CHAMPAIGN - To counter the Atlantic Coast Conference's dominance of late, Illinois fought back with a little east coast swing of its own.

It wasn't enough.

Clemson outlasted Illinois 76-74 at the Assembly Hall on Tuesday, the Illini's fifth straight loss to a team from the ACC. It also made three straight losses for the Illini in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Despite career games from Mike Davis (Alexandria, Va.) and Chester Frazier (Baltimore), Clemson won before the largest crowd to attend an Illinois game this season.

Davis had 28 points, the highest point total for an Illini since Demetri McCamey had 31 against Indiana last season. Frazier had a career-high 12 assists

A career game from Davis nearly helped Illinois end a two-game losing streak in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. He had 28 points, the highest point total for an Illini since Demetri McCamey had 31 against Indiana last season. Frazier had a career-high 12 assists.

Illinois (6-1) also got 20 points from McCamey. Clemson (8-0) was led by Demontez Stitt, who had 18 points.

8:48 Left in Regulation - Illinois 59, Clemson 57

- Josh from Champaign checks in via email: ESPN2 broadcast is good. Fran is a really good color guy, one of the better ESPN has. He likes Davis a lot: "Mike Davis is 30 pounds from being a star."

Thanks Josh. Fraschilla is one of the best, you're right.

- Chester Frazier has nine assists. The last time an Illinois player had 10: Demetri McCamey at Minnesota last season (11).

- Clemson is running a layup drill at the moment. Illinois' seven-point lead is down to a one-point deficit.

- Bruce Weber pulled out Mike Tisdale just 56 seconds into the second half. The sophomore walked to the bench, prompting Weber to scream, "RUN!"

- Mike Davis scored 12 consecutive points for Illinois. After the final bucket, he needed a breather, but there was no stoppage in play. Chester Frazier committed a foul in order to get a subsitution for Davis.

And people booed this guy?

- Frazier just got his 10th assist, a bounce back to Davis for a dunk. He needs one more assist to match a career high.

Check back in a few.

Klee

Halftime - Illinois 40, Clemson 32

- If Mike Davis keeps this up, we can say "I told ya so."

- Mike Davis did a lot of smart things in the first half. Staring down the Clemson coaching staff after a buzzer-beating jumper probably wasn't one of them. It was just a reaction thing, heat of the moment, so he gets a pass.

Otherwise, Davis has changed the game, but he's getting a lot of help from Chester Frazier and Trent Meacham.

Davis has a game-high 12 points, and at least three of his six field goals were assisted by Frazier, who already has six assists. For Frazier, that makes 44 assists in his last six games (7.3 apg) and this one has 20 minutes left.

- I'll throw this one out there: Chester Frazier is playing better than any PG in the Big Ten right now.

- Staff writer Marcus Jackson makes a great point: Trevor Booker can have his way with Illinois. The Illini have no one that can stop the 6-7 forward, an athletic dynamo. Booker has eight points but has missed several layups -- he's getting to the basket whenever he wants.

- Jerrance Howard left tickets for Parkland assistant Marcus Griffin. And Parkland head coach Sergio McClain is sitting courtside. You won't see many, if any, recruits in attendance tonight.

- Illinois has yet to shoot a free throw.

Check back in a few.

Klee

10:00 Left in First Half - Clemson 21, Illinois 20

- Solid start for Demetri McCamey. He likes these kinds of games, with the bright lights and cameras and ESPN coverage. Demetri had the first eight points for Illinois, including a pair of three-pointers, and has 10 at the 10-minute mark.

- Unlike at South Padre, where Weber rotated guys in and out to keep legs fresh, the coach only subbed once by the first media timeout. Richard Semrau checked in for Mike Tisdale just 2 minutes, 16 seconds into the game.

- Huge area of empty seats in C-Section, where the Orange Krush has tickets.

- MB in Hoosierland checks in with an emailed question: "Any chance you can get access to the play hard chart and let us see it for each game?" I can find out who led the team on the play hard chart. I can tell you that Chester Frazier was the leader on Friday against Kent State. Not sure about Saturday.

I'll find out and pass it along in the N-G tomorrow. The play-hard revelation of the season was when Demetri McCamey led the Illini on the play-hard chart. That was three games ago.

- Clemson's wild pace has forced frugal Illinois into four turnovers, which isn't bad, but when the Illini break the press, they are scoring. Illinois is shooting 66.7 percent from the field, and only a couple of their field goals are from outside the paint. They're getting layups and short jumpers.

