Frank Williams, favoring a sprained left wrist, took only one shot and scored only four points. Illinois coach Bill Self said that except for the first 10 minutes his team’s defense left a lot to be desired. And the Illini continued to turn the ball over at a dizzying rate.
And who should be waiting in Saturday’s semifinals but Ohio State, which defeated Illinois 78-67 in the teams’ only meeting this season Jan. 29.
Not quite a perfect story–yet. But as Big Ten tournament openers go, it was a pretty good start. Friday’s 92-76 rout of Minnesota (17-12) at Conseco Fieldhouse was the streaking Illini’s ninth straight victory, a good indicator of an NCAA tournament-ready team.
There were other positive signs. Cory Bradford had a game-high 25 points, but more importantly was 8-for-11 from the floor and 5-for-8 from three-point range. In his last three games, Bradford is 13-for-20 from behind the arc.
Bradford’s sharp-shooting–and a superb night from Sean Harrington, who was 4-for-6 from long range (16 points)–contributed to one of Illinois’ best shooting nights of the season and helped overcome 18 turnovers. The Illini (24-7) shot 62.2 percent, Frank or no Frank.
“I thought we played real well, especially offensively,” Self said. “We shot the ball great. When you’re making shots everyone looks good.”
Damir Krupalija definitely looked good. Seeing his first playing time after sitting out eight games with a stress fracture that required surgery, Krupalija had 11 points and three rebounds in 11 minutes.
“Sometimes when you don’t expect much that’s when you play your best,” Self said. “He teased us tonight. We’ll expect him to do this every night now.”
Illinois looked pretty good in the first half, when it used an 18-4 run to open a 28-11 lead on the Gophers, whom they beat for the third time this season. The Illini led by as many as 24 points (72-48) in the second half.
Self didn’t seem too concerned with Williams’ reluctance to shoot, partly because Williams had 11 assists.
“He only practiced [Thursday] for the first time since he fell on the wrist [Sunday],” Self said. “He’s probably not quite ready yet to score. If I know Frank, when we’re scoring points he usually scores the least. If it bothers him to shoot Frank certainly won’t look to shoot. But I’m sure he’ll be much more aggressive shooting it [Saturday].”
Against the Buckeyes on Jan. 29, Williams and Robert Archibald shared honors with 16 points apiece, but that wasn’t enough to overcome a 15-point halftime deficit, OSU guards Brent Darby (22 points, 7 rebounds) and Brian Brown (13 points) or forward Zach Williams (14 points). Williams accounted for Illinois’ only assist in the first half.
The Illini will need a better effort Saturday, with no preparation time.
“The last time, we didn’t have much time at all to prepare for them,” Self said, referring to the two days of practice Illinois got after losing to Indiana on Saturday, Jan. 26. “And this time we get no time at all to prepare. They have great guard play and don’t beat themselves. They wore us out in the first half last time.”
In Friday’s other quarterfinals:
– Ohio State (21-7) raced to a 15-2 lead before surviving a late run by Michigan (11-18) for a 67-56 victory.
– Luke Recker hit a jumper with 1.4 seconds left to give ninth-seeded Iowa (18-14) a 58-56 win over No. 1 seed Wisconsin (18-12).
– Jared Jeffries led four Hoosiers in double figures with 16 points as Indiana (20-10) pulled away from Michigan State (19-11) for a 67-56 victory.
