Illinois Gets on Board for the Final Eight

Illinois looked pretty good in blowing out its first two NCAA tournament foes. Against Kansas, the Illini showed it knows how to win ugly too.

Frank Williams scored a career-high 30 points as top-seeded Illinois controlled the first half, then wore down Kansas in a physical, foul-filled second half for an 80-64 victory Friday night.

Illinois (27-7) will play No. 2-seeded Arizona Sunday in the Midwest Regional final. It will be third game between the schools this season, with each having won once. The Wildcats beat Mississippi, 66-56, in the first Midwest semifinal game.

“It was not the prettiest of games to say the least,” said Illinois’ Bill Self, who became the first coach to take different teams to the final eight in consecutive years. He guided Tulsa to the Midwest final last year, then took over at Illinois in June after Lon Kruger went to the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. “I felt like our bench did a great job, but our defense set the tone in the first half. We never let their guards get in a rhythm. In the second half, we just hung in there and toughed it out.”

No. 4-seeded Kansas (26-7), after trailing by 14 early in the second half, got within five twice then was outscored 10-0 in the final 1:24 to make the game look more lopsided than it really was.

“We weren’t able to get offensive rebounds, which has been a big part of our offense all year,” said Kansas Coach Roy Williams. “Their rebounding ability took us out of our game plan. Illinois made us play less than a perfect game, to say the least.”

Kansas was was outrebounded 45-33 after getting an average of 27 more rebounds than its opponents in the first two rounds.

Illinois, which beat Northwestern State by 42 and Charlotte by 18 in its first two tournament games, is making its best run in the tournament since reaching the Final Four in 1989. The Illini and Michigan State give the Big Ten two teams in the round of eight.

Williams, the Big Ten player of the year, made 11 of 24 shots, including three of seven three-point attempts, and all five of his free throws. His previous high was 27--against Arizona.

The Illini needed Williams’ big game to offset Cory Bradford going one for 13--including one for nine on three-point attempts.

Nick Collison led Kansas with 23 points, but hurt the Jayhawks down the stretch by missing five consecutive free throws. He was six for 14 on free throws and the Jayhawks were 18 for 35.