Illinois vs Clemson Basketball Recap

Early-December games generally don't resonate throughout a long college basketball season, but Wednesday night's stunner in South Carolina could well become the exception that proves the rule.

The outlook was demonstrably bleak for the Illinois Fighting Illini as they trudged to the halftime locker room at Littlejohn Coliseum on the campus of Clemson University. After playing the first 12 minutes with the 19th-ranked Tigers on very even terms, Illinois watched veteran guard Demetri McCamey pick up his third foul at the 8:09 mark of the first half. Clemson promptly reeled off a 23-6 run in the final eight minutes of the half, racing to a 47-27 lead against Bruce Weber's shellshocked squad. With the Tigers playing at home and returning several experienced performers from last year's NCAA Tournament team, it seemed highly unlikely that the visitors from Champaign could mount any kind of comeback.

In that case, the unlikely became reality before a disbelieving Clemson crowd.

So what if McCamey, the oldest starting guard on the Illini, was utterly ineffective and scored just 2 points on 1-of-5 shooting? A couple of dewy-eyed youngsters, thrown into an intimidating cauldron of a coliseum, led Weber's Wonderboys on the comeback trail... and eventually into the winner's circle in the Palmetto State.

With Clemson leading 61-46 at the 13:52 mark, Illinois had yet to make a big push, but then a pair of freshmen, guards D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul, took control of this contest. Richardson hit a 3-pointer to shave the Tigers' lead to 61-49, and as the second half progressed, the two underclassmen - on the front end of Illinois's zone defense - harassed Clemson's guards, Demontez Stitt and Tanner Smith. By making their presence felt at both ends of the floor, Richardson and Paul enabled the game to open up and develop in ways that were advantageous to the Illini. At one point, Clemson turned the ball over four times in a series of six possessions, a testament to the active and pesky defense played by Richardson and Paul.

All in all, the fine form flashed by Weber's all-freshman backcourt was reflected in the stat sheet: Richardson (14 points) and Paul (20) outscored their counterparts, Stitt and Smith, 34-24. The young Illini guards also shot 10-of-19 from the field, compared to Stitt and Smith's combined 7-of-19 performance. Because Illinois was able to so thoroughly dominate on the perimeter, Clemson's advantage inside with forward Trevor Booker evaporated in the second half. The Tigers' guards weren't able to feed their prime post player in the second half, and that meltdown on the part of coach Oliver Purnell's team helped Illinois to mount its remarkable second-half charge.

A young Illinois backcourt just gained a world of confidence. A veteran-laden Clemson team suffered a huge collapse. These are the kinds of events that could linger over the course of the next four months.

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