I should probably take a solid two hours, calm down, maybe do some Yoga or some breathing exercises or go get a massage … because I’m worried this will be an expletive-laden tirade about how angry and upset I am over this loss.
It’s not that the Hoosiers played bad. They didn’t. It’s not that this was a game they should have won that they let slip away. It wasn’t. It’s that after Bill Cole hit that three to tie up the game, Devan Dumes traveled on IU’s next possession and Mike Tisdale hit two free throws on Illinois’ next trip down the court to put them up two with 3:19 to go — I felt like that was it. The whole second half I kept waiting for the Illini to go on a run, grab a couple-point lead with just a few minutes to play, and for it to be pretty much over. This is how I saw the game going in my mind after tying it up at half : IU playing well enough for 35 minutes or so, but eventually succumbing to the Illini and their screechy coach.
I was OK with this outcome; the other Assembly Hall is an incredibly difficult environment to play in, and for these young Hoosiers to bring it for that long and stay that close — no matter how average this Illinois team has looked at times this season — it was commendable. It was not ideal, but acceptable. It was good enough for me in this season where IU is starting to gain their footing again in the Big Ten conference.
But the Hoosiers had to tease me. Had to make me think, if only for a fleeting instance, that they had taken another step in their maturation process: not just a win on the road against a team that had yet to win a game in conference this season in Penn State, but against a team that holds serve on their home court like few others in the conference.
Verdell Jones hit two free throws to tie it. Tisdale hit a jumper to put the Illini back up by two. Dumes air-balled a three, but the Illini turned the ball back over. Then IU turned it right back over on an inbounds play. Tisdale hit another free throw with a minute to play — on a questionable foul call on Jeremiah Rivers as both went after a rebound – to put the Ilini up three. Jones hit two free throws to put the Hoosiers down one after getting fouled by Jeff Jordan coming off a pick. The Illini, up two with 46 seconds left, had to hold the ball, hit a shot late in the shot clock, and you come pretty close to putting it away. But Rivers came up with a huge steal off Demetri McCamey and was subsequently fouled by D.J. Richardson.
Tell me you weren’t on the edge of your seat. Here was Rivers, a kid shooting only 51 percent from the free-throw line heading into this pressure-packed situation, a kid that missed four free throws in the final three minutes against Loyola (Md), a game IU eventually lost by five. This was dramatic theater.
The following report was written and submitted by ITH reader Dannon Brown (
For those who do not know, I also moonlight as a freelance sports writer for the Times of Northwest Indiana (whuddup region readers) covering Notre Dame sports and local schools when they make the trip east. As such, I got out to South Bend Washington High School for a game against No. 1 Bowman Academy, and when I went to sign in, whose name should I see above mine but Mr. Matthew Painter.
