Illinois guard Dee Brown is building an airtight case to be named Big Ten player of the year.
No. 1 Illinois (28-0, 14-0) has three candidates for the honor in Brown, Luther Head and Deron Williams, but Brown has made the biggest impression in his last five games.
Against Michigan on Feb. 8, he converted three consecutive steals into baskets to rally Illinois to victory. Big Ten coaches still were talking about those plays earlier this week.
Since then, in wins over Wisconsin, Penn State, Iowa and Wednesday night against Northwestern, the junior from Proviso East averaged 18.3 points. He shot 65 percent from the field and 61.5 percent on three-pointers. Even from NBA range, Brown has been hot.
He scored 20 points, including 18 on three-pointers, against the Wildcats in Illinois’ 84-48 rout.
“Dee Brown came into this league as a slasher,” NU coach Bill Carmody said afterward. “He wasn’t much of a shooter. That was the scouting report on him a couple of years ago. It was the same with Luther Head. Now two-thirds of the shots Dee Brown takes are three-point shots.
“He has expanded his game and so has Head, and they’re both very fast. So it’s really difficult to guard.”
Time off
Coach Bruce Weber will give his players a rare weekend off because the team doesn’t play its next game until Thursday night against Purdue.
“I know they were excited when I told them they had the weekend off,” Weber said. “They can be a real college student for a weekend.”
As the season winds down, Weber has been ending practices early. Still, Illinois players end up sticking around afterward for up to 45 minutes to play one-on-one, Weber said.
“They’re working on things that are helping their game,” he said. “They like it. It’s not drudgery the way practice would be.”
