March 12, 2005
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2005 BIG TEN
MEN'S BASKETBALL
TOURNAMENT
Game Eight • March 12, 2005 • United Center • Chicago, Ill.
#1 Illinois 64 (31-1), #5 Minnesota 56 (22-9)
Illinois advances to play in the championship game at 2:30 p.m. CST Sunday
GAME NOTES
Illinois Head Coach Bruce Weber improves to 4-1 in Big Ten Tournament (BTT) contests. Illinois improves to 15-6 in Big Ten Tournament games, boasting the most BTT wins in the eight years of the tournament. The Fighting Illini improve to 12-4 in BTT contests at the United Center, including winning their last five. Overall, Illinois is 26-6 in contests played in the United Center, including 13 consecutive victories. The Fighting Illini won their 13th consecutive overall game over Minnesota.
The No. 1 seed improves to 4-3 in games against No. 8 seeds and 4-4 in quarterfinals match-ups. Illinois also improves to 5-3 in BTT semifinal games. The Fighting Illini enter tomorrow's game 1-3 in BTT championship contests (Illinois won the 2003 championship defeating Ohio State 72-59 in Chicago). The Fighting Illini will play the winner of the Wisconsin vs. Iowa game tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. CST. The top seed is 1-1 in BTT championship games with the only top seed to win is Michigan State in 1999.
Minnesota falls to 3-6 (vacated 2-2 record from 1998 and 1999 tournaments due to NCAA sanctions) in BTT games. The Golden Gophers fall to 0-1 in BTT semifinal games (Minnesota's 1998 semifinal loss to Michigan is vacated due to NCAA sanctions).
Illinois improves to 3-0 against Minnesota in BTT games, with all three contests played in the United Center. The Fighting Illini previously defeated the Golden Gophers in the 1999 first round and 2002 quarterfinals played in Chicago.
No team in the first eight games of the BTT has shot 50 percent or better from the field. Illinois has the best shooting percentage for a single game, converting 48.1 percent (25-52) of its attempts vs. Northwestern in game four. BTT teams have been playing great defense in the first eight games; teams are shooting a cumulative 40.1 percent (350-872) from the field for the 16 teams.
The eight BTT teams that have lost have made only 37.8 percent (165-436) of their field goal attempts. The winning BTT teams are averaging 66.9 ppg, while the losers are averaging 57.1 ppg.
Illinois' James Augustine hauled in a game-high 14 boards, which also matches a career high. He previously pulled down 14 vs. Iowa (1/20/05) and vs. Northwestern (1/14/04). The junior forward has collected 61 rebounds in eight BTT contests. He now ranks fourth on the all-time BTT career rebounding chart. Augustine is two boards shy of third place and Indiana's Jeff Newton (63). The 14 rebounds tie Iowa's Reggie Evans for the fifth-most in a BTT game. He becomes the fourth individual to collect double figures in this year's tournament (PSU, Geary Claxton - 13; IOWA, Doug Thomas -11; IND, D.J. White - 10). Augustine also tallied 11 points, marking his third double-double of the season (12 points, 10 rebounds vs. Longwood on 12/3/0/04 and 21 points and 10 rebounds vs. Ohio State on 1/5/05). The double-double is the third of the 2005 BTT (Claxton and White).
All five Illinois starters netted double figures for the fourth time this season (vs. Florida A&M on 11/21/04, vs. Oregon 12/11/04, vs. Valparaiso, 12/19/04). Luther Head paced the Fighting Illini with 14 points, followed by Deron Williams (12), James Augustine (11), Roger Powell (10) and Dee Brown (10). Head scored 14 points today and now ranks seventh in BTT history with 110 points in 10 BTT contests. Head has combined to score 28 points in the two BTT games this year, which raises his career total to 1,183 climbing past Nick Anderson for 25th place on Illinois career scoring list.
Minnesota collected seven steals today to establish a new single season school record (283).
Minnesota's Vincent Grier scored a game-high 24 points, marking the 14th straight contest and 30th time in 31 games this season that the freshman guard has posted double figures. Grier attempted eight free throws climbing to third in school history for single season free throw attempts (217).
Minnesota led 11-4 at the 13:28 mark of the first half before Illinois went on a 18-2 run to make the score 22-13 at the 7:32 mark and never looked back. The Golden Gophers were 1-7 from the field with three turnovers during the scoring run that spanned 5:56.
Illinois improves to 29-1 when leading at the half, while Minnesota falls to 5-8 when trailing at the break. BTT teams are 6-2 when having the halftime advantage this year.
The team that has recorded the most steals improves to 6-0 in BTT games this year (ILL 11, UM 7) and has won 20 of the last 23 BTT contests.
Illinois' Jack Ingram had a game and career-high four steals, all coming in the first half. His previous best was three at Ohio State on 3/6/05.
Illinois' Deron Williams dished out a team-high five assists climbing into fifth on the all-time BTT career assists list (40).
Minnesota's Jeff Hagen blocked three shots climbing to fifth in school history for single season rejections (79).
Both teams played suffocating defense; Minnesota and Illinois combined for a 2005 BTT-high 43 turnovers (23 Illinois, 20 Minnesota). The previous 2005 BTT-high was a combined 36 miscues in game four (Northwestern vs. Illinois). Illinois' 23 turnovers is a season high, besting its previous high of 21 established vs. Florida A&M on 11/21/04.
Illinois has held 13 of its opponents to less than 40 percent from the field in 2004-05.
Illinois' 31 victories equals the 1988-89 squad that finished with a 31-5 record and advanced to the Final Four.
Minnesota falls to 3-17 when playing the top-ranked team in the nation.