- How's the broadcast?

- The Big Ten is 23-17 in Challenge home games. Not good.

Check back in a few.

Klee

Tipoff - Clemson at Illinois

- Conventional wisdom would say Illinois wants to play a more deliberate tempo. And that's true, to an extent, but this isn't a case where Illinois wants to go deep into the shot clock. Clemson, on the other hand, will run and run and shoot "from over by you guys (on press row)," as Bruce Weber said.

"They make you go fast," Weber said. "That's the whole purpose of their style."

- About 1,800 tickets remained, as of yesterday at 4 p.m. Thought this was interesting: the Orange Krush's allotment of tickets was only 600 this season. Looking around the court and up in C-38 and 39, this is their biggest showing.

- The ACC has won 56 of 87 games in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. We're keeping an eye on the Duke-Purdue game. I think that could be a sort of watershed matchup for the Big Ten.

- One note on the Duke-Purdue game: the Boilers love what Decatur's Lewis Jackson is bringing to the table as a freshman. But they want him to not be casual with the ball against Duke.

- The UI's Mike Davis is friends with Clemson's Jerai Grant, the nephew of Horace Grant. Both come from the D.C. area.

- As a kid, Davis spent much more time watching ACC and Big East basketball than he did watching Big Ten basketball. He also fits the mold of an ACC- or SEC-type forward.

Here's how Mike Davis described the ACC vs. Big Ten yesterday before practice:

"Quick shots, high-scoring, up-and-down, athletic people (in the ACC)," Davis said. "It's a little bit different from the Big Ten, which is bump and ground. I'm more of their type of forward in the ACC."

- Starting lineup for Illinois: Demetri McCamey, Trent Meacham, Chester Frazier, Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale.

Check back in a few.

Klee

30 Minutes Until Tipoff - Clemson (7-0) at Illinois (6-0)

Good evening everyone, Paul Klee joining you from here at the Assembly Hall. Illinois and Clemson are both on the floor going through warm-ups. ESPN2's coverage coming from Jon Sciambi (play-by-play) and Fran Fraschilla (expert analysis). Yours truly will check in periodically, before, during and after the game, with a live in-game report.

Couple notes as we await the starting lineups....

- This is a put-Illinois-back-on-the-basketball-map game. That's how the players are viewing it, and that's not to diminish the Vanderbilt, Kent State and Tulsa wins. You can get a better idea of how the players are viewing this game with our preview today.

- Prediction? Right here. As bad as we were in predictions last season, we're trying to turn it around. Off to a good start. Kind of like the Illini.

- Fran Fraschilla is the go-to guy for overseas expertise. He's the guy beat writers search out when Warren Carter goes to Spain or Brian Randle goes to Israel, when you want to know about the leagues and what-not. Fraschilla knows his international basketball.

- Another note on Fraschilla: I expect you will hear him talk about Illinois recruit Jereme Richmond during the broadcast tonight. Fraschilla observed the LeBron James skills camp over the summer and believes Richmond was one of the top prospects in attendance. He's a fan.

- Jereme Richmond is off to a big start at Waukegan. More important, Waukegan is off to a big start. Read about it here. I can tell you that coach Ron Ashlaw and Richmond have done a 180 since last season - in terms of their relationship. In talking to both sides, I think that's more important than Richmond's scoring average or Waukegan's 3-0 record.

- Clemson was ranked No. 22 in the final AP Top 25 poll last season, just the third time the Tigers were ranked in the final poll. Clemson also won 25 and 24 games the past two seasons, respectively. Get a load of Trevor Booker tonight. The Illinois guys think he's an NBA player. Not sure that I do. But they probably know better.

- If anyone is going to beat North Carolina -- and I think only two teams have the personnel to do so -- Clemson would provide great insight. The Tigers played the Heels tough on three occasions last season. They lost all three, but the games were tight (one in double-OT, one in OT and one by five points).

- The key tonight, from Illinois' perspective: When the Illini turn the ball over - and they will - don't turn it over a second time. It's okay to give up one quick score, just don't let Clemson piece together two or three consecutive scores off their full-court pressure.

- I don't think Illinois has beaten an NCAA tournament team yet. Here is their chance.

- A few notes on Richmond, Joseph Bertrand and Brandon Paul in today's College Basketball Insider. Also, tell me where I'm wrong in our AP Top 25 ballot, or if you disagree Gonzaga is the second-most talented team in the country, as Fran Fraschilla said.

Check back in a few.

Klee (pklee@news-gazette.com)