Illinois struggled all season to hold leads, but Friday night’s collapse against Virginia Tech topped them all in style and importance.
Virginia Tech turned up the pressure and the Illini collapsed, allowing the Hokies to finish with a 12-0 run and win the NCAA West regional opener 54-52 Friday night at Nationwide Arena.
Brian Randle’s layup with 4 minutes 28 seconds to play gave the Illini a 52-42 lead, a comfortable position for a team that had enjoyed a lead of much as 13 points in the second half.
But the Hokies pressed and the Illini started giving the ball away, finishing with 21 turnovers. That’s about the only way a team that shot 35.7 percent from the floor can win an NCAA game, and the Hokies did.
“I don’t know if we turned it over on their end of the court; it was on our end where we didn’t have to throw passes,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “Brian threw one, Warren Carter threw one, somebody else threw one. All we had to do was make them guard us in the halfcourt.”
The Hokies (22-11), seeded No. 5 in the region, advanced to meet the winner of the Southern Illinois-Holy Cross game in Sunday’s second round.
The 12th-seeded Illini positioned themselves for what could have been the biggest upset of the first round but instead ended their season at 23-12.
The Hokies took their first lead of the second half with just 45 seconds to play when forward Deron Washington banked in a jumper for a 53-52 lead.
After that, Carter missed a short jumper and the Illini thought Washington fouled him, but they didn’t get the call. Center Shaun Pruitt missed a follow-up shot and Rich McBride fouled A.D. Vassallo on the rebound. Vassallo missed his first shot but he made the second with :23.1 left to give the Hokies a two-point lead, though he left the Illini with a reasonable shot at overtime.
Then Randle missed a shot but was fouled by Washington going for the rebound with 4.9 seconds left. He missed the front of the 1-and-1 but grabbed the rebound. Then he was tied up for a jump ball with :01 left and the possession arrow pointing to Virginia Tech.
The Hokies inbounded the ball to end the game.
“It was kind of fitting the game ended like that, but it was a game when everyone was fighting for everything,” Virginia Tech center Coleman Collins said. “It was a microcosm of what the game was all about, lots of fouls, scratching.”
“We feel we should have won,” Randle said. “We had our opportunities. I had my opportunity to win the game for my guys and I just blew it.”
The game wasn’t lost on one free throw.
“We wrote on the board to be the aggressor, and we got tentative down the stretch,” Weber said.
Illinois guard Chester Frazier didn’t score, but did limit the Hokies’ leading scorer, guard Zabian Dowell, to eight points, 10 below his average.
In their final games at Illinois, Carter and McBride carried the load. Carter led the Illini with 15 points and McBride added 14, sparking the Illini with 4 of 8 shooting on three-pointers as he battled cramps.
Randle had seven points, a game-high 12 rebounds and a blocked shot. But he made only 1 of 5 free throws as the Illini were only 8 of 15 on free throws.
Between the turnovers and missed free throws, it wasn’t a pretty game.
“We knew the game was going to be ugly because at times both of our teams were offensively-challenged,” Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. “I didn’t now it was going to be that ugly, but it’s just another example of our resiliency.”
Unlike the Illini, they will get to show it for at least one more game.
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tabannon@tribune.com
