Dee Brown’s will to win Tuesday night in Crisler Arena is the reason top-ranked Illinois is now the nation’s only undefeated Division I team.
Downtrodden Michigan, which has been ravaged by injuries and the suspension of star Daniel Horton, was seemingly on the verge of scoring the season’s biggest upset after taking an eight-point lead early in the second half.
But then the 6-foot Illini guard, the shortest player on the court, made the biggest plays of the night to pull his team out of a deep rut in a 57-51 victory.
The Illini had led by as many as 10 points in the first half.
“Some guys are gamers,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “Dee definitely is a gamer. He does things in games he doesn’t do in practice.”
A prolonged Illinois shooting slump prefaced Brown’s game-saving heroics. He had just missed a three-point shot from the corner when he got the ball back in the same spot. This time he hit it to reduce Michigan’s lead to 34-29.
Brown then stole the ball and broke away before losing it out of bounds behind the Wolverines’ basket. Undaunted, he sprinted back on defense and forced another turnover. This time, Luther Head capitalized on it by hitting a three-pointer.
The Wolverines clung to their lead for a few more minutes, but Brown’s defense finally got the best of them. He stole the ball and laid it in to cut the lead to 39-37. Courtney Sims answered for Michigan, but the Illini were unable to score on the ensuing possession.
But then Brown made another steal that resulted in a layup. And he did it a third time to tie the score. Fouled on the play, he sank the free throw that finally put the Illini on top 42-41.
“Dee is an outstanding player and an inspirational player,” Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. “He made everything happen. He’s electrifying. He ignites their team and he does it in so many ways. We saw him do it defensively, stealing the ball and finishing on the break. He made the big three from the corner. He made the wraparound pass to James Augustine for a dunk.”
Head scored 14 points for Illinois and Augustine added 10.
Brown downplayed his contribution.
“I just tried to get in the [passing] lanes and make plays,” he said. “Fortunately, I got a couple steals and we came back.
“I’m just blown away when people say you have to lose to learn a lesson. I learned from Iowa; I learned from Indiana; and I learned from this game. They did something that we weren’t mentally prepared for.”
What the Illini (24-0, 10-0 Big Ten) didn’t expect was the delay game by Michigan (12-12, 3-7).
“They ran a fake motion offense,” Weber said. “As the first half went on we weren’t into it. We didn’t adjust. They were on their home court. They were fired up and they made some shots.
“The best adjustment we made was that we pushed the ball in the second half. We walked it up in the first half. We got hesitant and they were able to get the lead.”
With the crowd roaring its approval, 13 unanswered points sent the Wolverines surging to a 28-24 lead at halftime.
Patiently probing from the outside and letting the shot clock wind down, Michigan made 47.8 percent of its shots in the first half, while the Illini were successful on just 37.5 percent of theirs.
Dion Harris finished with 21 points and seven rebounds for Michigan, which held Illinois to its lowest total this season. Sims added 15 points.
The Illini’s shooting slump carried over into the second half.
When Augustine made a layup to whittle the deficit to 30-26, it was their first basket in a span of 11 minutes 55 seconds. A basket and a free throw by Sims put Illinois down 34-26 before Brown made the three-point shot that ignited the whirlwind rally that kept the Illini undefeated.
“Dee gave us a lot of energy with those steals,” Head said. “A game like this makes us feel we can win, no matter what.”
