Slowly, Georgetown was beginning to get back into the game. After being held in the single digits for over 18 minutes in the first half, Georgetown opened the second half on an 11-5 run, cutting Illinois’ lead to 33-24.

Both teams traded baskets for a couple of minutes but the Illini seemed unable to muster the same defensive intensity as they had in the first half. They needed their offense to step up.

It did.

All-American point guard Dee Brown beat his man to the basket on back-to-back possessions, pushing Illinois’ lead to 42-28 and temporarily out of the Hoyas’ reach.

Georgetown cut the lead back to nine at 42-33 a few minutes later, but again Brown was there to make a big play. With the shot clock winding down, the senior drove down the lane. The defense collapsed around him and he found wide open Jamar Smith in the right corner. As usual, Smith drained the three and the Illini were on their way to a hard-fought 58-48 victory over the Hoyas on Thursday night at the Assembly Hall.

Brown led the Illini with 16 points in the game while fellow senior James Augustine had 10.

“Right from the beginning, we saw offense wasn’t going to be pretty,” Weber said.

He added that despite the slowed down game, he was pleased to see Brown and the Illini withstand Georgetown’s run to get the win.

To Weber, any way they get a win is good right now.

“Almost every game is different how we win,” he said.

ILLINI GET DEFENSIVE

With their offense playing sluggishly against Georgetown’s zone for most of the night, Illinois’ defense stepped up in a big way, allowing only 13 first half points and 48 overall in their best performance of the season.

Georgetown finished shooting 38 percent from the field, but were only 5 of 22 in the first half.

Weber was impressed of his team’s intensity, especially because of the style the Hoyas play.

“Not alot of the guys have faced (their offense),” he said. “The first half was as good a 20 minutes, defensively, as I’ve seen in a long time. We played so hard.”

THREES PROVE VALUABLE

Despite only making 20-of-62 shots on the game, Illinois held a slight advantage over Georgetown from the three-point line, making seven threes to the Hoyas five. Three of the five threes came in the waning moments.

Weber said he knew his team would have to come out shooting well from the three-point line in order to extend the zone and was glad to see Rich McBride open the game with a pair of threes.

In addition to McBride, Smith and Brown were the other Illini to hit threes.

ILLINI CRASH THE BOARDS

For the second game in a row, Illinois dominated the glass, outrebounding the Hoyas 44-31 for the game. Augustine led the Illini with 13 rebounds.

Illinois also held Georgetown’s 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert to only seven rebounds.

Weber was very pleased by the Illini’s play around the basket.

“We have guys who will get their nose in there and grab something,” he said. “The way we are playing offensively, any extra possession is so helpful for us.”