Southern Illinois University
5-1
UIC
3-1
Men's Basketball Beats Illinois-Chicago, 76-68
11/29/2001 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 29, 2001
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois shook off a pesky Illinois-Chicago team and pulled away in the second half for 76-68 win Thursday night at SIU Arena.
Kent Williams led the Salukis with 21 points and Jermaine Dearman had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The Salukis (5-1) never trailed in the game, but led by single digits until midway through the second half.
Leading 42-39 with 14:58 left in the game, SIU went on an 19-7 run to build a 15-point advantage, 61-46 with 8:04 left. The run featured a 3-pointer by Williams and included a pair of buckets by Rolan Roberts and Stetson Hairston, who both finished in double figures with 10 and 12 points respectively.
"Usually I watch the film, but I'm not watching this thing," Saluki head coach Bruce Weber said. "There is no sense in that. We weren't ready to play. We went through the motions in practice. I told them I understood, because we went through a long week last week."
Williams, who was 4-of-13 from the field, said the team was still shaking off the effects of playing five games in nine days.
"We came out sluggish at the start," Williams said. "We didn't shoot well, but we came out with an eight-point victory. That has to make you feel good to get the win. We are going to need to step up our play to beat Indiana, though."
The Flames (3-1) trailed by 14 points, 73-59, with 37 seconds left. But Cedric Banks, Martell Bailey and Jon-Pierre Mitchom hit a flurry of 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 74-68 with nine seconds left. Williams, however, iced the victory for SIU with a pair of free throws.
"Obviously it wasn't a masterpiece by any means," Weber said. "All the press clippings and acclaim kind of takes a toll on you. One of our emphasis this week is that press clippings are like poison, if you swallow them, it kills you. It is human nature. They were talking about SIU on ESPN last night. If you buy into that stuff, it is going to kill you.''
Southern Illinois returns to action on Saturday when it hosts #24 Indiana at 3:05 at SIU Arena. Less than 2,000 tickets remain for the game.
