Common name, uncommon game. That’s Illinois point guard Frank Williams.
Williams scored 30 points as Illinois dumped Kansas, 80-64, in an NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal Friday night at the Alamodome.
| Kansas | 29 | 35 | 64 |
| Illinois | 41 | 39 | 80 |
“He makes me a lot better coach,” IU coach Bill Self said after his team qualified to meet Arizona on Sunday for the right to go to the NCAA Final Four. “We did run a good offense, but we have a guy who can get a shot. He’s phenomenal. He doesn’t get credit on the national scene, for whatever reason. We were stale offensively, but he went out and made big play after big play.”
Defensively, Williams was no slouch, either. He played a big role in helping hold KU shooting guard Jeff Boschee to one basket, and he also had three steals, a couple of them during the first 10 minutes when Kansas coughed the ball up 13 times.
“It wasn’t the prettiest of games, to say the least,” Self said. “We weren’t making shots, but we did a great job of stopping them on defense.”
Added Williams: “I knew Cory (Bradford) and Frank would have to get after their guards.”
Self was so intent on stopping Boschee and point guard Kirk Hinrich that he used a triangle and two defense from time to time.
“I think it disrupted their rhythm,” Self said. “We had to play something different because of our foul trouble, and I wanted Boschee and Hinrich not to be effective offensively, and the triangle and two allows you to do that.”
Illinois was able to overcome big-time foul trouble among its big men. Three of them fouled out while another finished with four fouls. Nevertheless,
Illinois owned a 45-30 rebounding edge, including a glaring 19-6 bulge on the offensive boards.
“We thought we had to make it a war on the glass inside,” Self said, “and when you emphasize that, you have a lot of fouls. In all honesty, the game went as scripted. We thought it would be ugly, and we thought if a lot of fouls were called our bench would be the difference. Our bench was great.”
Echoed Marcus Griffin, a starting forward who fouled out with just two points and one board: “If it wasn’t for our bench, I don’t think we’d have won the game.”
Illinois’ bench outscored KU’s bench, 28-0.
Illinois received a major boost off the pines from Lucas Johnson, a 6-foot-8 junior who had 15 points in 25 minutes of work. Johnson nailed a pair of three-pointers and was 7 of 8 from the free-throw line.
“That’s my job,” Johnson said. “It was nice to knock a couple of threes down today. A lot of times I’ll pass up open shots, but I was hitting them today.”
Three-point goals: 4-17 (Collison 1-1, Hinrich 1-1, Gregory 1-5, Boschee 1-7, Gooden 0-3). Assists: 10 (Gregory 2, Hinrich 2, Boschee 2, Chenowith 2, Gooden, Ballard). Turnovers: 20 (Hinrich 5, Gooden 4, Gregory 3, Ballard 3, Collison 2, Boschee 2, team). Blocked shots: 2 (Gooden 2). Steals: 8 (Gregory 3, Hinrich 2, Collison, Ballard, Harrison). |
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Three-point goals: 6-26 (Williams 3-7, Johnson 2-3, Cory Bradford 1-9, Cook 0-1, Harrington 0-1, Krupalija 0-2, McClain 0-3). Assists: 10 (Williams 3, Johnson 3, Cook 2, McClain, Bradford). Turnovers: 17 (McClain 3, Bradford 3, Archibald 3, Johnson 3, Griffin 2, Cook, Harrington, team). Blocked shots: 1 (Archibald). Steals: 11 (Williams 3, Cook 2, McClain 2, Bradford 2, Harrington, Krupalija). |
