Illini escape thanks to McCamey buzzer-beater

Posted In: Herald & Review Mark Tupper Illini
Date: Saturday, January 30, 2010

As I was saying in a column after the Penn State game, I’m not sure if every Illini fan has the iron-clad stomach to withstand the nail-biting roller coaster ride this basketball team seems intent on taking.
Saturday was the latest chapter. Illinois played a pretty good first half until the final 3-and-a-half minutes, when Indiana went on a 16-4 run and tied it 36-36 on Devan Dumes’ half-court bank shot that beat the halftime buzzer.
Instead of being in control of the game, which Illinois should have been, they were suddenly in a cat fight.
Then Indiana built a six-point second half lead, Illinois fought back (they’ve had plenty of experience doing it) and the game was tied 70-70 with 4.4 seconds to go.
No problem.
Demetri McCamey dribbled hard at the basket and lifted a soft floater that rose over outstretched defensive arms and swished through as the final horn was sounding. Illinois 72, Indiana 70. Piece of cake.
It’s a shot McCamey says he practices every day and he said he knew it was going in as soon as it left his hand.
McCamey finished with 19 points and eight assists (including some beauties) to lead the Illini. Mike Tisdale had 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Tyler Griffey, making his second straight start, really played well early and was aggressive on the glass. He played 20 minutes and finished with nine points and four rebounds.
It sounds like Griffey will continue to start. For one thing, Illinois has gotten off to strong starts in both games in which Griffey has been out there for the opening tip. And coach Bruce Weber said he’s holding Mike Davis accountable in the same manner he did for McCamey, when he briefly moved him out of the starting lineup.
Davis did not play for the first 12 minutes of the second half and Weber said they were not planning on using him at all until something happened to change their thinking.
“Mike Davis has to change,” Weber said. “I love him. He’s a great kid. But he has to come to practice every day and try to get better. He has to have a good mindset. If he does that he will be one of the best players in the league.
“We were not going to play him in the second half but Dominique Keller came to me and said, ‘Mike Davis is ready and we need him.’ That was pretty good for Dominique to do because they are kind of rivals and Dominique always wants to play.
“So we gave Mike a shot and he blocked a shot that no one else on our team could do and he made a basket and made some nice passes to Tiz. Now he has to come to work and give us the intensity we need.”
Illinois could easily have lost this game. But they didn’t. They hung together and made a play at the end and are 14-8 and 6-3 heading to Iowa on Wednesday night.
Illinois will need to play better than this to win at Iowa, a team that has improved since the first time Illinois played them and a team that plays very tough at home.
But that’s the upside of being inconsistent. We can’t say what kind of a performance Illinois will turn in at Iowa. It could be very, very good.
Bill Cole said he’s annoyed that Illinois can’t take a 10-point lead and turn it into 15, then 20. He said he has harped about it and will continue to. “If we keep talking about it, maybe it will happen,” he said.
Talked to Ron Zook at halftime. He said he won’t have enough scholarships to fill the players he has lined up for signing day on Wednesday, although he declined to put a number on it. New offensive coordinator Paul Petrino and new defensive coordinator Vic Koenning were entertaining groups of junior recruits. Twenty-five or more, I was told.
I have a column on new safety Trulon Henry in Sunday’s paper and it should be posted on this web site under the Illini news. Check it out. He’s the brother of Arrelious Benn who spent five years in jail for armed robbery. Very interesting, very impressive 25-year-old young man, who is now enrolled after graduating from the College of DuPage.

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