Sept. 3, 2007
Illinois Cumulative Stats for Canadian Exhibition Tour in PDF Format
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Montreal, Canada -
Illinois defeated McGill University in double overtime today by the score of 107-103. With the win, the Illini concluded their Canadian Exhibition Tour with a record of 3-1.
Five Illini scored in double figures, led by the Champaign duo of Trent Meacham and Steve Holdren, who combined for 39 points. Meacham had a game-high 20 points on 7-10 shooting while Holdren scored 19 on 6-11 from the field. Holdren also recorded a double-double, leading the Illini with 10 rebounds. Both players hit four 3-pointers on the afternoon.
Calvin Brock and Shaun Pruitt scored 12 apiece while Chester Frazier also reached double figures, finishing with 11. Frazier also had a team-high seven assists. Pruitt had eight rebounds to go along with his 12 points, but was plagued by foul trouble for the second straight game. He played 20 minutes, fouling out with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Rodney Alexander also was limited by foul trouble and received his fifth foul just 30 seconds into the fourth. He logged only 14 minutes.
Demetri McCamey had a line of nine points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals, Jeff Jordan also had nine points and Richard Semrau added eight.
Illinois started strong, scoring the game's first 10 points and led 23-15 at the end of the first quarter. The Illini held a 48-37 lead at intermission and kept it in double figures through much of the second half. But McGill made a late surge at the end of the game, outscoring the Illini 17-5 in the final three minutes to tie it.
Meacham hit a free throw with 4.6 seconds left in regulation making it 87-85. The clock then failed to start until McGill had dribbled over half the length of the court, and after a miss, Matthew Thornhill scored on an offensive rebound just before the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Holdren hit a 3-pointer to give the Illini a 95-92 lead with 16 seconds left in the first overtime, but McGill forced another extra period when Michael White scored on an offensive rebound with 1.6 seconds remaining and drew a foul, converting the 3-point play.
Jordan eventually scored the final basket, which may also have been the biggest basket of the game. With the Illini leading 105-103 in the second overtime, Holdren went to the line with 8.8 seconds left and a chance to ice the game. He missed both and the ball sprung loose on the rebound of the second attempt. Jordan grabbed the loose ball and scored on a put back with seven seconds left, putting the Illini up by the final four-point margin.
PLAY OF THE GAME:
• With the Illini ahead by two in the second overtime and in possession of the ball, Trent Meacham took advantage of a clear out situation, driving in from the wing and hitting a left-handed layup while also drawing a foul. Meacham made the and-1 to make the score 105-100 with 19.7 seconds remaining.
THOUGHTS FROM COACH WEBER:
On the game...
"I thought today we were more ready to play and played with emotion. We should have closed it out in regulation, but again had trouble knocking down free throws. We didn't panic in overtime and made some plays. One of our goals on this trip was to learn how to finish games, to execute at the end, and we had three situations like that on this trip out of the four games. Two of those we were able to win and one where we made a good comeback but came up a little bit short.
On the weekend...
"The whole trip was a learning experience. We learned as individuals, learned about team togetherness. This shows us where we are at this point, and that's what I talked to the team about after the game. We came to Canada to learn more about our team and get a head start on the season. Now we know what we need to improve, we have film on some things. There's an old saying, the videotape doesn't lie. Some things from these games that we didn't do as well as we would have liked, now we can go back it up with some tape and help the learning process and reinforce what we're trying to teach them. It's going to be very beneficial for us."
On the play of Trent Meacham and Steve Holdren today...
"Both of them made shots, which was good to see. We didn't the shoot ball particularly well on the trip, but some of that will come with time and repetition. Today we did a better job of getting some good ball movement, some penetration and kick-outs, and we pushed it better which allowed us to get some easy looks. Those two started to get hot and made some big plays when it counted to help us get the win."
On again facing a smaller lineup...
