Playing before a fiercely hostile crowd in Greensboro Coliseum, Illinois battled back from a nine-point deficit in the second half Tuesday night to take the lead against North Carolina. But the Tar Heels (4-0) took advantage of the Illini’s poor performance at the free-throw line (7-for-18) to prevail 88-81.
Despite an 0-for-5 shooting performance in the first half by Dee Brown, who was averaging 19 points, 11th-ranked Illinois (3-1) battled the 10th-ranked Tar Heels even for most of the first half.
But in the final minute before intermission, the Illini turned the ball over twice. Jawad Williams and Rashad McCants parlayed those gifts into three-point baskets to give North Carolina a 39-33 lead at the break.
Early in the second half, the Tar Heels increased their lead to 49-40 before Illinois rallied.
Guarded fiercely by North Carolina’s Raymond Felton, Brown didn’t make his first basket until midway through the second half.
But he converted only 3-of-17 shots and finished with eight points. Brown’s most crucial miss came on an outside shot with less than three minutes to play and the Illini trailing 79-76.
For most of the first half, the lead see-sawed.
The Illini scored first and took a 5-2 lead. But the Tar Heels answered with the longest run of the half–seven unanswered points–a three-pointer by Williams, a basket by Sean May on a goaltending call and a drive to the hoop by Raymond Felton. Nick Smith started his second straight game at center for Illinois after coming off the bench in the first two contests.
“I think with Nick in there that’s a better matchup,” coach Bruce Weber said of his decision to use the 7-foot-2 junior instead of 6-8 freshman Brian Randle, who had started the first two games. “He’s also one of the best shooters on the team.”
But like Brown, Smith failed to score in the first half. The big center took three shots, one of which was a three-point attempt.
With their teammates having a hard time putting the ball in the basket, small forward Roger Powell and Deron Williams became the focal point of the Illinois offense.
Powell made 4-of-5 field goal attempts and 4-of-5 free throws for 12 points in the first half. Williams added 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
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Edited by Phillip Thompson (plthompson@tribune.com)
and Chris Courtney (cdcourtney@tribune.com)
