway through the second half. Indiana led 52-51 with about 11 minutes to go, but broke it open from there.
Hoosier forward Andrae Patterson, who led all scorers with 20 points, made the first of two free-throw attempts, but teammate Haris Mujezinovic nabbed the rebound and put up an errant shot.
Patterson, who also grabbed 11 boards, drilled a subsequent putback. On the team’s next possession, he hit a jumper.
“That was the biggest game that I’ve seen Patterson play in two years,” said Indiana coach Bob Knight. “And by big, I mean that ball he took down off the offensive board and some of the defensive rebounds.”
Illinois got chances immediately after Patterson’s jumper, with three straight shots, but came up empty. Indiana proceeded to grab another trio of offensive rebounds at the other end, and finally converted two free throws to take a 59-51 lead.
“I kind of felt it slipping away,” said Illini forward Bryant Notree, who had a career-high 16 points and nine rebounds. “We weren’t boxing out and we weren’t fighting.”
Said Illinois coach Lou Henson: “I think they were quite a bit more physical and that beats you down after a while . . . We’re not shooting well and we’re not rebounding well, and those are two phases of the game you can’t afford to not have.”
Illinois further suffered through the absence of team leader Kiwane Garris, who missed his second straight game with a bruised shoulder. The junior still is listed as day-to-day.
Sophomore Matt Heldman played well in his place, notching a career-high 14 points. He does not, however, run an offense with the same speed.
“It was extremely hard to run because we didn’t have the ball,” Heldman said.
Indeed, Indiana got 14 offensive rebounds in the second half.
Henson noted that several Indiana players had a height advantage over several Illinois’ players–particularly Mujezinovic and Brian Evans, who combined for 20 rebounds.
“It’s hard to block out when they’re already in there,” Henson said.
