Illini sink Stony Brook in NIT

STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Illinois probably isn’t over the snub by the NCAA tournament selection committee, but the 76-66 victory by the Illini over Stony Brook in the NIT first round Wednesday at Stony Brook Arena was the first step in grabbing a dose of redemption.

Wearing white as the bracket’s top seed but playing a road game because of a scheduling conflict at Assembly Hall, Illinois found a “shock treatment’’ from a standing-room-only crowd of 4,423. The throng gave this the feel of something special, even if it’s not the real March Madness, in the intense up-close-and-personal atmosphere of a high school sectional final against the eighth-seeded Seawolves.

“You have to get to New York to get over what happened,’’ Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “You dream of the NCAA. At least we still get to play. It might be better we go on the road. It might be a jump start, a shock treatment to get the juices going. Once you get going with the crowd and the noise, now you’re fighting for your life.

“I told them this is the start of the 2010-11 season. We have a chance to go to New York. We have a chance to learn how to be champions. This group hasn’t won a championship. You have to learn how to do that. This was a nice step for us.’’
 
Illinois (20-14) survived against Stony Brook (22-10), a program playing in postseason for the first time since moving to Division I prior to the 1999-2000 season.

It took Illini guard Demetri McCamey a few minutes to warm up to this whole NIT thing, but he finished with 16 points, 11 asssits and nine rebounds — just one rebound short of the program’s third triple-double.

“Everytime you step on the court, you should have fun,’’ McCamey said. “If you’re not, you’re in the wrong sport. Basketball is about winning and trying to be competitive. Everybody on the team had fun tonight.’’

One down

Illinois hosts Kent State in a second-round game at 7 p.m. Monday (ESPNU). Kent State edged Tulsa 75-74 earlier Wednesday.

The Illini played on the road because Assembly Hall was already booked with Cirque du Soleil this week. Huff Hall, the former home for Illinois basketball, is under renovation, and the court is painted for volleyball.

If they keep advancing, the Illini will host the next two rounds in the Hall. Illinois is two wins away from the tournament’s semifinals down the Long Island Expressway in Manhattan at Madison Square Garden, where this tournament finally gets interesting.

“We’re still disappointed,’’ said forward Mike Davis, who scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half. “Coach has been talking all week about making something happen in the NIT and move onto next year.’’

There was likely no place in the NIT’s first round with as much enthusiasm and happiness as Stony Brook, a program that celebrated the berth in the NIT. Stony Brook earned the bid by virtue of the regular-season championship.

“It was crazy,’’ McCamey said. “A packed gym like high school. People screaming right behnd the bench. They could almost touch you.’’

Illinois likely noticed that the power conference teams were already showing vulnerability to little brothers in the first round. After Connecticut and North Carolina both avoided upset losses when late attempts at an upset bounced off, No. 1 seed Arizona State lost in the first round to Jacksonville late Tuesday.

And those major-conference teams were playing at home.

“I thought we were the tougher team tonight,’’ Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell said. “We were just a little undersized.’’

Guard D.J. Richardson scored 16 points while center Mike Tisdale had 15 for Illinois.

Illinois took control with a 17-7 run to start the second half that pushed the lead to 55-43. But the game wasn’t truly in control until Tisdale drilled a 3-pointer for a 68-59 lead with 1 minute 30 seconds left.

Guard Bryan Dougher scored 21 points to lead Stony Brook. Guard Muhammad El-Amin, the America East player of the year, scored 16 points, but they came on 6-for-20 shooting.

“To play in the Garden would be special,’’ Davis said.

Stony Brook posted a 12-1 record at 1,680-seat Pritchard Gymnasium this season, but the school moved the postseason game to Stony Brook Arena. The 4,000-seat facility had the feel of a high school fieldhouse, and students began filling the bleachers 90 minutes before the show. The appearance on ESPNU was the first by the Seawolves on any of ESPN’s channels.

NOTE: Sergio McClain (Peoria Manual) and Mark Smith (Peoria Richwoods) recorded the only other triple-doubles in Illini history. . . The road game was Illinois’ first in four NIT appearances. . . Illinois reached 20 wins for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons.