Illinois' March to the Arch

[Chisox73]

#1 ranked Illinios is in a dogfight right now against Iowa as they have a 6 point lead with just about 3 minues left in the 2nd half.

The Illini led by 9 at the break,and were up by as many as 12 early in the 2nd half before Iowa tied it.Illinois is currently up by 4.

[Chisox73]

62-56 Illinois with 2:07 left in the 2nd.

[Chisox73]

64-61 Illinois with 35 seconds remaining.Illinois on the line.

[Chisox73]

Deron Williams missed both free throws. :eek: Iowa just pulled to within 1 with 22 seconds left. :angry:

[Chisox73]

Iowa fouls,Dee Brown on the line.

[Chisox73]

Brown drains 1,65-63 now

[Chisox73]

HOLY CHRIST!!!! :eek:
We got overtime in Champaign.Tied at 65.

[Chisox73]

Iowa tied it with 3 seconds left. Bruce Weber should have called a timeout.He had 3 TOs left. :notme:

[Chisox73]

Dee Brown coming to the line with 3:59 in OT.Still tied

[Chisox73]

Brown makes both.Illini up by 2.

[Chisox73]

Pierre Pierce makes 1 of 2 for Iowa.67-66 Illinios.

[Chisox73]

69-66 Illini. Luther Head makes both free throws.

[Chisox73]

Time out Illinois with 1:39 left in OT.Illinois still up by 3 at 69-66. :thumbsup:

[Chisox73]

69-68 now.

[Chisox73]

Illinios got jobbed by a shot clock violation.The ball touched the rim with 1 second left on the shot clock.

[Chisox73]

45 seconds reamining in OT.Illinois up by 1.

[Chisox73]

Big basket by Luther Head to make it 71-68 with 35.3 left :thumbsup:

[Chisox73]

WHEW!!!! THAT WAS CLOSE!!!

Illinois survives Iowa 73-68. This wasn't the greatest shooting performance tonight by Illinois,but the important thing is that they found a way to win tonight.

Illinois now goes to 19-0 on the season.Best start in school history.

[Baseball Guru]

Fun game to watch.:thumbsup:

Iowa played them tough in a tough place to play....

[Chisox73]

It was a very exciting game down the stretch.

If Illinois would have shot better than the 33% from the floor(22-67),this game wouldn't have been close at all.I give Iowa a lot of credit for thier play.

Next up for the Illini will be another Big Ten showdown when they travel to Madison to play Wisconsin on tuesday night(8pm CT,ESPN).The Badgers have won 38 straight at home.

[rockin500]

i say this will be the game they lose (at wisconsin)

[Chisox73]

I wonder if Wisconsin may be looking ahead right now,since they play at Michigan tomorrow.

[Chisox73]

Did anyone see that little graphic last night about Illinois' March to the Arch?

They said hypothetically,if the Illini got a #1 seed in the Midwest Region,they really wouldn't have to travel very far at all.The 1st and 2nd round are in Indianapolis,the Regional finals will be in Chicago,and the Final Four in St. Louis.All within driving distance from Champaign.

[Baseball Guru]

Wisconsin is tough as hell at home... Should be a great game!!

[Chisox73]

At least Wisconsin didn't get caught looking ahead this afternoon,as they had thier way with Michigan at Ann Arbor.The Badgers came away with a 72-61 win,setting up the showdown against Illinios at Madison Tuesday night.

[yagsy]

:Wow: what a game, huh! Looks like it's Illinois' year. :clap:

[Chisox73]

Illinois is in trouble here right now.They trail by 8 at Wisconsin with 11 minutes remaining in the 2nd half.

The Badgers have won the last 38 at home,the nation's longest current home winning streak.The Illini have lost thier last 5 meetings in Madison.

[yagsy]

It's only a one point lead with more than 5 min to go. I believe in Illinois!

[yagsy]

Ha! Illinois is ahead by 5 points! Unbelievable, just unbelievable. Badgers are crumbling.

[yagsy]

:jump: :cheer: :jump:

And that is all I'm gonna say. :D

[rockin500]

good comeback by the illini.

[Chisox73]

The Illini upped thier record to 21-0(7-0 in the Big Ten) with a 89-66 trouncing of Minnesota at Assembly Hall in Champaign this afternoon.

The Illini opened the game with a 10-1 run and never looked back.

Roger Powell,Jr. led Illinois with 21 points,while Deron Williams chipped in with 19 in the win.James Augustine had 15 points and 7 boards,and Luther Head had 10 points.It was the 1st time in 5 games that Head did not led the Illini in scoring.

