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Williams' Last-Second Basket Propels Illini Past Minnesota
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The scoreboard tells the story: Illinois wins at Minnesota, 67-66, to claim its second consecutive Big Ten title.
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March 3, 2002
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courtesy of WCIA-TV, Channel 3, Champaign
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Frank Williams picked the right time for his only basket of the second half.
Williams made a driving layup with 2.9 seconds left to cap a 10-0 game-closing run and No. 15 Illinois beat Minnesota 67-66 Sunday, giving the Fighting Illini a share of the four-way tie for the Big Ten title.
"I've been in a lot of crazy ones, but that one was one of the craziest," Illinois coach Bill Self said.
Williams' layup were his first points since the 2:20 mark of the first half, and extended the Illini's winning streak to eight games and put them in a tie for the regular season championship with Wisconsin, Ohio State and Indiana, all with 11-5 records.
"(Self) drew it up," Williams said of his last-second shot. "That was the way it was supposed to happen. He told me if I caught the ball, drive the middle, it's going to be wide open. Fortunately, that's how they played it."
Trailing 66-62, Illinois tied up the Gophers underneath their basket but the possession arrow kept the ball with Minnesota. After Kevin Burleson lost control, Cory Bradford picked up the loose ball and drained a 3-pointer to pull the Illini (23-7) within 66-65.
"Right place at the right time," Bradford said. "It rolled right to me. I just picked it up and knocked it down."
Then, with the Gophers (16-11, 9-7) trying to get the ball past halfcourt on their next possession, Illinois went back to the trap and cornered Burleson again. His pass to Dusty Rychart sailed out of bounds, giving Illinois possession on the base line with 6.9 seconds left and setting up Williams' heroics.
"We kept our composure," Bradford said. "We did a great job of hanging in there and trusting each other."
Brian Cook led Illinois with 22 points, while Bradford added 19 and Williams 12.
Illinois gets a first-round bye in the upcoming Big Ten tournament. On Friday, they will play the winner of the Minnesota-Penn State game.
Rick Rickert had 18 points and Travarus Bennett added 15 for the Golden Gophers, who led 66-57 with 3:15 to play.
Kerwin Fleming hit a running layup with the shot clock winding down to make it 63-55 with four minutes left. Then, on Minnesota's next possession, Fleming nailed a 3-pointer while falling to the ground to put the Gophers ahead by nine.
But the Gophers, a team which became accustomed to blowing leads this season, couldn't put Illinois away, making a run deep into the Big Ten tournament almost necessary for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
"We were too panicked the last few minutes of the game," Rychart said. "It really cost us when they started to press with under a minute to play."
Rickert, who led Minnesota in scoring this season, had only six points in the second half. Illinois' bulkier frontcourt gave the 6-10, 202-pound Rickert problems in the low post, often throwing him off-balance and forcing tough shots.
The Illini finished with 20 turnovers but held Minnesota to 34.8 percent shooting.
"With the number of turnovers we had, we should not have been in this game," Self said. "But we made some great shots and had some great stops. It was just a great game."
