SAN ANTONIO ? Bill Self didn’t cry “foul” Sunday after an unprecedented barrage of fouls cost his No. 1-seeded Illinois basketball team a trip to the Final Four.
“We can say we didn’t foul that much hey, we fouled a lot,” Illini coach Self said after an 87-81 loss to Arizona in the NCAA Midwest Regional finals at the Alamodome.
Lute Olson’s No. 2-seeded Wildcats hit 43 of 56 free throws in advancing to their First Final Four since 1997. The free throws made and attempted both were Arizona school records and NCAA Tournament records.
In all, six Illinois players fouled out as the Illini were tooted for 36 fouls to Arizona’s 23.
Kansas is the only previous team to have six disqualifications in NCAA Tournament play. Six Jayhawks fouled out against Notre Dame in 1975.
“I haven’t been in a game when six guys fouled out,” Self said. “It seems to me when you lose in the NCAA Tournament, it’s usually because something screwy happens.”
The Illini (27-8) also fouled a lot in the semifinals. Kansas failed to make U of I pay, hitting 18 of 35 free throws in an 80-64 loss.
Arizona (27-7), a 75 percent free throw shooting team, was on target again Sunday.
“Even when we miss free throws in practice, coach gets on us,” UA center Loren Woods said after hitting 12 of 13 free throws and scoring 18 points. “Every day in practice we shoot, 20, 30, 40 free throws. We’ll probably shoot even more before we go to the Final Four.”
The Wildcats advance to next Saturday’s semifinals and will face Michigan State, a winner over Temple on Sunday.
It wasn’t just charity shooting that lifted the Wildcats.
Strong defense helped, too.
Richard Jefferson, a 6-foot-7 junior forward, drew the defensive assignment on Illini sophomore point guard Frank Williams, who burned Kansas for 30 points on Friday.
The 6-foot-3 Williams scored nine points on 3-of-15 shooting. He missed five of six threes and had five assists versus five turnovers.
“It was a good move to put Jefferson on Frank, especially after the effort we had to exert Friday night (against KU),” Self said.
Williams appeared flustered early as Arizona built a 21-10 lead, Gilbert Arenas scoring 16 of those 21 points over Williams.
“It seemed that way,” Williams said, asked if it seemed Arizona focused its defense on him.
Reserve center Robert Archibald picked up the slack with a career-high 25 points for the Illini.
“They put a bigger guard on me,” Williams said. “They contained me on the offensive end and I had to guard Gilbert Arenas (21 points, 18 the first half). That drains your energy.”
Jefferson has guarded shorter players before.
“Coach thought it’s what we needed to help shake up the game,” Jefferson said. “I tried to keep my hand in his shot pocket and get to where he couldn’t drive on me. I also had a lot of help from my teammates.”
Point guard Jason Gardner scored 18 points, drilling a 25-foot three with 5:38 left, giving the Wildcats a 62-56 lead.
The Illini, who trailed 73-62 with just 2:16 left, amazingly cut the gap to 74-71 at 1:41. Two threes by Cory Bradford (22 points) and one by Sean Harrington accounted for the surge.
Arizona was able to hold on thanks to 15 of 20 free throwing in the final 2:47.
The Wildcats have emerged as the feel-good story of the postseason. Coach Lute Olson lost his wife to cancer earlier in the season. The was 8-5 at one point.
“It’s difficult,” Olson said of his feelings after the game. “Part of that emotion is I’m so pleased for our guys to go through what they’ve gone through. Now they are in a position to achieve their season goals. Of course there’s still a lot of work to do.”
NOTES: Arizona and Illinois were 1-1 against each other in the regular season. … The old record of free throws made in tournament play was 41 by Utah (against Santa Clara) is 1960. The old record of free throws attempted was 53 set by Moorhead State (against Iowa) in 1956. … Loren Woods’ seven blocks tied for the fourth highest total in NCAA Regional history. David Robinson had nine against Cleveland State in 1986. … Robert Archibald’s previous career high was 16 points against Illinois-Chicago in December. The Ballwin, Mo., junior hit 13 of 15 free throws.