Nov. 17, 2007

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Honolulu, Hawaii - Calvin Brock hit a driving layup with five seconds left to give the Illini a 79-77 win at Hawaii on Friday night. The Illini improved to 2-0 on the young season while Hawaii dropped to 0-2.

Illinois trailed 42-36 at halftime and found itself down by as many as 13 points midway through the second half. Down 64-53 at the 11-minute mark, the Illini went on a game-changing run, scoring 14 unanswered points to take a 67-64 lead with six minutes left.

Hawaii retook the lead but and owned a 77-75 advantage with two minutes remaining. Shaun Pruitt tied the game on a turnaround bucket in the lane and the Illini defense then forced a missed shot to set up Brock's heroics.

Coach Bruce Weber called timeout with 31 seconds left and designed a play to run the clock down and then set up Brian Randle on an isolation drive. But the Hawaii defense overplayed the ball so Chester Frazier penetrated and found Brock in the corner when Brock's defender came to help. Brock drove in from the baseline and scored on an uncontested layup to put the Illini up by two with five seconds showing on the clock. Hawaii inbounded the ball and heaved a pass up court that was intercepted by Steve Holdren, and Illinois celebrated its first road win of 2007-08.

Illinois shot 50 percent on the night and outrebounded Hawaii 42-28. Frazier had a huge game, scoring 19 points - two off his career best - and grabbing a game-high nine rebounds in 39 minutes. Four other Illini joined Frazier in double figures. Pruitt had 15 points, Randle totaled 12, Brock had 11 and Demetri McCamey scored 10 off the bench on 5-7 shooting.

Bobby Nash led Hawaii with 30 points, while Riley Luettgerodt scored 16 and Jared Dillinger added 12.

Illinois travels to Maui Saturday morning to prepare for the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational. The Illini will face Arizona State in the opening round Monday at 10:30 p.m. on ESPN2.