Illinois stuns ‘Bows

Vander Joaquim had a bailout plan for his teammates.

So did Illinois’ D.J. Richardson.

Richardson trumped an amazing sequence by the Hawaii center, coming up with the game-winning 3-pointer from the left corner at the overtime buzzer to defeat the Rainbow Warriors 78-77 on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A vocal crowd of about 6,500 filed out in stunned silence after the missed opportunity to defeat a storied program from the Big Ten. Shot by shot from its talented guards, Illinois came back from a 16-point second-half deficit to improve to 3-0 on the way to next week’s EA Sports Maui Invitational.

Third-year UH coach Gib Arnold said his team was mad, not sad, in the locker room afterward.

"In my short time here that’s as good of an effort as I’ve seen out of a team for an entire game," Arnold said.

"I do think it got away … we’ll get ’em next time. Stick with us, stick with this team, we’re going to get better."

Joaquim did all he could in the loss, which dropped UH (3-1) to 0-7 all-time vs. the Fighting Illini (3-0). He hit a game-tying 15-footer from the left elbow with 3.4 seconds at the regulation buzzer, then hit a go-ahead 3-pointer and inside leaner for a five-point UH lead in OT.

Joaquim kept his head high in the postgame press conference after scoring 22 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. He also hit the first two 3-pointers of his career.

"Everybody played hard, played with their hearts," the big man said. "Just one stop, one stop to get us that win. But it’s basketball. Somebody has to win."

Richardson came back with a top-arc 3, but UH still led by a possession until the game’s final moments. Illinois had to foul, and point guard Jace Tavita — 0-for-5 at the line for the season at that moment — made the second of two foul shots for a 77-75 lead with 7.5 seconds left.

Out of timeouts, Fighting Illini point guard Tracy Abrams drove from the right under the basket, and UH’s big men rotated well. But Abrams, leaping out of bounds, found Richardson in the corner wide open. His teammates dogpiled him when it was all net, but officials still had to review the last-second shot on sideline monitors.

It didn’t take long to ascertain there was a tenth of a second left on the clock when it left his hand.

"Every time we huddle up as a team, the first thing we say is ‘finish,’ every single day," said Richardson, who was 3-for-11 going into the extra period. "And that’s what we did."

Arnold said: "It was good D, it was better O. I thought the kid (Abrams) made a nice play, I thought we recovered the way we wanted to, and thought we had him pinned on the baseline below the basket. … He jumped way out of bounds to make the pass, and (Richardson) had to make the shot."

He did. It was a figurative stomach punch for UH junior guard Brandon Spearman, a Chicago native who knew many of the Illini players. He dropped to the Sheriff hardwood after carrying UH for much of the night with career bests of 20 points with nine rebounds.

"It was always a dream to play Illinois, and beat them," an emotional Spearman said afterward. "It’s all right, sometimes dreams don’t come true. Next time I’ll make a dream come true."

UH was nightmarish at the free-throw line to close it out, going 4-for-10 in the last moments of regulation plus the extra period, including two front ends of 1-and-1s. UH was 17-for-31 (54.8 percent) for the game.

Starters Hauns Brereton and Christian Standhardinger combined to shoot 7-for-26 from the field. Illinois scored 21 points off 16 ‘Bows turnovers.

"It was just painful, all the mistakes that we made," Joaquim said. "It hurt us at the end."

UH dominated the interior with a 51-31 rebounding advantage, but Illini guards Brandon Paul (25 points, 5-for-10 3-pointers), Abrams (22 points, 9-for-16 shooting) and Richardson (16 points) kept coming.

"The kids showed great resolve, and just kept swinging and swinging and swinging," first-year Illinois coach John Groce said. "We didn’t come out ready. We got away with one, but I give our guys a lot of credit."

UH led by 13 after a dominant first half, in which UI went for nearly 10 minutes without getting a rebound. But the Illini took their first lead on an Abrams take with less than three minutes to play.

The finish was eerily similar to 2007, the last time Illinois stopped to play UH on its way to the Maui Invitational.

UH led by 13 in the second half of that one, with the Sheriff crowd distracted by the UH football team’s victory at Nevada shown on the arena’s big screens. Illinois rallied to win 79-77 on a layup with five seconds left.