 |
| |
|
 |
 |
|
|
CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Bob Knight's return to Big Ten country was anything but pleasant. Jermaine Dearman scored 18 points as 11th-seeded Southern Illinois spoiled Knight's return with a 76-68 victory over No. 6 Texas Tech in the first round of the East Region. Knight was back in a state where he is reviled and where former Illinois coach Lou Henson once referred to him as a "classic bully." But it was Knight's team that was bullied around by Southern Illinois (27-7), the regular-season champion out of the Missouri Valley Conference. "Going in, we knew what we had to do," Southern Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "We frustrated them and the ball bounced in our favor. We broke their spirit as good as we could have imagined." The Salukis held a 32-29 halftime edge and scored the first five points of the second half, opening an eight-point cushion on Dearman's layup. Dearman had a basket and Rolan Roberts dunked to cap a 10-3 spurt for a 53-38 advantage with just over eight minutes left. The Red Raiders (23-9) pulled within 66-60 on two free throws by Andy Ellis with 43 seconds to go. Freshman Darren Brooks made a pair from the line for Southern Illinois and it was never threatened again. The Salukis also defeated Indiana, Knight's former team, on December 1. Knight has lost in the first round in five of his last seven NCAA Tournament appearances. "I would be disappointed eventually if we got beat in the championship game," Knight said. "Maybe we could beat them if we played them again. We were beaten by a good team tonight and if we are going to be able to compete with those teams, then we are going to have to become better." Many of Southern Illinois' fans made the trip upstate and helped make the environment friendly for the Salukis and hostile for Knight and the Red Raiders. Kent Williams drained a 3-pointer with 7:40 left in the first half as the Salukis took the lead for good. They took command of the contest in the second half by stifling Texas tech and Knight's vaunted motion offense. "I thought we switched when we had to, we were pretty aggressive on defense," Williams said. "Everything that (Weber) talked about in the scouting report, we basically came out and did. The scouting report was probably as detailed as any of Texas Tech's opponents this season. Prior to taking over the Southern Illinois job, Weber was a long-time assistant at Purdue under Gene Keady and was 18-19 against Knight and Indiana. "We had to play our best against his motion chess game," Weber said. "I had many great wins at Purdue and this one was right up there with them. The atmosphere was great." Williams netted 17 points and Roberts finished with 12 for Southern Illinois, which faces Georgia or Murray State in the second round. Dearman added 11 rebounds and Roberts had five blocks. Ellis and Kasib Powell scored 19 points apiece for Texas Tech, which was back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996. Andre Emmett was just 4-of-17 for nine points. "We had kids from the previous year that had played for eight different coaches and all systems different from what we were doing and they really worked at learning from that standpoint," Knight said. "I couldn't have asked any more from that standpoint." . |
|
||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
