March 17, 2002

Box Score?|? Photo Gallery

By NANCY ARMOUR
AP Sports Writer

CHICAGO (AP) - Frank Williams scored all of his 20 points to carry fourth-seeded Illinois to a 72-60 victory over Creighton in the Midwest Regional at the United Center Sunday afternoon.

"I know the first half I didn't play that well, and Coach kind of jumped me in the locker room," Williams said. "But my teammates kept telling me, 'Pick it up, you know what to do out there. You're the best player on the floor.' And the second half I came out more aggressive."

Williams, 7-of-10 in the second half, also had five assists and five rebounds. Brian Cook added 16 points for the Illini, who took advantage of their "home game."

Illinois is 16-6 at the United Center since it opened in 1994, and it's easy to see why. The arena was awash in orange and blue, and the fans were quite loud - making it feel more like the Illini were at the Assembly Hall in Champaign than in Chicago.

The road gets tougher from here for Illinois, though. The Illini (26-8) will play top-seeded Kansas on Friday in the Midwest Regional semifinals in Madison, Wis.

"We're definitely going in there with the predator mentality," said Robert Archibald, who finished with 11 points. "We're going in there with something to prove."

Creighton (23-9) goes home still looking for its first second-round victory in the NCAA tournament. The Bluejays outrebounded Illinois 34-27, including a whopping 17-6 edge on the offensive glass.

But they shot just 37 percent, and didn't have the same magic or spark they had Friday, when they stunned Florida on Terrell Taylor's 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in double overtime.

"They had a little more energy than we did," Creighton coach Dana Altman said, but added it had nothing to do with playing two OT's Friday. "We just weren't tough enough to finish the game."

Unlike his idol Michael Jordan, Taylor couldn't follow up with another amazing effort. Taylor scored 10 points and was just 4-of-14 from the floor. Kyle Korver finished with 14 points, but the Illini held him to just six shots.

"We were trying to beat them by ourselves, and we're not good enough to do that," Korver said. "We needed to use each other, and we didn't do it."

Williams took just two shots in the first half and missed both. But the junior, who already has said he's heading to the NBA after this season, is determined to "go out with a bang." And that plan didn't include a second-round loss to a mid-major school.

"Once again, guys realized it could be their last game. Then Frank turned the lights out," Illinois' Lucas Johnson said. "He decided there was no way they were going to beat us."

When Creighton pulled within 31-29 on Korver's 3-pointer to open the second half, Williams took over. He scored on a reverse and then hit the first of his four 3-pointers.

After Archibald scored on a layup, Williams hit another three-pointer to give Illinois a 43-34 lead with 16:37 to play.

Illinois went the next four minutes without scoring, and Creighton rallied, getting to 46-44 on Michael Lindeman's free throws with 12:33 to play. But there was Williams again, hitting back-to-back treys and then feeding Cook with a feather-soft pass under the basket.

Cook scored on the easy layup, starting a 12-0 run. Williams capped the spurt with an effortless layup, and Illinois led 64-49 with 4:15 to play.

Creighton never threatened again.

"It's scary when you can turn it on and off like he can," Johnson said. "But when he's on, he's the man."

Cook scored 14 on 6-of-7 shooting in the first 20 minutes. The 6-foot-10 forward is as dangerous from outside as he is from inside, and the Bluejays had no answer for him. His short jumper in front of the basket sparked a 15-3 run that gave Illinois a 17-6 lead with 14:01 to play.

But Cook took a seat when he picked up his second foul about 30 seconds later, and his absence gave Creighton the break it needed. With the inside suddenly open, Grimes and Lindeman scored on layups to start a 16-6 run. Terrell capped the run with - what else? - a 3, pulling Creighton within 25-23 with 4:25 left in the half.