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Illinois beats up Arizona
on their way to another victory
By Greg
Taylor
[DEC.
19, 2000]
The
University of Illinois men's basketball team faced yet another top-ranked
opponent in Chicago on Saturday, beating Arizona 81-73 in front of a
sold-out crowd at the house Michael Jordan built. Illinois had a very
balanced attack, as all five starters reached double figures in points,
and the bench contributed as well with 21 points. The victory moved
Illinois' record to 8-2 on the young season. Illinois continues to be
ranked fifth in the nation in both the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and the
AP poll (national sportswriters).
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Cory
Bradford set an NCAA record with his 74th straight game of
making at least one 3-point basket, breaking an 11-year-old record.
Peorian Marcus Griffin led the Illini with 15 points, and Lincoln's Brian
Cook scored 10 points and grabbed three rebounds in just 13 minutes of
play. Cook had the awesome task of guarding the best player on Arizona’s
team, 7-foot-1 center Loren Woods.
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Arizona,
playing just their second game of the season with All-American center
Woods, lost for the third time this season. Only Chicagoan Michael Wright,
playing in front of several dozen family and friends, appeared to be
willing to bang and bruise with the very aggressive Illini. Wright
finished with 21 points and eight rebounds, leading the Wildcats in both
categories.
Illinois
again received very strong support from their ever-improving bench.
Sophomore sharpshooter Sean Harrington took only three shots in 19 minutes
of play, but converted on all three, which were behind the arc, to finish
with nine points. Center Robert Archibald contributed six points, four
rebounds and much-needed defensive toughness on Wright and Woods before
fouling out. Damir Krupalijia returned to the lineup briefly and also
banged and battled with Arizona's big boys. And Lucas Johnson, quickly
becoming one of the premier sixth men in all of college basketball, did as
much psychologically as he did physically and kept several Arizona players
from reaching their full potential on Saturday.
[to top of second column in
this article] |
However,
despite five games already this season against a Top 10 opponent, there is
no rest for the weary. Illinois travels to St. Louis on Thursday for their
annual border war with the Missouri Tigers, a team which has beaten
Illinois three straight years. After Thursday, Illinois travels to George
W. Bush land, Austin, Texas, for a Saturday evening game with the Texas
Longhorns, one of the better teams in the Big 12. The Missouri game can be
seen Thursday at 8 p.m. on ESPN, and the Texas game can be seen at 5:30
p.m. on Saturday on ESPN2.
[Greg
Taylor]
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Illinois
box score
Arizona |
32 |
41 |
73 |
Illinois |
38 |
43 |
81 |
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Arizona
|
|
FG |
FT |
reb |
|
|
|
|
min |
m-a |
m-a |
o-t |
a |
pf |
tp |
Wright
Walton
Woods
Arenas
Gardner
Frazier
Wessel
Edgerson
Jefferson
Totals |
32
26
30
28
36
6
10
4
28
200 |
8-12
2-7
3-6
2-12
4-11
1-4
2-3
0-0
5-10
27-65 |
5-9
0-0
9-10
0-1
2-3
0-0
0-0
0-0
0-3
16-26 |
3-7
2-4
0-4
2-6
2-5
1-1
0-1
0-0
3-7
13-35 |
1
5
5
2
4
1
0
0
1
19 |
4
4
4
3
4
2
1
0
4
26 |
21
4
15
4
13
2
4
0
10
73 |
Percentages: Fg-.415, Ft-.615.
3-point goals: 3-16, .188 (Wright 0-1, Walton 0-1, Arenas 0-4,
Gardner 3-9, Jefferson 0-1).
Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 1 (Woods).
Turnovers: 14 (Jefferson 5, Arenas 4, Gardner 2, Woods 2, Walton).
Steals: 10 (Gardner 3, Jefferson 3, Woods 2, Arenas, Walton).
