Basketball News - #3 Illinois Routs #1 Wake Forest



With 8:34 still to play, the "Orange Krush" student section broke into chants of "Overrated!" and in the final minutes of the game, there were chants of "We're #1."

Roger Powell scored 19 points, Luther Head and Dee Brown added 16 each and #3 Illinois made #1 Wake Forest look more like a Division III team with a 91-73 rout Wednesday night. The Illini led by double-digits for most of the game, and were up by as much as 32 points in the second half.

Wake Forest found that out the hard way that Assembly Hall is a tough place to play for visiting teams. Unfortunately for them, it was "Paint the Hall Orange Night," which featured a sold out crowd of 16,500+ fans donning Illini colors. Even Illini head coach Bruce Weber was sporting an orange blazer.

Illinois (5-0) has now won 35 home games in a row against non-conference opponents, a streak that dates back to Nov. 17, 1998. The Illini are 66-3 overall at Assembly Hall since the 2000-01 season.

The Illini have now beaten both #1 teams that have visited Assembly Hall. They beat Magic Johnson and the then #1 Michigan State Spartans 57-55 in 1979. The Spartans, however, went on to win the National Championship that year.

The Illini were on fire shooting 60% from the field, including 8-of-16 from 3-point range as they raced out to a 54-33 lead at halftime. And all of this was without Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year Deron Williams, who picked up two fouls in the first three minutes of the game. Williams finished up with 8 points.

The Demon Deacons were held to 39 percent shooting, and their two best players were hardly noticeable. Chris Paul, the leading vote-getter on the Preseason All-America team, scored only 10 points and Justin Gray, MVP of the preseason NIT, had 11. Eric Williams led Wake Forest with 18 points.

"It was damage control after that," Prosser said. "I think coach Weber has a terrific team. This is a great night for them, not a great night for Wake Forest. We'll see where we go from here."




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