Remembering 2004-05: Illini cut down the nets

Remembering 2004-05: Illini make it 25-0

Remembering 2004-05: Not-so-super performance

Remembering 2004-05: Take that, Sparty!

Remembering 2004-05: Cool at Kohl

Remembering 2004-05: Working OT against Iowa

Remembering 2004-05: A milestone moment

Remembering 2004-05: A scare at Purdue

Remembering 2004-05: Big Ten opener's a blast

Remembering 2004-05: Illini braggin' but draggin'

Remembering 2004-05: Chicago gets taste of No. 1

Remembering 2004-05: UI climbs to No. 1

Remembering 2004-05: UI 91, Wake Forest 73

Remembering 2004-05: UI 89, Gonzaga 72

Remembering 2004-05: UI 87, Delaware State 67

Remembering 2004-05: UI 92, Lewis 61

Remembering 2004-05: UI 78, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 58

Remembering 2004-05: N-G front pages

Remembering 2004-05: Midnight Madness

Remembering 2004-05: Orange & Blue Scrimmage

EACH WEEK, WE'LL TAKE A LOOK BACK AT A MEMORABLE MOMENT IN ILLINI HISTORY, THANKS TO THE WORDS OF THE NEWS-GAZETTE

This week: In our continuing series on the 2004-05 Illini, Bruce Weber's Illini finally hit a bump, losing their regular season finale thanks to Matt Sylvester and some fired-up Buckeyes..

Date: March 6, 2005

Headline: Orange & Blue

By BRETT DAWSON

COLUMBUS, Ohio — James Augustine strolled out of the Illinois locker room, iPod clipped to his collar, and stopped to meet the press.

James Taylor's greatest hits spilled from his earphones. It was that kind of afternoon for the Illini.

"I'd probably be listening to it even if we won," Augustine said.

For 29 games, though, Illinois' season had been set to a more up-tempo soundtrack.

On Sunday, Taylor's blue notes were particularly fitting for the Illini.

They were playing happier tunes courtside after Matt Sylvester fired and Ohio State ended Illinois' reign, a 65-64 upset at the Schottenstein Center sending shockwaves across college basketball.

Ohio State fans stormed the court. The press swarmed the Illini.

"We finally lost, like y'all wanted us to," Dee Brown said on a brisk walk to the bus, stopping only briefly and answering every reporter's question with, 'They just played good basketball.' "

In doing so, the Buckeyes (19-11, 8-8 Big Ten) wrote a chapter in their hoops history and kept Illinois from etching its name in the record books.

The Illini (29-1, 15-1) might well remain the nation's No. 1 team when the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today coaches' polls are released today. They probably still are the heavy favorite for the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

But Sunday's loss dashed Illinois' chances at becoming the first team since Indiana in 1976 to go undefeated en route to the national championship.

"It's disappointing, but it's not the end of the world," Augustine said. "You've got to go into March (and the postseason) thinking differently. If we had gone undefeated and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament, nobody would think twice about our season. It's how you finish that counts."

If that's true of games as well as seasons, then Sunday's loss is as bad as it gets for Illinois.

The Illini led 51-39 with 11:34 to play in the game, but Ohio State outscored Illinois 26-13 down the stretch as the Illini missed shots that always fall and struggled on defense, where they always thrive.

Illinois' vaunted guard trio of Brown, Williams and Luther Head was held scoreless over that stretch and finished the game with 27 points on 7-for-27 shooting. And the Illini's pressure defense was nonexistent after halftime - the Buckeyes had eight turnovers in the first half, but none in the second.

On offense, Ohio State turned to Terence Dials and Sylvester, who combined to score 46 points. Sylvester poured in a career-high 25 including a three-pointer with 5.1 seconds to play that provided the game's first — and last — lead change.

Roger Powell Jr.'s three-point attempt at the buzzer missed for the Illini, and with that the fans spilled onto the court and the Illini headed for the exits.

"They deserved to celebrate," Powell said.

But this wasn't supposed to be a celebration for the Buckeyes. It was supposed to be a coronation for the Illini, who had rolled through 29 games, trailing only twice at halftime and playing only one game - against Iowa at the Assembly Hall - in which the final possession of regulation mattered.

"We wanted this game," Williams said. "We wanted to go 30-0. That's no surprise. But this just makes us hungrier. I guess you could put your head down and worry about this loss, but why would we do that? We're a mature group, a veteran group. We're going to come to practice on Tuesday and work."

And there's work to do.

"Hopefully it's humbling for us," Illinois center Nick Smith said. "Hell, if Ohio State can beat us, when we go to the NCAA tournament whoever we play in the second round can beat us. Hopefully this will be the worst we play for the rest of season."

Ohio State ran to perfection what has long been considered the game plan for beating Illinois.

The Buckeyes pressured up on the Illini guards, forced the ball to go inside and hoped their advantage on the interior would pay off.

And while Powell finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, he and Augustine were a combined 8 for 21 from the floor as Illinois shot 38.3 percent overall.

Still, Weber figures his team won't often shoot 5 for 19 from three-point range, won't often let a 12-point lead evaporate.

So, while the Illinois coach clearly was stunned and disappointed by Sunday's result, his inherent coaching instinct kicked in within moments of Powell's missed buzzer-beater.

"Whatever you get, you try to use as a motivator," Weber said. "I just tried to go right at them (in the locker room) and tell them how special they've been and how much they have to celebrate. It really wasn't one of our goals (to go undefeated). Maybe I screwed up. I should've said undefeated (was a goal)."

Weber's goal, he reiterated Sunday afternoon, is to thrive in the postseason.

In their postgame meetings with the media, the Illinois players turned their focus that way, too — toward the Big Ten tournament this week in Chicago and the NCAA tournament after that.

The undefeated thing is in the past.

Illinois took some time to mourn its passing, to play a sad song or two.

Soon, the Illini said, they'll be back to an upbeat tune.

"Walking off the court, I was really focused on, 'Where do we go from here? How do we get better?' " Powell said. 'That's the way you've got to be. You can't live for yesterday. You've got to live for tomorrow, and that's what this team does well."

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