"We were going up against a team without any size. They didn't have a true 5, so their 4 played the 5 and their 3 played the 4. Because of that, we were able to experiment with our lineups a little bit and had five guards out there at the end. We again went in with the idea of splitting up the minutes pretty evenly, but the foul trouble kind of threw that out of balance midway through the game and we needed ball handlers in there late so that's why Chester and Demetri had to carry a heavy load. But they all got valuable experience over the course of the weekend."
On what's next for the team...
"We've got a tired group right now. They played four games in a span of 63 hours, and really almost another half of a game when you add in the three overtimes. We'll give them a total day off Tuesday. Then we'll get back to lifting and start some conditioning and probably begin some individual workouts by the end of the week."
THOUGHTS FROM Trent Meacham
On today's game...
"Going into both overtimes they had the momentum, but we made some big shots and different guys stepped up at different moments. It was a lot of fun, a very exciting game to play in."
On the experience of the trip...
"I think this trip shows that we've got a lot of potential, but we've also got a lot of work to do. Winning these close games will help us, and even the game we lost is going to help. The potential is there, we've got to work hard, keep working together and when we're all on the same page, I think we can have a great season."
On the competition in Canada...
"I knew they were going to be good. All these teams have guys that can shoot, guys that can score. We were in situations where momentum was going against us, the fans got loud and got into the games, and some calls and situations didn't go our way. But all of that is going to help us because that's how it's going to be on the road. We can take a lot away from this experience."
Illinois vs. McGill
Sept. 3, 2007
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VISITORS: Illinois
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
25 Calvin Brock * 3-9 0-0 6-8 3 2 5 2 12 1 4 0 2 27
32 Demetri McCamey * 3-8 1-1 2-3 0 7 7 2 9 4 7 0 4 35
50 Richard Semrau * 3-8 0-1 2-2 3 3 6 0 8 2 1 0 0 19
55 Shaun Pruitt * 5-9 0-0 2-4 4 4 8 5 12 0 3 1 1 20
22 Steve Holdren * 6-11 4-6 3-6 3 7 10 4 19 1 2 0 0 36
01 Trent Meacham 7-10 4-6 2-3 1 1 2 3 20 2 2 0 1 26
03 Chester Frazier 4-11 2-7 1-4 0 4 4 0 11 7 3 0 0 35
13 Jeff Jordan 3-6 0-2 3-6 1 1 2 1 9 1 0 0 1 22
21 Brian Carlwell 1-2 0-0 1-2 2 5 7 2 3 1 0 0 0 18
24 Rodney Alexander 2-9 0-0 0-0 4 2 6 5 4 1 1 0 1 14
TOTALS 37-83 11-23 22-38 21 36 57 24 107 20 23 1 10 250
TOT-FG 1stH: 16-34 47.1% 2ndH: 14-32 43.8% OT1: 2-8 25.0% OT2: 5-9 55.6% Game: 44.6%
3pt-FG 1stH: 5-12 41.7% 2ndH: 5-7 71.4% OT1: 1-2 50.0% OT2: 0-2 00.0% Game: 47.8%
FThrow 1stH: 11-16 68.8% 2ndH: 6-12 50.0% OT1: 3-6 50.0% OT2: 2-4 50.0% Game: 57.9%
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HOME: McGill
No. N A M E FG 3FG FT-FTA PF TP
12 Nickolas Pronovost * 0 0 0-0 4 0
15 Matthew Thornhill * 7 2 2-4 3 18
21 Sean Anthony * 7 0 6-8 5 20
25 Pawel Herra * 2 2 0-0 2 6
30 Yannick Chouinard * 3 1 1-2 3 8
11 L-P Lagredelle 1 0 0-1 0 2
20 Daniel Martin 1 1 0-0 2 3
22 Samuel Goulet 5 1 3-5 0 14
23 Kyle Bernard 1 0 4-6 1 5
32 Moustafa El Zanaty 5 2 6-6 5 18
33 Michael White 3 0 2-3 2 8
TOTALS 35 9 24-35 27 103
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SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT1 OT2 TOTAL
Illinois 23 25 21 18 8 12 107
McGill 15 22 20 30 8 8 103
