BY ETHAN ASOFSKY

SENIOR WRITER

As time expired Saturday, Brandon Paul stared down the crowd in Gonzaga’s McCarthy Athletic Center, let loose a radiant smile and raised his hand like a phone to his right ear.

The Illini had answered the call America had posed to them.

Over the past week, ESPN’s Myron Medcalf and CBS’s Doug Gottlieb both made statements degrading the No. 13 Illini’s undefeated record, but Paul best summarized the week’s media circus after the team’s 85-74 win over No. 10 Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash.

“Nobody really gave us a chance in this game,” the Illini senior guard said. “We love being underdogs.”

Not bad for the most overrated team in the country.

Then again, Vegas also wasn’t predicting Paul to drop 35 points and sink 10-of-16 from the field and 5-of-9 from downtown. Oddsmakers marked the Illini — who hadn’t beaten a ranked team on the road since Feb. 9, 2010, against then-No.11 Wisconsin — 11-point underdogs on the road. And it’s tough to blame the sports books. Before Saturday, the Bulldogs had lost just seven times at home since “The Kennel” opened nine years ago, and the place was guaranteed to be rowdy for a primetime, nationally televised game between two unbeatens. Over 100 tents were camped outside the stadium in Gonzaga’s “tent city” the day before the game.

That energy reared its head early, when Gonzaga jumped out to a 12-3 start, powered by Wooden Award candidate Elias Harris and 7-foot center Kelly Olynyk. As expected, the two Gonzaga bigs created problems for Illinois in the post, causing center Nnanna Egwu to get in early foul trouble. The Bulldogs stretched their lead to 31-20 before the Illini made their run, slowly cutting away at the deficit until Tyler Griffey hit a jumper with less than a second remaining in the half to tie the game at 41. Paul’s 18 first-half points and superb defense, including two show-stopping transition blocks, allowed Illinois to stick with Gonzaga, a team that shot 55 percent from the field in the first half.

“I kept telling everybody: `This is it. We’ve got to take this right now,’” Paul said after the game. We’re not playing well, but we’re still in this game.”

Once again, Illini head coach John Groce adjusted to his team’s defensive deficiencies, switching to a 2-3 zone to compensate for forward-center Sam McLaurin’s height mismatch on Olynyk. As a result, Illinois controlled the second half by clamping down on defense, allowing Gonzaga to shoot just 34 percent from the field. After a 3-pointer by D.J. Richardson, who finished with 11 points and six rebounds, just 1 minute, 40 seconds into the second frame, Illinois never trailed for the rest of the game. Gonzaga drew within three with 3:42 remaining, but clutch foul shooting by sophomore point guard Tracy Abrams and another big three from Paul gave the Illini a commanding lead that put the game out of reach.

Abrams added 14 points and five assists against three turnovers, sophomore Joseph Bertrand scored nine points in 20 minutes and Paul finished the game 10-of-11 from the charity stripe.

The Illini are now one of 14 teams that remain undefeated, and they lead the NCAA in wins, along with Minnesota, New Mexico and Wyoming, at 10-0. Last year, the Illini started with the same record before falling apart down the stretch, losing their last 12 of 14 games of the season to miss the NCAA tournament. This year, all signs point to a top-10 ranking in Monday’s updated polls and no slowing down.

Don’t be surprised if Vegas starts betting on the Illini.

Ethan can be reached at [email protected] and @asofthesky. The Associated Press contributed to this report.