Frazier's three enables Illinois to turn back Indiana

The Illinois Fighting Illini are living right in 2009. Just ask Chester Frazier.
 
The senior guard's 3-pointer with just under five minutes left in regulation enabled Bruce Weber's team to leave Indiana's Assembly Hall (not to be confused with Illinois' own home building) with a victory. Why has this become a charmed season for the Orange Crush? One only had to examine the possession that changed Sunday afternoon's battle in Bloomington.
 
For most of this contest, Illinois successfully attacked Indiana's defense and got the shots Weber wanted. By playing over the top of the smaller and less chiseled Hoosiers, the visitors from Champaign were able to score consistently. Big men Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis scored 16 points apiece to pace Illinois, which enjoyed matchup advantages at every position, but particularly within 10 feet of the basket.

In an attempt to compensate for his team's lack of interior size, Indiana coach Tom Crean conceded one thing to the Illini: a long-distance shot from Frazier, a great ballhandler and floor leader who has an unreliable shooting stroke. The Hoosier braintrust made a concerted effort to pack in their defense and stop dribble penetration so that Frazier could have as many open perimeter shots as he wanted. For much of the day, Frazier refused to take Crean's bait, as shown by his 7-rebound, 7-assist, 3-steal performance. Unsurprisingly, the show of discipline enabled Illinois to stay solid at the offensive end and accumulate a 44-25 lead early in the second half. But when the Hoosiers then switched to a funky triangle-and-two defense, the Illini suddenly lost their edge, and the home team crept within six points, at 54-48, with only five minutes left in the second half.
 
Someone needed to make a play if Illinois was to hang on. Somebody had to step up if the Illini were to avoid their own meltdown just three days after stealing a win against a Northwestern team that collapsed down the stretch.
 
Enter Frazier... in the most improbable way imaginable.
 
In an increasingly urgent situation, with their body language revealing a surge of panicky feelings, the Illini muddled their way through a Keystone Cops possession. Multiple Illinois players--including Davis, who made several mental mistakes midway through the second half to fuel a 23-10 Indiana run--treated the basketball like a hot potato, passing up a shot opportunity and hoping a teammate would have the courage to break the Hoosiers' forward-marching momentum. This "no, you take it!" theme continued until there were just five seconds on the shot clock. Frazier, of all people, had the ball. Moreover, the pass-first and shoot-second guard possessed the rock a few feet outside the three-point arc.

Given no choice but to shoot the ball, Frazier heaved the orange sphere into the air. For the only time in his 37 minutes of action on this day, Frazier saw his own 3-pointer splash through the net (he finished 1-of-4 from 3-point range for the game). Frazier bounded down the court a happy man, and from that moment onward, the Illini never faltered. In one somewhat lucky sequence, all the worry and anxiety that had accumulated on the Illinois bench immediately vanished. Able to avoid the freefall that befell Northwestern on Thursday, the men in orange jerseys regrouped and coasted to the finish line first.
 
And so it goes: In one week, Illinois experienced two different episodes of late-game panic from opposite perspectives. Yet, when all was said and done, the Illini won both of their battles with the brain--storming from behind in Evanston to stun the Wildcats, and then holding off the Hoosiers' late charge in Bloomington.
 
That's what's called living right. When other teams break down, the Illini have been able to steal wins. When they break down, Bruce Weber's boys find a little pocket of magic in unlikely places... places such as the right arm of one Chester Frazier.
 
There's only one thing to worry about if you're an Illinois fan: Given the rate at which fortune has smiled on this team in the past several days, will the Fighting Illini have any good-luck charms left when the NCAA Tournament rolls around?

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