Illinois (14-0) Simply Too Tough for Cincinnati

Top-ranked Illinois made good on Coach Bruce Weber’s preseason prediction.

Muscling their way through a New Year’s Eve matchup against No. 22 Cincinnati, the Illini used strong defense to reach 14-0, one of the coach’s goals before the season started.

Deron Williams had 18 points and six rebounds to help the Illini defeat the Bearcats, 67-45, in the final game of the Las Vegas Holiday Classic.

Dee Brown and Roger Powell had 13 points apiece for Illinois, which did not trail for the sixth consecutive game. Luther Head, who was named tournament MVP, had 11 points and eight rebounds.

“You don’t have a chance to play a lot of top teams, so this was important for us for the RPI,” Weber said, referring to the ratings system used in helping to determine NCAA tournament teams.

Jason Maxiell led the Bearcats (11-1) with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Illinois is off to its best start since 1988-89, when it began 17-0 and reached the Final Four.

The Illini have trailed for only 21 minutes 32 seconds of 560 minutes this season. The last time the Illini trailed was in the first half against Georgetown on Dec. 9.

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No. 16 Iowa 67, St. Louis 58 -- Pierre Pierce led a late 12-2 run that enabled the Hawkeyes (12-1) to pull away from the Billikens (2-10) at Iowa City.

The Hawkeyes were hoping for an easy tuneup for Wednesday’s Big Ten Conference opener against Michigan. Instead, they had to rally against a team that was playing without two starters.

With Iowa leading, 52-51, Jeff Horner made a three-point basket. Pierce scored the next six points and Adam Haluska made a free throw to make it 62-51 with 2:53 to play.

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OTHER GAMES

Brigham Young 87, Santa Clara 74 -- The Cougars went to the free-throw line 23 times in the second half at Provo, Utah, making them all to set a school record of 24 consecutive free throws, breaking by two the old mark set in 1996.

Mike Rose scored 26 points, including eight of eight from the free-throw line, to lead the Cougars (5-8). Doron Perkins scored 25 points for the Broncos (7-8), who have lost four in a row and six of their last seven.

Ohio State 72, St. Joseph’s 61 -- Matt Sylvester scored seven consecutive points during a 9-2 run late in the second half at Columbus, Ohio, to lead the Buckeyes (11-2) to their sixth consecutive victory.

The Hawks (3-6) lost their fourth in a row.