INDIANAPOLIS — Illinois guard Andre Curbelo executed a beautiful behind-the-back dribble during the first half of a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal against Indiana — then blew the layup.
Later in the half, the flashy guard who sometimes plays without brakes missed another easy layup attempt.
“Cute, Curbelo,” a fan yelled. “Keep missing those layups.”
Curbelo looked into the stands at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and smiled.
But by the end of a wild afternoon in Indianapolis, no one on the Illinois bench was smiling.
The top-seeded Illini fell, 65-63, to the ninth-seeded Hoosiers, a bubble team that might have clinched an invitation to the NCAA Tournament while advancing to the Big Ten semifinals.
The Hoosiers play Iowa on Saturday afternoon for a chance to go to the championship game, while the Illini head back to Champaign to await Sunday’s NCAA Tournament selection show to find out whom and where they’ll play in the Big Dance.
This was a game Illinois could’ve and should’ve won. But the Illini shot 35.7% from the field and missed 8 of 23 free-throw attempts.
Hoosiers forward Trayce Jackson-Davis scored 21 points and outplayed Illini center Kofi Cockburn, while the Illinois guards went into an early shooting funk from which they never emerged.
Jackson-Davis pointed to a Feb. 5 loss to the Illini in which Cockburn dominated him as the impetus for his big day.
“So Illinois was a bully today, and I think we took care of that problem,” he said.
“Bully” isn’t a term often used to describe the Illini, who are closer to the “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers than the “Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons.
Illinois came into the tournament confident and refreshed after Sunday’s dramatic win over Iowa that gave it a share of the Big Ten regular-season title. Then the Illini came out and played as if they never had been there before. Most of the starters played on the same court in last year’s title game win.
The Illini failed to convert on a handful of easy scoring opportunities in the first half, including Curbelo’s misfires. Omar Payne failed to convert a slam on a perfect lob, and Coleman Hawkins lost control of the ball while going up for another dunk.
“You can’t miss free throws, and we missed six layups in the first half and I don’t know how many in the second,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “And you can’t do that and win games.”
Underwood acknowledged that Hawkins, who hit four 3-pointers and scored 18 points, was “terrific,” but the coach also singled out the play Hawkins didn’t make.
“He’s got a wide-open dunk and lets the ball slip out,” Underwood said. “I’ve already talked to him about that, so I’m not afraid to do it here. But you can’t do that in postseason play, you just can’t do that. We turned it over a couple of times late.”
The final turnover, by Trent Frazier, proved to be the backbreaker. After a pair of free throws by Cockburn gave the Illini a one-point lead with 33.3 seconds left, Jackson-Davis was fouled seven seconds later and hit his free throws to regain the lead.
After the Illini nearly fumbled the ball away, Underwood called timeout with 15.3 seconds remaining for one last play. Frazier, their best free-throw shooter, would drive the lane. But Frazier’s pass to Hawkins went out of bounds for a turnover.
“They help our strong-side corners, so I thought Coleman would be in the corner for an open 3,” Frazier said. “That’s what they’ve been doing all game. We had a little bit of confusion right there where he came up on top.
“But, I mean, I made a bad decision. I’m disappointed in myself on that. I’ve got to do a better job of at least getting the ball on the rim and just talking with my teammates. I’m very disappointed in that last turnover I had.”
Still, the Illini had another chance after Miller Kopp missed the front end of a one-and-one with 10 seconds remaining. But Curbelo missed on a drive inside, and Jackson-Davis hit a free throw for the final margin.
Curbelo shot 1 of 7 from the field, while Alfonso Plummer made 2 of 12. Cockburn, the only player in the nation averaging 20 or more points and 10 or more rebounds, didn’t have a field goal until 9:25 remaining in the first half. He finished with 23 points but wasn’t the dominant player the Illini need him to be on the big stage.
“In the second half late, he started getting a lot of buckets, but we really shut their guard play down,” Jackson-Davis said of Cockburn. “So basically we were just trying to let me play one-on-one with him and then have our guards taking away (the Illini guards), and that’s what we did.”
The loss wasn’t devastating for the Illini, who knew they were in the NCAA Tournament no matter what happened in Indy. But they’ll have to play a lot better, and more under control, if they hope to advance beyond the first round.
Underwood pointed to defending national champion Baylor and UCLA losing in their conference tournaments last year, suggesting there’s a silver lining in missing out on the final two days of the Big Ten Tournament.
“They still found a way to make it to the Final Four,” he said. “It will be refreshing to get a couple days away. And, no, we’re not playing another Big Ten team. I’m tired of this league right now. I’m tired of these guys.”
It only gets tougher from here, so Underwood will need to get the Illini prepared for the NCAA Tournament, especially after they were upset by Loyola in the second round last March.
Cuteness is all well and good. But it doesn’t matter much come March.
