Illinois Takes Care of One More Goal

Add the Big Ten tournament trophy to the growing collection of Illinois hardware after a 54-43 victory over Wisconsin in front of 22,157 Sunday at United Center.

There’s one more trophy Coach Bruce Weber has in mind, the one from the NCAA tournament. Illinois’ chances were enhanced when it learned shortly after cutting down the net it had earned the No. 1 overall seeding in the tournament, with a first-round game against Fairleigh Dickinson Thursday in Indianapolis.

“That was one of our goals we talked about early, having the chance to go to Indianapolis and go to Chicago,” said Weber, who cautioned his team about his experience as an assistant coach at Purdue, when the Boilermakers were upset in the second round in front of a friendly crowd.

“We can’t take anything for granted. We’ve got to go play.”

Illinois (32-1) added the Big Ten tournament title to the regular-season title without too much trouble, holding off a Wisconsin team that got no closer than five points with four minutes left.

“We showed we’re the Big Ten champions -- undisputed,” guard Luther Head said.

Wisconsin (22-8) had a terrible shooting performance, making 25.9% of its shots -- and with such an array of misses it was impossible to attribute the poor shooting to the Illinois defense.

Illinois didn’t shoot well for the second consecutive game, making 35.8% of its shots, but the Illini led by 16 points with less than nine minutes left.

Consecutive three-point shots by Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor -- who was inserted into the starting lineup to try to counter the Illini’s three-guard lineup -- cut the lead to seven, and two free throws by Taylor made it five.

But Illinois held off the threat, thanks to plays like Head’s driving layup and Roger Powell Jr.’s rebounding and free throws down the stretch.

“Roger was huge today,” Weber said.

Dee Brown, the Big Ten player of the year, was scoreless for the first time this season, missing eight shots, five from three-point range.

But Illinois got strong performances inside, the area considered the weakness of its guard-driven team.

Center James Augustine, at 6 feet 10 the only Illini starter over 6-6, had 12 points and nine rebounds and was five for five from the field.

Powell, more of a swingman, led Illinois with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan, whose team made the NCAA tournament as an at-large selection, said Augustine, voted the tournament’s most outstanding player, “intimidated our guys a little bit.”