The Flyers Land in Assembly Hall

The Fighting Illini will take on the Dayton Flyers in a loser goes home match as both teams try to get to the Big Apple. Dayton is going to give Bruce Weber's team all that they can handle with athletic players all over the court. The object of the Flyer game plan will be to wear the Illini down. Brian Gregory loves to go deep into his bench, sometimes even 5 players deep. Power Forward Chris Wright will be a tough match-up for Mike Davis as he will play at 100% all night. If Davis isn't giving it his all on defense then he is going to get exploited. I also expect to see London Warren pressuring McCamey all the way up the floor for most of the game, causing him to use extra energy and speed things up a little. The Flyers boast a quick defense and athletic players all over the court. I think the score will stay in the low 60's, and hopefully the Illini can shoot better from outside than they did to start the game against Kent State.

The Flyers have come out and just run us to death. Gregory said that the team was going to come out with high energy, and so far he's been right. Marcus Johnson hit a well guarded three ball and also took one to the hole for a dunk. The game plan for the Illini needs to be to settle down and get into an offense... so far we have rushed everything too much, and the result has been some bad shots and turnovers. 9-3 Dayton with 16 left in the first.

The Illini are forced to call a timeout with 13 left in the half because the Flyers have gone on a run and stretched the lead out to 11 points. Gregory's team now holds a 17-6 edge.

At the 12 minute timeout, things haven't gotten much better. Dayton is still running all over the court, and the Illini are struggling to keep up. Mike Tisdale just picked up his second foul after having to help defend a guard as he drove to the basket uncontested. The energy level is going to have to change for Weber's team if we are going to come back in this half.

Dayton calls a timeout after a small Illini run, and the fans go crazy after what they will tell you is a long overdue traveling call. 29-17 Dayton with 9 left.

One minute later the 8 minute timeout is called, and the score is the same. Dayton has turned the ball over 3 times now in the last couple of minutes with dribbling errors.

4 left in the first half, and the Illini are still down 33-21. Dayton continues to play fast, and it's been a real challange to just get back on defense in time to get into a half court game.

It's halftime, and the Illini trail the Flyers 38-25. You don't win many games when your team shoots 30% and the other shoots 50%, but that's just the situation the Illini have found themselves in. Dayton has been able to get to the basket at will. I was worried that the team speed and depth of the Flyers might be too much for us, but what I wasn't worried about was the Flyers shooting the lights out from three point land. Nine different players have scored for Dayton who have spread out the offense extremely well. If Illinois is going to come back, we are going to need to get Tisdale and Davis involved... To this point the two bigs have 6 combined points. The only real shining stat for the Illini in the first half was the 4 turnovers.

Dayton opens the second half with two straight offensive rebounds on the first possession and a dunk by Chris Wright.

The Illini are going inside to start the second half. McCamey, DJ, and Tisdale have all gone inside for their shot attempts.

The Illini made a nice run and cut the lead to 9, but the Flyers came firing back. The score sits at 47-33 Dayton, and now the Illini have only 15:45 to make up the ground. I still think it can be done, but the Illini are going to need to hit some shots.

The fans are about ready to storm the court here and lynch the officials. It's hard to get a good view of the players feet from the floor, but the crowd sure seems to think that Dayton is getting away with a lot of traveling.

Mike Tisdale picks up his fourth foul with 13 minutes left in the game and has to go to the bench. 48-37 Dayton.

The 12 minute timeout arrives, and Weber is hoping to find another spurt coming out of the break. His team is still down 12, but Dayton isn't shooting quite like they were in the first half which has opened things up a little.

The theme of this game has been Dayton gets on a run, Illinois responds, then Dayton does it again... the only problem is that the Illini didn't start "responding" until about 10 minutes into the game, and by that time the Flyers had pulled it out to a 19 point lead. 8 left, and the Illini trail 57-45.

Mike Tisdale fouls out of the game with 7:53 left to play. Tisdale may have just played his last minutes of the season unless his team can rally with him as a spectator.

The Illini may be out of time here with 6 minutes left to play. The Flyers lead the game 61-47, and we seem to be completely out of order.

Back to back shots by the Illini cut the lead to ten, but Griffey fouls Chris Johnson, and the Flyers get one back. 62-51 with 4:25 left.

Brian Gregory has clearly taken a page right out of Tom Izzo's playbook when it comes to transition offense. Dayton pushes the ball up court faster than anybody we have faced all season. I don't know if Dayton was just hot tonight or if this was just a case of a bad match up, but the Flyers are taking it to the Illini pretty hard.

2:30 left, and Dayton is just extending the lead now at the line. Illini fans won't be happy, but this was a good Dayton team that showed up today. I would have thought the score was going to be a little closer than this and that we would have kept them under 70 points, but it looks like neither of those things will be represented in the final score.

Mike Davis goes to the line after a three ball by Richardson and a UD turnover. The Illini can cut it to nine. First one good, second shot the same. 67-58 Dayton with 2 to play.

McCamey steals the inbounds pass and converts to draw the Illini within 7, but a Chris Wright dunk and Richardson turnover gives the ball back... Things look bad until London Warren misses a free throw, and Bill Cole nails a quick three. 69-63 Dayton with 1:20 left to play.

McCamey looked to be good from deep, but the roll wasn't there and that may have capped it off for the Illini. Dayton shoots free throws and goes up 7 with 55 seconds left... Paul misses the front end of a one and one, and Dayton starts to go into celebration mode.

Tyler Griffey is fouled on a one and 1 and converts for the three point play. A quick foul, and Dayton's shooting two. 66-73 Dayton after a free throw. Mike Davis makes a bucket down low, and Dayton goes quickly to the line.

McCamey is fouled and goes to the line with 2.4 seconds left, but it's too little, too late. The final score in this one is Dayton 77 - Illinois 71.