Tamien Trent swished a three-pointer as the buzzer signaled the end of the first half, and the Fairleigh Dickinson guard proudly tugged his jersey forward from his chest toward the crowd of 26,804.
Illinois fans should be familiar with the celebratory gesture. It is practically the trademark of Illini star Dee Brown, who graced the cover of Sports Illustrated earlier this month with the pose.
At that moment, though, Trent and his Fairleigh Dickinson teammates, a No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament, had just cut their deficit against the nation’s No. 1 team to one point at the half.
They certainly had something to feel good about, but not for long.
Behind Brown, Illinois regrouped for a 67-55 victory in a first-round NCAA tournament game at the RCA Dome. The Illini (33-1) will play Nevada (25-6) in a second-round game Saturday.
Brown led the Illini with 19 points, and Luther Head added 13. James Augustine had 11 points and 15 rebounds. Fairleigh Dickinson (20-13) was led by Gordon Klaiber, who scored a game-high 24 points.
Brown reeled off eight points in a 14-2 Illinois run to open the second half. His three-pointer with 13 minutes 51 seconds remaining put Illinois ahead 46-33, forcing Fairleigh Dickinson to burn a timeout to curb Illinois’ startling momentum.
This time it was Brown’s turn to stretch his jersey forward for Illini fans. Teammate Jack Ingram rushed out on the court to chest-bump Brown, and the Illini were on their way.
As well as the Illini have played this season, they have left room for just a bit of doubt in March.
First, they fell at Ohio State on March 6, their first loss of the season, by one point.
By the time they won the Big Ten tournament at the United Center on Sunday, it became evident that Illini guards were slumping, especially Brown, who went 7 of 35 in four games leading up to the NCAA tournament’s first round.
Thursday was Illinois’ day to remind the basketball world of its dominance. And the Illini did, if only in short bursts.
Their shots from the perimeter were tentative to open the game. Some weren’t even close to the rim, especially a couple by Head and Nick Smith.
“First-game jitters,” Nevada coach Mark Fox said as he watched his upcoming opponent from press row. “They’ll be all right.”
Playing with shaky nerves is uncharacteristic of the Illini. Current members combined have played 50 games in the NCAA tournament.
“They had a taste of it last year,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said earlier this week of his team’s Sweet 16 finish a year ago. “I’m not sure then we were good enough. I’m not sure we were experienced enough. Now we are. We’re a veteran group.”
Illinois botched three alley-oop attempts, including two in the first half. Brown, who wowed Big Ten opponents earlier this season with NBA-range three-pointers, misfired. Fortunately for the Illini, he was much better in transition.
Head missed a few shots to open the game but seemed to find his groove with back-to-back three-pointers with less than five minutes left in the first half.
His second three-pointer put Illinois up 30-20 with 4:07 to play. That lead was far from safe. Fairleigh Dickinson outscored the Illini 11-2 to close the half and to come within one thanks to Trent’s big basket.
Illinois struggled at the RCA Dome two years ago, losing in the second round to Notre Dame under former coach Bill Self. Interestingly, Weber said in the preseason his only regret with the schedule was not getting a regular-season game in a dome.
———-
UP NEXT Saturday vs. Nevada, 7:10 p.m., WBBM-Ch. 2
