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CHICAGO (AP) -- Frank Williams had a horrible first half.
He knew it. His teammates knew it. Illinois coach Bill Self knew
it.
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Illinois coach Bill Self is back in familiar territory -- he's in the Sweet 16 again. Self led Tulsa to the Elite Eight in 2000 and returned to the Elite Eight with Illinois last year. Illinois advanced Sunday with a win over a solid Creighton team from the Missouri Valley Conference. Creighton came to play but ran into a buzz saw in the Illini.
Illinois' 3-point shooting has been superb (23-46 in the first two rounds). That's tough to overcome. Big man Brian Cook (16 points) was a factor for Illinois on Sunday before getting into foul trouble. But the Frank Williams show made the difference for the Illini. Williams was nowhere to be found in the first half, but scored all 20 of his points in the second half (giving him 45 overall in the first two rounds). When Williams is on, he's the catalyst -- he makes Illinois go and his teammates feed off his performance.
Playing in a home-court environment in Chicago at the United Center was a big plus for the Illini. If you had told Self back in November that his team would play San Diego State and Creighton in Chicago for a chance to go the Sweet 16, he probably wouldn't have believed it. Hey, maybe we should call it the Illini Classic, baby!
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But that's the beauty of Williams. So maddeningly indifferent at
times, he can just as easily turn it on with a dazzling display of
skills that leaves opponents on the floor, gasping for breath.
He did it in the second half Sunday, scoring all 20 of his
points to carry fourth-seeded Illinois to a 72-60 victory over
Creighton in the Midwest Regional.
"I know the first half I didn't play that well, and coach kind
of jumped me in the locker room," Williams said. "But my
teammates kept telling me, 'Pick it up, you know what to do out
there. You're the best player on the floor."'
That he is. Williams went 7-of-10 from the floor in the second
half, and also had five assists and five rebounds. He also helped
clamp down on Creighton's leading scorer Kyle Korver, who was held
to just six shots.
"When he wants to play, he's as good a guard as there is in the
country," Creighton coach Dana Altman said. "That second half,
Frank decided he was going to take the game over, and he did."
Brian Cook added 16 points and Cory Bradford had 12 -- all on
3-pointers -- for the Illini, who took full advantage of their
"home game."
Illinois is 16-6 at the United Center since it opened in 1994,
and it's easy to see why. The arena was awash in orange and blue,
and the fans were so loud it seemed more like Assembly Hall than
Chicago.
The road gets tougher from here for Illinois, though. The Illini
(26-8) will play top-seeded Kansas on Friday in the Midwest
Regional semifinals in Madison, Wis.
"We're definitely going in there with the predator mentality,"
said Robert Archibald, who finished with 11 points. "We're going
in there with something to prove."
Creighton (23-9) goes home still looking for its first
second-round victory in the NCAA Tournament. The Bluejays
outrebounded Illinois 34-27, including a whopping 17-6 edge on the
offensive glass.
But they shot just 37 percent, and didn't have the same magic or
spark they had Friday, when they stunned Florida on Terrell
Taylor's 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in double overtime.
"They had a little more energy than we did," Creighton coach
Dana Altman said, but added it had nothing to do with playing two
OTs Friday. "We just weren't tough enough to finish the game."
Unlike his idol Michael Jordan, Taylor couldn't follow up with
another amazing effort. Taylor scored 10 points and was just
4-of-14 from the floor, 2-of-9 from 3-point range. Korver had 14
points.
"We were trying to beat them by ourselves, and we're not good
enough to do that," Korver said. "We needed to use each other,
and we didn't do it."
Williams can be as enigmatic as he is skilled, frustrating fans
as he seems to tune in for some games and not others. He did it
Sunday, taking just two shots in the first half and missing both.
|  | | Robert Archibald was one of four Illinois players in double figures, he had 11 points. |
"I just told him he's a lot better than what he's playing,"
Illinois coach Bill Self said of his halftime "pep talk."
"I'm more demanding on him than I am on any other player in our
program," Self added. "There are times he needs to be challenged,
and halftime today was one of those times."
Williams responded in a big way. When Korver opened the second
half with a 3 to pull Creighton within 31-29, Williams took over.
He scored on a reverse and then hit the first of his four
3-pointers.
After Archibald scored on a layup, Williams hit another 3 to
give Illinois a 43-34 lead with 16:37 to play.
"(Korver's 3) may have been good for our team in the long run,
because I think that bothered Frank," Self said. "He was a lot
more aggressive after that."
Illinois hit another lull and Creighton rallied, getting to
46-44 on Michael Lindeman's free throws with 12:33 to play. But
there was Williams again, hitting back-to-back 3s and then feeding
Cook with a feather-soft pass under the basket.
Cook scored on the easy layup, starting a 12-0 run. Williams
capped the spurt with an effortless layup, and Illinois led 64-49
with 4:15 to play.
Creighton never threatened again.
"Once again, guys realized it could be their last game. Then
Frank turned the lights out," Illinois' Lucas Johnson said. "He
decided there was no way they were going to beat us."
Williams was solid the entire game Friday, when Illinois routed
San Diego State. But he was nonexistent in the first half Sunday,
taking only two shots and missing both.
The Illini were able to live with "Bad Frank" for the half,
though, with Cook scoring 14 on 6-of-7 shooting in the first 20
minutes.
Besides, Williams came through when the Illini really needed
him.
"You can't afford to have that type of performance," Williams
said of his first half. "You have to be on your toes and you have
to be ready for the challenge. From here on, we know it's not going
to be easy." | 
Illini on High