Jan 3, 2004

Final Stats

By JIM PAUL
Associated Press Writer

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Deron Williams expected an easy day his first game back after breaking his jaw. It was anything but easy.

Williams wound up playing 34 minutes and scored 20 points to lead No. 20 Illinois back from an 11-point second-half deficit to an 80-73 overtime win over Illinois State on Saturday.

"I was expecting to play 10 or 15 minutes at the most," Williams said. "I got out there and I wasn't that tired."

Williams hit four 3-pointers, grabbed four rebounds and had three assists while playing with his jaw still wired shut, forcing him to breathe only through his nose.

"Deron Williams is a superstar," ISU coach Porter Moser said. "We had the lead and he didn't let the lead explode."

The Illini (9-2) needed all the help they could get from a sellout crowd of 16,500 during their comeback, which started with Nick Smith's dunk with 7:33 left in the second half. The Illini outscored ISU 19-10 from there, with Williams connecting for 10 points, and Smith's two free throws tied it at 68 at the end of regulation.

Illinois hit its free throws in the extra period to earn its 22nd straight victory at Assembly Hall.

Williams, who missed three games after breaking his jaw in a collision with a Maryland-Eastern Shore player on Dec. 11, entered the game with 13:39 to go in the first half. He missed three shots before his first basket gave the Illini their first lead of the afternoon, 26-25, with 4:31 left in the first half.

"I knew we needed baskets, so I knew I was going to have to get some," Williams said.

Illinois State was led by Marcus Arnold, who got the better of Illinois' big men all afternoon and scored 23 points. Trey Guidry scored 16 and Gregg Alexander had 14 for the Redbirds (4-6).

Dee Brown scored 16 points, Luther Head had 15 and Smith 14 for the Illini in a game that saw seven ties and seven lead changes.

The Redbirds gave the Illini all they could handle, jumping out to a 10-point lead in the first half. The Illini caught up and the game was tied 32-32 at halftime.

But the Redbirds came out after the break and regained everything they had lost. Illinois State took a 52-41 lead when Guidry hit a 3-pointer with about 12 minutes to go. The Illini scrapped back to cut the lead to seven, but ISU built it back to 11 on two straight baskets by Arnold.

Smith's dunk and two straight buckets from Williams, one a 3-pointer, brought the Illini within four, but Guidry hit another 3 and Arnold scored from inside to stop Illinois' run.

"Every single time we'd make a big play, they'd come right back down and make two big plays," said Smith, who responded to a halftime tirade by coach Bruce Weber with 10 second-half points, including the game-tying free throws.

Illinois finally began to get the better of the Redbirds as regulation time wound down. The Illini' smothering defense forced poor shots and three turnovers down the stretch. Williams converted two of those into Illinois points.

"I think they tired a little bit down the stretch," Weber said. "They didn't make the cuts they were making at the beginning of the game."

Smith said the close game at home will help Illinois as it gets ready to face Ohio State on Wednesday.

"We're very, very grateful to get a win," he said.