They continued tiptoeing around the realization that an undefeated season is theirs for the taking.
Illinois coach Bruce Weber and his basketball players instead talked Saturday about the Big Ten championship sitting at their doorstep.
The top-ranked Illini (27-0, 13-0), the only undefeated team in the nation, fought off Iowa for a 75-65 victory at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in front of 15,500 fans, about a third of whom were Illinois fans.
The triumph leaves the Illini one victory shy of clinching a share of the Big Ten title, which they can claim Wednesday if they beat Northwestern in Champaign. Illinois needs two victories to win its second consecutive outright title.
“The prize is right there within reach,” Weber said. “That’s a Big Ten championship–our first goal.”
Positioning themselves for that title didn’t come easily Saturday. The Hawkeyes (16-9, 4-8) closed to within two points with 4 minutes 34 seconds left on two free throws by Mike Henderson.
But Iowa went scoreless for nearly the next two minutes, and Illinois closed with its now customary flurry of dramatic plays. Luther Head ignited one when he disrupted an Iowa inbounds play, recovered the ball and threw an awkward backwards pass.
Deron Williams made the catch and found Dee Brown, who dashed to the basket for a layup with less than three minutes to play. Brown added a long three-pointer from way beyond the top of the key and 7-foot-2-inch reserve center Nick Smith, who had been in a season-long slump, emerged with a fading baseline three-pointer.
“You look around the country,” Brown said, “there ain’t too many teams that have four or five guys who can make plays anytime.”
Brown made some of the team’s biggest, scoring seven of Illinois’ final 11 points.
“Dee, with five minutes to go, said, `This is my time. I’m going to make plays,'” Iowa coach Steve Alford said.
Brown and Williams each scored 18 to lead Illinois, and forward James Augustine continued to dazzle with 13 points, including two reverse layups that appeared to bewilder the Hawkeyes. Augustine also grabbed eight rebounds.
Augustine, Brown and Williams offset quiet games by Head, the team’s leading scorer, who had seven points, and Roger Powell, who played 11 minutes because of foul trouble and scored eight.
“I’ve always thought he was their `X’ factor,” Alford said of Powell. “We’ve controlled him in both games [this season]. That has been the key to us staying in the games. When he gets away, it’s really hard for teams to match up. When Powell is on top of what he’s doing, I think they are really potent.”
Iowa no longer has a player who will take charge.
It was apparent against Illinois and also evident in the Hawkeyes’ recent losses against Purdue, Wisconsin and Michigan State.
The Hawkeyes are adjusting to a backcourt without star Pierre Pierce, who was dismissed from the team in early February and is facing three felony charges–two counts of first-degree burglary and one count of assault with intent to commit sexual assault–and one count of fourth-degree criminal mischief.
Sophomore Adam Haluska led the Hawkeyes with 20 points, but Alford attributed his team’s 21 turnovers to overall inexperience. While Illinois was sloppy in the first half, committing nine turnovers, the Illini had a total of 10.
“They got 11 more possessions, and you can’t give a team like this 11 more possessions,” Alford said.
Iowa had given Illinois fits in January, but the Illini escaped in overtime. Saturday, Illinois’ early miscues and Iowa’s alternating defenses gave the Hawkeyes a glimmer of hope. “But we never let them take control,” Weber said. “We always had someone step up. Every day somebody else steps up.”
