Feb 28, 2004

Final Stats?|? Notes?|? Photo Gallery

By JIM PAUL
Associated Press Writer

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - What a difference a month makes.

Illinois finished January with a 20-point loss at Wisconsin that dropped the Illini to 3-3 in the Big Ten. They haven't lost since, finishing February with an 8-0 record after beating Northwestern 66-56 Saturday to avenge one of those earlier losses.

"Now it seems like we have great positive energy," first-year Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "Our whole focus is on the big picture, try to win a championship, try to get a high seed in the NCAA tournament and then hopefully do some damage there."

Dee Brown scored 20 points and the frontcourt duo of Nick Smith and Roger Powell combined for 27 points as the Illini (20-5, 11-3) broke open a close game in the second half. Smith and Powell scored all the points in a decisive 12-6 run that put the Illini up 55-44 with 8:52 to go.

Brown then hit two 3-pointers during an 8-2 run that put the Illini up 63-46 with 5:31 to go.

"We've got everybody rolling right now. Everything's clicking for us and it's great to have Dee back playing the way he should be," said Deron Williams, who scored 13 points for the Illini.

Brown has shaken off a scoring slump with 62 points in his last three games. Smith finished with 14 points and Powell had 13, 11 after halftime.

"Roger did a really good job on the glass in the second half," Smith said. "He just kind of took over inside for us."

Northwestern (12-13, 7-7), which beat Illinois 70-60 earlier in the season by getting the ball inside, got only four points from centers Ivan Tolic and Davor Duvancic. Duvancic scored 22 against Illinois in January.

Vedran Vukusic and Jitim Young each scored 16 points, while Mohamed Hachad scored 14 for the Wildcats.

Northwestern coach Bill Carmody used only eight players, and four of his starters played 34 minutes or longer. He said it showed in the second half.

"We need a few more guys," he said. "I think we're tired. I think we're weary and that shows up defensively. That shows up in shooting."

The Wildcats shot 52 percent in in a close first half that included eight lead changes, but they hit only 37 percent in the second half.

"I think we got them to the point of exhaustion," Weber said.

Illinois turned the ball over on five of its first eight possessions of the game, but Northwestern couldn't convert any of the miscues into points.

The Wildcats missed six of their first seven shots and the Illini were 1-for-4 before both teams settled in and played seesaw basketball the rest of the half, which included eight ties before Illinois scored the final five points and took a 32-29 lead.

Illinois, which shot only 38 percent in the game at Northwestern, shot 58 percent Saturday.

"We went undefeated in the month of February," Weber said. "We thought as a staff if we could do that we'd probably be in the (Big Ten) lead. But Michigan State keeps hanging in there putting pressure on us and we keep hanging on their tail putting pressure on them."

Michigan State is 12-3 after defeating Penn State 67-42 Saturday and leads Illinois by a half-game. The Spartans play Wisconsin at home in their season finale on Tuesday, while Illinois has games left at Purdue and Ohio State.

"We've come this far, we can't have little selfish things or anything distract us now," Weber said. "The whole entire team, it's got to be positive energy towards having a great finish."