Illini Fall Apart Down The Stretch, Lose To Michigan 55-60.

At 8:35 to play, Brandon Paul made a three point jumper to pull the Illini ahead 51-39. All was going right for the Illini, and they seemed well on their way to a comfortable win against Michigan, a rarity in the Big Ten Tournament. From here on out thought, the Illini would score only four points, and give up a 12-0 run lasting five minutes of game time.

The Illini would ultimately lose by five points. It isn't puzzling to see how this happened, a similar drought, though not as severe occurred against the Wolverines  in Champaign. The Illini turned the ball over with sloppy passes and took entirely too many threes, missing way more than they made.

For whatever reason, the Illini decided they wanted to play the same three point shooting game as Michigan, taking an incredible 26 from deep. Even though they would hit nine of these shots, given the height advantage of nearly every player, not just the big men, there were way too many opportunities not taken inside.

Michigan conversely stayed in the game by taking and hitting threes, but this is the game that they play, and everyone in the building knew they would be throwing up that many jumpers. The Illini didn't have to, sure the Wolverine defense more or less dared them to, but they showed they could break that D down for layups and dunks, and they simply stopped doing that at the end of the game.

Most of the experts probably still have the Illini in this tournament, but things are now out of their hands, and with the three other Big Ten bubble teams still alive, there is still a danger that the Illini bid may yet be stolen before Sunday.

There was at least one bright spot in Brandon Paul who had a spectacularly productive first half, and would end the game with 10 points, 6 boards, 4 assists and 5 steals off of the bench. Paul though, like the rest of the Illini went quiet for second half.

Demetri McCamey played all 40 minutes today, and got 10 points and 5 assists out of it, which is quality, but no where near what was necessary to win. Mike Davis, who has been the model of consistency for this team this season, also under performed, with 8 points and 7 rebounds. With his length, he should have ripped this team to shreds.

I was confident in the Illini getting into the tournament, but now I am much much less so. For the sake of all of our sanity, I hope this tournament goes chalk the rest of the way. I also hope there is plenty of TUMS left in my apartment.