The Fighting Illini used furious, frenzied man-to-man defensive pressure to force 13 early turnovers and race to a 17-7 lead en route to an 80-64 Midwest Regional Sweet 16 victory over No. 4-seed Kansas on Friday night at the Alamodome.

“You need room to breathe on offense and I felt suffocated out there,” KU junior guard Jeff Boschee said after being held to three points on 1-of-7 three-point shooting.

“Their man-to-man defense puts a lot of pressure on the perimeter. They have to be the toughest defensive team we’ve faced all year,” Boschee added.

Illinois (27-7) did more than play suffocating defense against the Jayhawks (26-7) in becoming the fourth No. 1 seed to advance to the Elite Eight.

The Illini, who have ridden an “underappreciated” theme through the postseason thus far after being criticized by some pundits for bagging a top seed, may have had the finest individual performance in the tournament.

Sophomore point guard Frank Williams scored a career-high 30 points on 11-of-24 shooting.

He also had three of U of I’s 11 steals, helping set a tone early when Illinois harassed KU’s Kirk Hinrich into three quick turnovers that led to seven Illini points.

“He’s a great player and they have a great defensive team,” Hinrich said. “We turned the ball over way too much, especially me. We couldn’t come back from that.”

The Jayhawks, who trailed by as many as 14 points 43-29 with 19:39 left, never were out of the game, lagging by just six points (65-59) at the final TV time out with 3:16 left.

The closeness of the game at that point, plus the Jayhawks’ inability to hit free throws, made KU’s slow start maddening.

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KU hit 18 of 35 free throws to Illinois’ 18 of 26. Nick Collison, who led the Jayhawks with 23 points and seven boards, had a tough night at the line. He hit six of 14 free throws, including four missed free throws after intentional fouls.

“Free throws had a lot to do with it (loss), plus rebounding and our inability to get a shot,” Collison said.

The Jayhawks were outboarded 45-30 and hit just 45.7 percent of their shots while holding the Illini to 43.1 percent shooting.

Illinois hit six of 26 threes to KU’s four of 17.

“It’s very disappointing 18 of 35,” KU coach Williams said. “Kenny has struggled some his entire career. Nick Collison really hasn’t had trouble.

“The free throw shooting was bad,” KU’s coach added after suffering his worst loss in NCAA Tournament play. “We got off to such a slow start, but credit their defense. Their defense was sensational and made us turn it over.”

The Illini forced 14 Kansas turnovers the first half in building a 41-29 lead.

Frank Williams did the most damage, scoring 15 points off 6-of-14 shooting. He hit two threes in four tries as the Illini bricked 12 of 15 threes the first half, yet still built the double-digit lead.

KU attempted half as many shots as U of I the first half, canning 11 baskets in 19 tries to Illinois’ 15 of 38.

The problem was rebounding and turnovers. Illinois grabbed 24 boards the first half to KU’s 13.

Early on it seemed as if the Illini players played on a different level than the Jayhawks.

Illinois forced a whopping 13 KU turnovers and led, 17-7, at 10:01. U of I at that point had hit seven of 22 shots to KU’s two of six.

“The disappointing thing is we were out of sync,” said Drew Gooden, who scored four straight to help KU to a 4-0 lead. He finished with 13 points and four turnovers.

“They threw a trap on us, Frank Williams pressured our guards and their big people were really strong. I can tell you we had a bad game. I can’t tell you exactly why. People were hustling and trying to win, we just came up short.”

The Jayhawks showed guts in coming back from the early U of I onslaught.

Down 17-7, KU went on a 14-6 run to cut the gap to 23-21 at 5:39. Hinrich bounced back nicely to score six points, while Collison also had six and Gooden two.

Undaunted, the Illini stretched a 26-23 lead at 5:06 to 37-23 at 2:43, following an 11-0 run, led by Lucas Johnson’s four tallies.

KU’s Hinrich and Gregory answered with threes to pull KU within 37-29 at 1:39, yet the Illini finished the half with four unanswered points, including a bucket by Williams at :41.

Coincidentally, Illinois finished the game with a 10-0 run after KU crept within six on a Collison three at 1:26.

“They did a good job taking us out of our offense,” Gooden said. “They denied the passes on the wing. They didn’t let us accomplish anything offensively.”

As such, Illinois advances to Sunday’s game against No. 2 seed Arizona.

“I think Illinois is very deserving of their No. 1 seed and it should be a great game Sunday. I just wish we were playing in it,” KU coach Williams said.