DAYTON, Ohio (AP) – No drama in Dayton? The Midwest Regional's
top team didn't mind at all.
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Sunday, March 18
To all those who were screaming that Charlotte could pull the upset: Forget about it! Brian Cook certainly didn't buy it. He went out with his second strong performance in a row, which is great news for Bill Self and the Fighting Illini. Cook scored 16 points. A solid perimeter game for Frank Williams also contributed to the win.
Illinois goes to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1989. That was the team with Marcus Liberty, Kenny Battle and Kendall Gill that lost to Glenn Rice and Rumeal Robinson in the Final Four. This year's Illini team has balance, depth and defense. Self has done a great job in his diaper dandy year. When Cook and Cory Bradford are playing well it usually means a win for Illinois.
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Illinois made sure that there would be no 3-point barrage and no
big upset in the arena where, remarkably, the NCAA Tournament
played true to form all week.
The Fighting Illini used pesky perimeter defense to beat
Charlotte 79-61 Sunday, winning a second-round game for the
first time in 12 years.
While there were upsets galore around the rest of the country,
the six weekend games in Dayton were decided by an average of 21.6
points. The favored teams could grind it out instead of sweating it
out.
"We were relaxed for the most part," said center Marcus
Griffin, who helped shut down Charlotte's Rodney White. "We tried
to enjoy these two games as much as possible."
Illinois (26-7) will play Kansas, the regional's fourth seed, in
a semifinal Friday in San Antonio. Like the Fighting Illini, the
Jayhawks ended a run of second-round disappointments Sunday by
drubbing Syracuse 87-58.
Illinois hadn't been to the round of 16 since 1989, the only
other time it's had a No. 1 seed. The Fighting Illini reached the
Final Four that year, but had failed to make it past the second
round in their last seven appearances.
"We didn't want to go out of here saying, 'Should have, would
have, could have,' " said Sergio McClain, one of four Illini in
double figures. "A lot of people out there were doubting us. We
went out and showed them all."
The tournament began Tuesday in Dayton with a play-in that
turned out to be the best game of the week at the arena.
Northwestern State's 71-67 victory over Winthrop for the 64th spot
was the closest of the bunch.
Charlotte (22-11), seeded ninth, pulled off the only thing
approaching an upset by beating eighth-seeded Tennessee 70-63 in
the first round.
|  | | Charlotte's Rodney White battles Brian Cook for a first-half loose ball. Cook and the Illini ended a Sweet 16 drought dating to 1989. |
The 49ers had a shot at a real upset Sunday, but couldn't get
its 3-point shots to fall. Charlotte, second only to Duke in
3-pointers made this season, missed 13 of its first 14 tries and
never recovered.
Charlotte hit 37 percent of its 3-point shots during the season.
Against Illinois' extended defense, the 49ers hit only 6 of 30 (20
percent).
They missed 13 of their first 14 tries, fell behind by double
digits and never recovered.
"If we had hit a couple of shots, it might have been a little
different, but they didn't let that happen," said Jobey Thomas,
who scored 14 points. "We dug too big of a hole at the beginning.
You can't spot them 15 points."
Illinois also trained its defense on White, who led all Division
I freshmen in scoring with a 19-point average. He missed his first
three shots, committed a foul and had the ball stripped away as
Illinois surged ahead 10-2.
White managed only nine points on 4-for-13 shooting, missing all
six of his 3-point tries. Teammates patted his back and rubbed his
head, consoling him as the game wound down.
White was noncommittal when asked whether he would leave for the
NBA, saying he'll decide in the next few weeks.
"Right now, I'm not leaning one way or the other," he said.
Everything went Illinois' way. It had one of its best defenders
back – McClain played with a black pad on the right shin that he
bruised in a first-round win over Northwestern State.
He hit a pair of one-hand, running bank shots during an
eight-point spurt that put Illinois ahead 27-16 and showed he was
fine.
Once the lead reached 22 points early in the second half, coach
Bill Self had the luxury of pacing his team and substituting
freely.
Self, in his first year at Illinois, took Tulsa to the
tournament in each of the past two seasons and reached a regional
final before losing to North Carolina last year.
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Charlotte Clubhouse
Illinois Clubhouse
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