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Illinois
|
|
FG |
FT |
reb |
|
|
|
|
min |
m-a |
m-a |
o-t |
a |
pf |
tp |
Cook
Mcclain
Griffin
Bradford
Williams
Mast
Melton
Cross
Archibald
Johnson
Harrington
Howard
Krupalija
Totals |
13
22
32
35
29
1
1
1
17
24
16
1
8
200 |
3-8
1-7
7-13
4-10
1-4
0-0
0-0
0-0
3-4
1-3
3-3
0-0
1-1
24-53 |
3-3
8-10
1-3
2-4
9-10
0-0
0-0
0-0
0-0
1-2
0-0
0-0
1-2
25-34 |
0-3
0-5
2-4
1-3
0-6
0-0
0-0
0-0
3-4
2-5
0-2
0-0
0-2
8-34 |
1
3
2
2
5
0
0
0
1
4
1
0
0
19 |
5
1
5
2
2
0
0
0
5
4
1
0
2
27 |
10
10
15
13
12
0
0
0
6
3
9
0
3
81 |
Percentages: Fg-.453, Ft-.735.
3-point goals: 8-19, .421 (Cook 1-5, Bradford 3-7, Williams 1-2,
Johnson 0-2, Harrington 3-3).
Team rebounds: 8.
Blocked shots: 2 (Cook, Williams).
Turnovers: 15 (Bradford 5, Williams 3, Archibald 2, Johnson 2,
Griffin, Harrington, Mcclain).
Steals: 5 (Williams 2, Archibald, Griffin, Mcclain).
Technical fouls: None.
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Mayfields
1, Rest of the world 0
By Jeff
Mayfield
[DEC.
16, 2000]
Last
evening a most amazing thing took place. A new little child was born into the
world. Now we’re told that thousands of births are recorded each day,
but from this reporter’s viewpoint, none was like this. Sure it was in a
sterile environment, in a nice clean hospital with all the amenities you
would hope to have on hand if you were going to be giving birth to a baby.
Yet, something was unique about our experience.
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We
were blessed with a heaven-appointed doctor who throughout the pregnancy
has displayed outstanding skills and the most wonderful bedside manner.
But even he is not what has made this occasion so special.
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Family
and friends have bombarded us with so many cards, gifts and well wishes
that it is downright humbling. My wife and I much prefer to be on the
giving end rather than the receiving end of those kinds of expressions,
and still that encouragement is not what is setting this moment apart.
Having
the delivery in central Illinois is incredibly exciting but not enough to
be the factor to make this situation so memorable.
At
the same time this historic event was taking place, sports fans all over
the area were asking such questions as: Will the Illini make it to the
Final Four? How will all of the Railer sports teams do this winter? Will
the Rams and Colts collide in the Super Bowl? Will Earnhardt and Gordon
make comebacks on next year’s NASCAR circuit? Will the Cubs and
Cardinals make themselves better in the off-season?
[to top of second column in
this article] |
The
answer to all of these questions is…who in the heck cares? My son has
just arrived into the world! Stop the earth, stop the presses, and stop
the sports schedules…I’m taking a big TIMEOUT. And if you think some
of those TV timeouts are long, wait to see the one I’m taking! I’ve
been saving up all those 20s those fans in the stands said I should’ve
used way back when I coached college basketball, and I’m using them all…right
now! I don’t care what any athletic team anywhere on the planet or even
in the universe is doing right now. I’m sorry…but, I couldn’t care
less. I’m not even doing any scoreboard watching…the only boards I’m
watching now are the monitors that tell me how my wife and son are doing.
The only one I’m coaching and the ONLY one I’m a fan of, is this
beautiful little boy.
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Please
give a warm LDN hello to Payne Montgomery Mayfield, who was born on
Friday, Dec. 15, at 9:59 p.m.! As far as I’m concerned, the only game that counted
yesterday was the
one that I was involved in. And I score it Mayfields 1, Rest of the world
0.
Thank you
all for your thoughts and prayers.
[Jeff
Mayfield]
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