They huddled at midcourt briefly. Each Illinois player raised an arm and an index finger, a simple but symbolic gesture.
The display of unity came two minutes before tipoff between No. 1 Illinois and 18th-ranked Wisconsin on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.
Even here, where Wisconsin had won 38 straight games, the longest home-court winning streak in the country, the Illini showed no fear.
In a season already decorated with spectacular moments, this was Illinois’ finest.
Illinois crawled back from an eight-point second-half deficit to beat the Badgers 75-65 before 17,142 crazed fans.
“We’ve had a lot of good wins, but with the streak they had here, it’s tops right now,” Illinois’ Deron Williams said.
Illinois got its usual contributions from Williams, who scored
13 points to go with six assists, and Luther Head, who led all scorers with 18 points. But reserve Jack Ingram made the biggest plays.
Ingram hit back-to-back 3-pointers as the Illini rallied from a 56-48 deficit. “He has been so patient,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “He had his chance to shine tonight, and he truly did.”
Weber was pleased with his other post players–James Augustine and Roger Powell. Augustine played sparingly in the first half because of foul trouble but scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Powell scored 11. “Our bigs were huge down the stretch,” Weber said.
They were stellar defending against Wisconsin’s Mike Wilkinson, who had been named the Big Ten player of the week for the last two weeks. Wilkinson scored 13 points.
“It’s over,” Wilkinson said of his team’s winning streak. “It’s time to move on.”
The Badgers said they cared less about the streak than their standing in the Big Ten.
“More importantly, we lost a conference game tonight,” the Badgers’ Sharif Chambliss said. “If we’re looking at our goal of where we should be in the Big Ten, that’s the bigger story.”
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Big Ten’s big implications
Where Tuesday’s outcome falls in the context of conference history.
– Illinois’ 20-game run marks the best Big Ten start since Indiana finished the 1975-76 season with a 32-0 record.
– Wisconsin’s last home loss occurred on Dec. 4, 2002, vs. Wake Forest. Michigan State still holds the record of 53 straight home wins.
– The last time Illinois went 6-0 in the conference was during the 1962-63 season.
–BIGTEN.ORG
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Edited by Phillip Thompson (plthompson@tribune.com) and alBerto Trevino (atrevino@tribune.com)
