Jan 15, 2002

Final Stats?|? Photo Gallery

POST-GAME COMMENTS:
Coach Bill Self - VIDEO | AUDIO
Bradford, Archibald, Williams, Cook - VIDEO | AUDIO

By JASON STRAIT
Associated Press Writer

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - Asked about one of his jaw-dropping passes, Frank Williams responded with a question of his own.

"Which pass are you talking about?" Williams said Tuesday.

It was a fair question considering the guard's performance in No. 11 Illinois' 77-66 victory over No. 17 Iowa on Tuesday night.

Williams did a little of everything against the Hawkeyes, approaching a triple-double that he may have gotten had the game been closer. He had 16 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals for Illinois (14-4, 3-2 Big Ten), including several spectacular passes.

"He was awesome," coach Bill Self said of Williams. "I don't think there are very many people in America who can dominate the game without shooting the basketball. And that's what he does."

Williams scored his share of points, but it was the guard's flashy passes that got the crowd to its feet.

Illinois led by five points at halftime but quickly built its lead to double digits over Iowa (13-6, 2-3) in the second half behind the play of Williams, who 8-for-8 from the free throw line.

Leading by eight, the 6-foot-3 guard slipped free on a pick at the top of the key, drove the lane and dunked in traffic. Two plays later, Williams fired a behind-the-back pass to Brian Cook for a layup, then stole the ball at midcourt and went in for an uncontested layup.

After a free throw by Cook, the lead was back to 15 points and the Hawkeyes weren't able to get the margin below double figures.

"It's great playing with him because he can pull a pass from anywhere," said Cook, who had a game-high 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting.

"He's a big-time player. He's got great experience," Iowa coach Steve Alford said of Williams. "He took over the game when the game needed to be taken over."

Iowa hurt itself with poor shooting, particularly from the free throw line. The Hawkeyes were 13-of-24 from the line (54 percent) and shot 43 percent from the field.

Illinois did a solid job defensively against Iowa's two marquee players, Luke Recker and Reggie Evans. Recker, the Big Ten's leading scorer, had 16 points on 5-for-13 shooting. Evans had 12 points and six rebounds, well off his average of 17.7 points and 11.7 rebounds.

"You have to be smart when you're playing against Reggie. We were anticipating his moves before he was making him," Illinois center Robert Archibald said. "We didn't want to go out and watch him get his numbers. We wanted to go out and dominate them."

The physical play, typical of a Big Ten matchup, got out of hand midway through the first half when Iowa center Sean Sonderleiter grabbed Archibald around the waist on a breakaway. A brief shoving match ensued under the basket, and players from both teams had to be separated. Sonderleiter was charged with an intentional foul on the play.

"It was a hard foul. Archibald, he squared off, but I don't think it was anything close to punches being thrown," Self said.

After the scuffle, the Illini went on a 10-3 run to take a 15-point lead on Cook's second 3-pointer of the game.

The Hawkeyes immediately surged back by behind the play of Recker, who was held scoreless over the first 12:51 of the game. The 6-6 guard scored the game's next seven points, hitting his first 3-pointer of the game, to narrow Illinois' lead to eight.

Cory Bradford had 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting from 3-point range for Illinois, which shot 48 percent for the game and outrebounded the Hawkeyes 38-31. Pierre Pierce had 13 points for Iowa.

"In the second half, they really showed how tough they were," Alford said. "I think in the second half we did a very poor job defensively. We missed a ton of assignments. We got outrebounded. They got 17 assists and we got seven."

With the win, Illinois extended its home winning streak to 27 games, the longest in the conference and the third-longest in the country.

"They've got a good team and they've got two outstanding guys. But tonight was kind of our night," Self said.