Box Score March 14, 2003
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By NANCY ARMOUR
AP Sports Writer
CHICAGO - It took Illinois less than five minutes to stomp out any hope Northwestern had of an upset.
Taking advantage of their size, depth, offensive skill and a stingy defense, the 13th-ranked Illini ripped off a 16-2 run four minutes into the game and cruised to a 94-65 victory in the Big Ten tournament Friday night.
"They scored in just about every conceivable way," Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said, "and we had no answer for them."
Big Ten player of the year Brian Cook set the tone, finishing with 20 points and 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. Roger Powell added 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and Dee Brown had 10 points and nine assists as Illinois won for the sixth time in its last seven games.
Illinois, seeded second, will play the Indiana-Michigan winner in the semifinals Saturday.
"I thought that we played really well," Illinois coach Bill Self said. "You make the first few shots, you get confidence. Then we did a good job on the boards, we took away some backcuts and things like that, kind of got the game in hand and never looked back."
Northwestern (12-17) dresses only nine players, but the Wildcats managed to upset Minnesota on Thursday with solid inside defense and patience on offense.
But Illinois (22-6) is in a totally different class than Minnesota. The Illini shot 65 percent in the first half, when they all but ended the game, and finished at 52 percent. They outrebounded Northwestern 41-35, had a 30-18 advantage in the paint and held the Wildcats to less than 30 percent shooting.
The lone bright spot for Northwestern was Davor Duvancic, who scored a career-high 20 points.
Jitim Young, the star in Thursday's upset, had a dismal night, going 1-for-12 from the floor to finish with five points.
"I was definitely getting to the basket," he said. "I was trying to find a way to make the ball going in the hoop, and it just wouldn't fall for me."
Illinois has won 15 of its last 16 against Northwestern, including a 73-61 victory three weeks ago at the United Center. Northwestern actually made a game of that one, staging a rally after falling behind early.
The Illini weren't about to let that happen again.
"It was pretty fresh in their minds, because we'd only played them three weeks ago," Self said.
After Mohamed Hachad made consecutive baskets to put Northwestern up 7-5 with 16:27 left in the first half, Illinois took off. Nick Smith scored on back-to-back jumpers, and the Illini were off on their 16-2 run.
Cook, who was in a minor car accident Thursday, capped the run with a jumper and a thunderous dunk.
After Jason Burke scored on a layup, the Illini were off and running again. Cook hit a 3-pointer as Illinois scored 11 unanswered points to take a 32-11 lead with 7:07 left in the first half. By halftime, the Illini's lead was up to 47-21.
The spurts were as balanced as they were swift. Six players scored during the 27-4 run, and the Illini got points every way imaginable - free throws, layups, jumpers and dunks.
Illinois was just as merciless defensively, holding the Wildcats to 24 percent shooting in the first half and allowing only two field goals in the last 11 minutes. Illinois also outrebounded Northwestern 22-12.
"We really shared the ball and tried to execute on the defensive end," Cook said. "We took away a lot of their backcuts. They got some easy layups, but I think we did well on that."
It was more of the same in the second half. James Augustine converted a three-point play - his only points of the game - Cook made two sets of free throws and Brown scored on a fast-break layup over Young to extend Illinois' lead to 56-25 with 17:16 to play.
Illinois led by as much as 40 in the second half.
"They're very tough and aggressive. They outrebounded us and played physical," Young said. "This is a new experience for us, and Illinois is a team that's been in this situation. They've been here before, and they played like it."
