By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLUMBUS - It's been one of Bob Huggins' favorite mantras all season. When we make shots, the University of Cincinnati coach said over and over, we're pretty good.

Not always.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos from UC game

The Bearcats made their share of shots Sunday afternoon against Illinois - shooting a respectable 46.6 percent from the field - but didn't play much defense against a quicker Illini team that blew past them like they were standing still.

No. 5 seed Illinois (26-6) shot a ridiculous 63.6 percent from the field and blitzed No. 4 seed UC, 92-68, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament's Atlanta Regional at Nationwide Arena.

It was the worst whipping a Bearcat team has ever endured in 61 NCAA Tournament games, surpassing a 66-51 loss to Marquette in 1977 and a 78-63 loss to Louisville in 1975.

The loss eliminated the Bearcats (25-7) from the first week of the tournament for the seventh time in the last eight years. Six of those exits have come in the second round.

"They hit open shots," said UC forward Eric Hicks. "If you're open and you're in D-I and you don't hit 'em, you need to transfer to D-II."

Illinois sophomore guard Deron Williams needn't worry about switching to a lower division anytime soon. Williams made the most of his bundle of open looks by scoring 31 points, tying his career high. He made 10 of 13 shots, 6 of 8 from 3-point range.

"We didn't do a very good job of guarding," said UC coach Bob Huggins, "but they did a great job of making shots. There's a lot of days that people don't guard and those shots don't go in, but today they did."

The Bearcats had no explanation for why they allowed the Illini so many open looks. It wasn't as if they didn't know that the Illinois players, led by guard Dee Brown, would sprint down the court at every opportunity. But they were helpless to stop them.

Illinois outscored UC, 10-2, in transition, and had 24 points off turnovers to UC's two. (cq)

"We knew they were going to be quick," said UC guard James White. "We didn't execute what we were supposed to do."

The Bearcats can blame fellow Conference USA member Alabama-Birmingham for providing Illinois coach Bruce Weber (cq) with the blueprint for beating UC.

Weber preached to his players about pressuring UC and attacking in transition. Then on Saturday night he showed them tape of UAB's 80-69 victory over the Bearcats on Feb. 18. (cq)

The Illini took it from there.

"You go through so many tapes and finally you get to one that gets you kind of excited," Weber said. "We watched UAB pressure them, spread them out, push the ball and those are the things we did. We showed it to the kids last night and said, 'This is what it should look like.' "

UC led, 6-5, after a pair of free throws by Kareem Johnson with 17:46 left in the first half. They would never lead again.

The Illini scored eight straight points - six on transition layups - to take a 13-6 lead, then increased the lead to 25-10 before the Bearcats knew what hit them.

UC Bearcats tried every defensive strategy that Huggins could think of. He started in man-to-man, switched to a zone and when things got out of hand, even went to back to full-court pressure.

Nothing worked.

At one point, the Illini made 10 straight shots, had one blocked by Johnson, then made three more in a row. (cq)

The Bearcats trailed by 16 at halftime. They trimmed the lead to 12 three times midway through the second half, but couldn't get any closer as the Illini went on another offensive run.

"They had more layups than any team I ever played against in transition," said UC guard Field Williams, who led UC with 16 points in his last college game. "We just didn't defend. They got open shots. If you're a college player, you should knock them down."

The Illini were happy to oblige.

Illinois	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Augustine	28	5	6	1	2	3	0	3	1	11
Powell	37	9	11	3	3	0	0	2	1	22
Head	36	2	5	2	2	5	9	2	1	6
Williams	31	10	13	5	7	3	7	2	0	31
Brown	35	6	12	0	0	3	8	0	1	14
Spears	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Howard	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
McBride	10	2	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	6
Nkemdi	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Carter	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0
Randle	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0
Smith	10	1	3	0	0	4	1	1	0	2
Ingram	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Totals	200	35	55	11	14	20	26	14	4	92

Team rebounds - 1.

Cincinnati	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Kirkland	25	3	7	0	1	2	5	1	2	6
Maxiell	36	6	10	3	5	8	1	2	0	15
Johnson	20	2	3	2	3	5	0	2	1	6
F.Williams	33	6	13	0	0	3	1	3	3	16
White	17	0	4	0	0	4	4	0	3	0
Moore	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Meeker	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
N.Williams	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Hicks	19	3	6	2	2	6	0	0	0	8
Bobbitt	29	6	12	0	0	4	2	3	2	15
Whaley	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	2
Totals	200	27	58	7	11	33	14	14	13	68

Team rebounds - 1.

Illinois	49	43	-92
Cincinnati	33	35	-68

3-pointers - I 11-19 (Powell 1-1, Head 0-2, Williams 6-8, Brown 2-5, McBride 2-3), UC 7-16 (F.Williams 4-8, Moore 0-1, Bobbitt 3-7). Technicals - None. Officials - N/A. Attendance - N/A.

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com