Dec 30, 2002

Final Stats?|? Notes

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - With injuries up and down his lineup, Illinois coach Bill Self didn't mind the slow tempo for once.

With starting guard Luther Head missing his third game with a pelvic injury, Roger Powell sidelined with a strained toe and backup center Aaron Spears out with a broken foot, No. 11 Illinois still had enough to overwhelm Coppin State 63-37 Monday night.

"We're a tired and beat-up team, so we didn't probably have the fight that I would have liked to have, or the enthusiasm," Self said. "I thought it was more of a businesslike approach. We've got a job to do, lets get through tonight and look forward to getting our bodies healed up."

Brian Cook, the Big Ten's leading scorer, matched his season average with 20 points, and Sean Harrington added 18 points, all on 3s, as Illinois (9-1) held an opponent to its lowest scoring output since Northwestern had 30 Feb. 19, 2000.

Just two days after its first loss of the season to Memphis, the Illini made 10-of-18 3-pointers, including one by 7-foot-2 center Nick Smith. And with five freshmen on a team full of injuries, there was concern about a letdown.

"I think we handled the loss pretty well," said Harrington, whose six 3s tied a season high. "Obviously, it was a tough loss for us. We didn't want to lose, but you're going to lose at certain times in the season and we did bounce back."

The Eagles (1-9) frustrated Illinois early and went on a 7-0 run in the second half that closed the deficit to six.

"It's a will that our team is trying to put on the other," Coppin State coach Ron Mitchell said of his team's methodical offense. "Playing the way we play is the only way we can survive against teams like Illinois."

A basket and free throw from Cook, a 3-pointer from Dee Brown and two free throws from Blandon Ferguson pushed the lead to 14 with under 10 minutes to go.

The Illini led 31-19 at the half behind 13 points and five rebounds from Cook and two 3-pointers from Harrington, who made his first start of the season.

Larry Tucker led the Eagles with 15 points. Deke Thompson added eight points and seven boards as the Eagles outrebounded the Illini 27-25.

"They exposed us on the boards tonight, so that's something we'll have to get better at," Harrington said. "We definitely need to tune some things up before we go into the Big Ten."

The Illini appeared content to fire away from long range early in the game, with four of their first seven baskets coming from behind the arc. Cook changed that, scoring all eight of Illinois' points during a five-minute stretch in the first half.

The Eagles fall to 0-7 all time against Big Ten opponents, and have not beaten a ranked foe since a 78-65 victory against No. 6 South Carolina in the 1997 NCAA tournament.

Cook moved ahead of John Kerr into 16th on the career scoring list at Illinois. Kerr scored 1,299 points for the Illini, and Cook now has 1,310.