This is Illinios' 17th straight conference win,tying the school record set from 1914-16.

[Chisox73]

Luther Head scored 22 points and Dee Brown chipped in with 18 as #1 ranked Illinois ran away from #10 Michigan State in East Lansing,MI tonight 81-68.

The Illini shot 56.9% from the floor tonight(29-51),and an unbelievable 54% from the 3-point arc.They were 13-24 from 3-point range in the game.MSU hung togh in the first 4 minutes of the game,but Illinios took the lead for good at the 13:57 mark in the 1st half.MSU would get as close as 4 points early in the second half.

Brown and James Augustine each had 5 rebounds for the Illini,while Augustine had 18 points and Deron Williams had 14 for the Illini,as they improve to 22-0,8-0 in the Big Ten.

[KingDave]

Thos Illini guards are scary for any opponent. I was impressed with how they completely dominated a talented MSU team.

[Chisox73]

Thos Illini guards are scary for any opponent. I was impressed with how they completely dominated a talented MSU team.

I hear you Dave. The Illini were underdogs coming into this game tonight.It didn't hurt that Illinois was shooting the lights out tonight,especially in a very tough place to play.

[Vince10984]

I hear you Dave. The Illini were underdogs coming into this game tonight.It didn't hurt that Illinois was shooting the lights out tonight,especially in a very tough place to play.
The #1 team is never an underdog in my opinion, especially when they are 21-0, and coming off a win that snapped a 38 game win streak.

I was down in Champaign on Saturday, the whole area was celebrating the 100th anniversary, great time :cool:

[awefullspellare]

Hmmm. Wonder if they are going to lose, this is interesting.

[Baseball Guru]

Well they have an extremely favorable schedule down the stretch.... Their only tough match-up, at least on paper is vs Wisconsin at home...

[Chisox73]

I was down in Champaign on Saturday, the whole area was celebrating the 100th anniversary, great time :cool:
It was great to see Lou Henson there on Saturday.I wonder how many members of the 1989 Flyin' Illini were there?

[Chisox73]

Well they have an extremely favorable schedule down the stretch.... Their only tough match-up, at least on paper is vs Wisconsin at home...

Wisconsin will be tough down in Champaign.I've crossed Iowa off the revenge list since thier leading scorer Pierre Pierce was dismissed from the team today.

[KingDave]

why did they dismiss pierce? :eek:

[Chisox73]

Pierce is under investigation for a robbery and possible sexual assult that happened over the weekend in Des Moines.

He was accused of sexual assult his freshman year at Iowa,but coach Steve Alford stood by him.It was a whole mess that the university tried to keep under wraps.

[Chisox73]

Illinois' next opponent will be on Sunday afternoon at home against Indiana(10-9,5-3 in the Big Ten).The game will be at 12 noon Central time on CBS.

Indiana will likely be without its leading scorer Bracey Wright,who sprained his left ankle during the Hossiers' 68-63 win over Penn State on Wednesday.Wright's 18.5 points per game ranks 2nd in the Big Ten.

Wright was a high school teammate of Illinois G Deron Williams.Both starred at Colony High School just outside Dallas,Texas.

Illinois' path to an undefeated Big Ten season got a little clearer this week,with Wright's injury,the dismissal of Iowa's Pierre Pierce(off-court incident),the loss of Michigan's perimeter players Daniel Horton(suspension) and Lester Abram(season-ending shoulder surgery).

[Chisox73]

#1 ranked Illinois remained perfect as they used a 20-3 run to start the game as they ran away from visiting Indiana 60-47 at Champaign this afternoon.

James Augustine led the Illini(23-0,9-0 in the Big Ten) with 16 points,while Luther Head added 13,Dee Brown had 12,amd Roger Powell,Jr. chipped in with 10 points.Deron Williams had 11 assists in the game,8 of those coming in the 1st half.Williams only scored 1 point,that a free throw with 2:15 to go in the game.He was 0-for-7 from the field this afternoon.

The Illini went on a 20-3 run to start the agem,and was never really challenged,despite the fact that they only led by 6 at the break at 26-20.This was Illinois' lowest scoring output of the season.Their previous low scoring game this season was a 67-45 win over Cincinnati on New Years Eve.

The Hoosiers(10-10,5-4 in the Big Ten) were led by Robert Vaden and DJ White with 12 points apiece.They were without leading scorer Bracey Wright,who is out with a injured ankle.

Indiana shot 38% from the floor in the game,and missed 8 of their first 9 shots to start that game.

