So long, Minnesota. Ixnay on Indiana. Bring on Ohio State.
Suddenly, amazingly, the Fighting Illini aren’t afraid of anybody any more. In crushing No. 17 Indiana 82-66 Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament at the United Center, last-place Illinois told the basketball world what it thought of its No. 11 seed and its seemingly astronomical chances of surviving this long.
Last-place teams aren’t supposed to do what Illinois (13-17) has done the last two nights. In disposing of Minnesota on Thursday and Indiana (22-10) Friday, the Illini made it look easy, advancing to the semifinals, where they’ll take on the second-seeded Buckeyes (23-7).
Unbelievable? Not to these guys. Illinois’ victory Friday was as stunning as it was complete.
“We’re definitely gaining confidence as each game goes by,” said freshman forward Lucas Johnson, who led the Illini with 17 points. “Even so, I wouldn’t consider us a Cinderella story.”
Cinderella isn’t tough enough for this group.
The Illini won Friday by outrebounding the Hoosiers 51-26, including 22-7 on the offensive end. Six-foot-10-inch sophomore Kirk Haston, Indiana’s leading rebounder, played 14 minutes and grabbed six boards despite being hampered by a broken bone in his left hand, but the Hoosiers refused to use that as an excuse.
“That’s just ridiculous on our part,” said Indiana forward Luke Recker. “That’s why we got beat.”
Illinois romped by getting career highs from two role players–Johnson and center Fess Hawkins, who scored 15 points. The Illini withstood a horrible start by their best player, point guard Cory Bradford, who spent 9 1/2 minutes on the bench in the first half with foul trouble and was 0 for 1 from the floor at intermission. And they won by using an inpenetrable zone defense that limited the Hoosiers to 26 percent from three-point range (6 of 23) and held Recker to seven points.
That wasn’t all. Damir Krupalija had 10 of his team’s 51 rebounds, giving him a total of 38 this season in three games against the Hoosiers. Bradford finally broke loose for 14 points in the second half to finish with 15 for the game and 455 for the season, propelling him past Deon Thomas as Illinois’ all-time leading freshman scorer. And Sergio McClain added 13 points as Illinois built leads of 15, 16 and 19 points in the second half.
Larry Richardson led the Hoosiers with 19 points and A.J. Guyton added 15, but Indiana never had a chance.
“Was tonight our best game of the year?” asked Illinois coach Lon Kruger. “Probably so. Nate Mast had his best stretch of minutes. Sergio had his best stretch of minutes. Fess Hawkins had his best stretch of minutes. This was probably as complete a game offensively and defensively, with all our guys contributing, as we’ve had.
“Was this our most satisfying win?” asked Kruger. “Every one has been pretty satisfying. Certainly beating a ballclub of this category is very satisfying–mostly for the fact that the guys have continued to battle, and that hasn’t been easy to do in light of our record.”
They did it Friday, continuing Kruger’s success against Indiana coach Bob Knight.
Illinois’ sweep of Indiana last year was one of the keys to its Big Ten co-championship with Michigan State. Kruger bested Knight twice, including the famous regular-season finale at Indiana in which referee Ted Valentine ejected Knight and Knight stormed from the gym.
