Illini pound Bearcats in battle of unbeatens

Illinois made good on coach Bruce Weber’s preseason prediction.

Muscling their way through a New Year’s Eve matchup against undefeated Cincinnati, the Illini used strong defense to reach 14-0, one of the coach’s goals before the season started.

Deron Williams had 18 points and six rebounds to help top-ranked Illinois defeat No. 22 Cincinnati 67-45 in the final game of the Las Vegas Holiday Classic on Friday.

“You don’t have a chance to play a lot of top teams, so this was important for us for the RPI,” Weber said, referring to the NCAA ranking system. “People said last year that we didn’t set high enough goals. But when I said we would go 14-0 to start the season, (our assistant) coaches rolled their eyes.”

Dee Brown and Roger Powell added 13 points apiece for Illinois, which did not trail for the sixth consecutive game. Luther Head, who was named tournament MVP, had 11 points and eight rebounds.

“(Our) kids said that the Cincinnati players were complaining that we were too physical. I think that’s good,” Weber said. “It shows we can play different styles. We defended so well. We rebounded with them.”

Jason Maxiell led the Bearcats (11-1) with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Illinois is off to its best start since 1988-89, when it began 17-0 and reached the Final Four. The Illini have only trailed for 21 minutes, 32 seconds of 560 minutes this season. The last time Illinois trailed was in the first half against Georgetown on Dec. 9.

The Illini held Cincinnati to 28 percent shooting (14 of 50), and the Bearcats didn’t help themselves, finishing 13 of 26 from the foul line. Cincinnati had just six assists.

(16) Iowa 67, Saint Louis 58: At Iowa City, Iowa, Pierre Pierce scored 24 points and led a late 10-0 run that enabled the Hawkeyes (12-1) to finally pull away from the surprisingly stubborn Billikens (2-10).

Adam Haluska added 13 points and Jeff Horner 12 for the Hawkeyes, who had been hoping for a breezy tuneup for Wednesday’s Big Ten opener against Michigan.

Instead, they had to dig themselves out of a hole against a team that was missing two starters and began the game with a lineup that had a combined scoring average of just 28.2 points.

The Billikens outhustled Iowa on the boards, controlled the tempo and took advantage of numerous offensive lapses by the Hawkeyes. As a result, Saint Louis led 39-34 less than four minutes into the second half.

A 12-2 run pulled Iowa ahead to stay, but the Hawkeyes couldn’t put the Billikens away for good until the final 5 1/2 minutes.

Izik Ohanon led Saint Louis with 15 points and Anthony Drejaj scored 14.

The Billikens played without leading scorer Reggie Bryant (eye infection) and starting center Tom Frericks (concussion).