[Vince10984]

They beat Michigan, although they played a pretty ugly game

[Chisox73]

Top ranked Illinois overcame a massive 1st half scoring drought and came back to beat the host Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Arena 57-51.The Illini(24-0,10-0 in the Big Ten) were led by Dee Brown with 16 points.his boiggest contribution however was when he turned 3 straight steals into Illini points within a 1 minute span with under 8 minutes remaining in the 2nd half.

Luther Head scored 14 and James Augustine scored 10 as Illinois was held to thier lowest point total of the season.

The Illini got off to a flying start as usual jumping to a 23-15 lead in the 1st half.But in the last 12 minutes of the half,Illinois' shooting went cold to say the least.They did not have a field goal the rest of the half,and scored only 1 point,as Michigan(12-12,3-7) went to the locker room leading 28-24.

Dion Harris had 21 points and 7 boards for the Wolvewrines,while Cortney Sims had 15 points and Chris Hunter had 10.Michigan has now lost 7 straight,their longest skid since the 1999-2000 season.

With Boston College's loss at Notre Dame,Illinois is now the only remaining unbeaten team in college basketball.

[KingDave]

Damn. So close.

[yagsy]

Damn. So close.

:laff: So what are ya saying?

You actually want Illinois to lose? :eek: Oh the horror!

[Chisox73]

#1 ranked Illinois is on its way to 28-0 tonight as they are giving cross-state rival Northwestern a complete vivesection down in Champaign.

With under 4 minutes to play,the Illini is clinging to a 75-40 lead.

[Chisox73]

Dee Brown scored 20 points and was 6-for-8 from 3-point range as he helped lead Illinois to an 84-48 evisceration of Northwestern at Assembly Hall tonight.

The win gives the Illini at least a share of the Big Ten title.This will be thier 5th time in the last 6 years that they have won or tied for the Big Ten crown.

Illinois(28-0,14-0 in the big Ten) jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never looked back.The Illini shot 57% from the field and was a blistering 14-for-24 from beyond the arc(58%).

Roger Powell,Jr. scored 18 points,Luther Head had 14,and Deron Willimas had 13 for the Illini.The reserves got plenty of work for the last 10 minutes of the 2nd half,as the game was well out of reach early.

The Illini led at the break 45-22,then went on a 19-6 run to start the 2nd half,and led by as many as 41 with 7:19 left in the 2nd(75-34).

Northwestern(13-13,5-8) was led by Mohammed Hachad with 15 points,while Vedran Vukusic chipped in with 14,as the Wildcats try to entertain NIT hopes.The 'Cats shot a miserable 415 from the foeld,and a horrific 1-for-16 from downtown.

NEXT UP;Home vs. Purdue on March 3rd,8pm Central time on ESPN2

[awefullspellare]

Purdue should be an easy win too.

[Chisox73]

Dee Brown is shooting the lights out at Assembly Hall in Illinois' final home game of the season.

He has 24 points while draining 7 of 8 from 3-point range!

Illinois is giving Purdue a 50-26 vivisection at halftime.

[Chisox73]

Illinois' dream of a perfect season ended this afternoon as Ohio State reserve forward Mike Sylvester drained a 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds remaining to give the Buckeyes a 65-64 upset over #1 Illinois.

Sylvester,who came in averaging roughly 7 pints per game,lit up Illinois for 25 points this afternoon.The 25 points are a career high for him.

The Illini were up by as many as 12 in the 2nd half,but OSU held the Illini scoreless in the final 3 minutes.

Dee Brown led Illinois with 13 points,11 of those came in the 1st half.Roger Poweel and Luther Head chipped in with 12 each.Deron Williams was 1-for-7 from the field for 2 points.The Illini shot 33% in the 2nd half.

NOTES;This is the 2nd straight year that a Thad Matta coached team ended an opponents hopes of a perfect season.Matta's Xavier team trounced undefeated St.Joseph's in last year's Atlantic 10 tornament.

The last team to go to the NCAAs undefeated was UNLV in 1991.

Ohio State did not turn the ball over in the 2nd half.

[Chisox73]

With Illinois now focused on the NCAA tournament,the Illini will play thier 1st game on Thursday against 16th seeded Farleigh-Dickinson in Indianapolis.

Illinois now has the perfect scenario for a trip to thier 1st Final Four appearance since 1989.The first 2 rounds are in Indianapolis,just about a 2 hour bus ride from Champaign,followed by a bus ride to Chicago,thier home away from home for the Regionals.

Best of luck Illinois. :banana: