Illinois Wakes Up in Time Against Longwood

For 30 minutes against top-ranked Illinois, Longwood looked like a contender, not a team with only one victory this season.

The Lancers cut a 13-point halftime deficit to seven Monday night and were down by only eight when the Illini finally buckled down with 9:13 to go and went on to a 105-79 victory at Champaign, Ill.

“We knew we weren’t playing with any energy, not playing hard, and they were just getting too many easy baskets,” said Deron Williams, whose three-point shot ignited a 16-0 run that built the Illini lead to 17, at 98-71, with three minutes remaining.

Williams, who had seven assists, led Illinois (12-0) with a season-high 23 points.

Offense wasn’t a problem for the Illini, who got 20 points from Luther Head, 16 from James Augustine, 13 from Roger Powell Jr. and 13 assists from Dee Brown.

Coach Bruce Weber said his team still left too much to chance.

“If we don’t click it in defensively, we’re not going to be No. 1 for very long,” Weber said.

Illinois couldn’t stop Longwood’s Michael Jefferson, who had a career-high 30 points. Four other Lancers scored in double figures, and Longwood shot 53% from the field.

“We earned their respect,” Jefferson said. “My teammates stepped up. Everybody stepped up, made big plays, played good defense, made some big shots.”

The Lancers (1-14) are playing a full NCAA Division I schedule for the first time this season, and the crowd of 16,618 was nearly 16,000 more than they see at a typical home game. Illinois recorded its 38th victory in a row at the Assembly Hall against nonconference opponents.

Weber said he “went off” on his team during Sunday’s practice for its recent lack of intensity on defense, but he added that now it’s up to his players.

“I did my yelling,” he said. “Now they’ve got to yell at themselves. They’ve got to take some pride.”

No. 19 Louisville 104, Morehead State 40 -- Francisco Garcia scored 18 of his career-high 29 points in the first half as the Cardinals (9-2) made a season-high 14 three-point field goals at Louisville, Ky. Louisville scored the game’s first 19 points, including eight from Garcia. Chad McKnight led the Eagles (6-4) with 11 points.

No. 22 Cincinnati 77, Miami, Ohio 53 -- Eric Hicks had career highs with 21 points and 17 rebounds for the Bearcats (10-0) in their victory over the Redhawks (6-3) at Cincinnati.

Miami’s Danny Horace scored 10 points, his second-lowest total of the season. The Redhawks shot a season-low 31.9% from the field.