I had a great lead written at halftime Wednesday night in Clemson, S.C. Fortunately, you’ll never have to read it. But when Illinois trailed 47-27 at halftime of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at Littlejohn Coliseum, you can probably imagine what I was thinking…what everyone who follows this Illini team was thinking. Three losses in a row. A dismal first-half performance. Where do they go from here? But what transpired in the second half turned into the greatest comeback in Illini basketball history. Illinois came from 23 down to fight past 18th-ranked Clemson 76-74. That surpassed the 21-point deficit Illinois overcame against Seton Hall in 2000. Sitting courtside, I can’t tell you in strong enough terms how thoroughly Illinois underwent a personality transplant in the second half. Instead of meek, they were confident. Instead of slow, they were quick. Instead of passive, they were aggressive. Instead of slow, they were quick. Instead of freshmen, Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson looked like experienced upperclassmen. At halftime, you might have thought that Bruce Weber came into the locker room and busted up some furniture. Instead, he sat down calmly and had, what he called, “a little chat.” “We were as down as we could be at halftime,” said Weber. “I sat down with them and said, ‘Guys, we’ve embarrassed ourselves. We have to learn to play and compete. And you might want to pass and cut.’ “Clemson shut down a little, which is human nature. The amazing thing to me was how fast we caught up. Then it became a gut check game. “Give it to Demetri McCamey. He had two points and he might have played the best game of his career. He led us, he talked and maybe he has grown up a little bit. Maybe we grew up a little bit as a team.” Mike Davis, whose family drove nine hours from Alexandria, Va., to see the game, led the Illini with 22 points and nine rebounds. Tisdale, who had no points and two rebounds at halftime, finished with 12 and eight, plus four blocks.
D.J. Richardson scored 14 points and Paul, who played fearlessly in the second half, had 20 points, five rebounds and three assists. “In the second half we had a lot of leaders who stepped up,” Paul said. “I wanted to come out and show everyone how we could play. I wanted to play my butt off and just compete.” Tisdale’s baseline basket with 41 seconds to go put Illinois up for good. And then Tisdale blocked a shot at the other end. Paul hit one of two free throws with eight seconds to go and when Demontez Stitt missed a drive, McCamey tipped the rebound away and time expired. The ability to keep McCamey in the game after a ton of foul trouble proved to be an important factor for the Illini. And using some zone defense, which they have worked on, helped protect him. It was a stunning victory that came after consecutive losses to Utah and Bradley. I felt like we were watching this team grow up, especially Paul. And I could see Tisdale, Davis and McCamey trying to talk during timeouts, just as Weber had asked them to do after returning from Las Vegas. How much did they learn Wednesday night? We’ll find out, but I think we can all agree it was a whale of a game to watch. You didn’t bail out early, did you? http://www.herald-review.com/app/blogs/marktupper/?p=717
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