Georgia shocks Illinois 70-67

By Carroll Rogers

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It had to catch Georgia off guard to walk into Gwinnett Arena for Saturday night's game against Illinois and see so many fans dressed in orange.

But coach Mark Fox saw it as an opportunity for motivation. He used it to fire up the Bulldogs for a 70-67 upset over Illinois and the first signature win of his Georgia career.

He got it with his predecessor, Dennis Felton, now a scout for the Phoenix Suns, in the stands.

"I didn't even give my pre-game speech," Fox said afterward. "I just talked to them about the fact that ‘It may seem like a road game, you have to play together.' l didn’t even cover the things on the board. We played as a unit. We played for Georgia."

The Bulldogs beat an Illinois team (8-3) from a loaded Big Ten. The Illini had been ranked No. 23 in The Associated Press poll to start the season. Just four years ago Illinois was playing for the national championship against North Carolina.

With all the orange in Saturday night's crowd of 4,000, it looked like Illinois had drawn alumni from about a three-state area.

"I told them at the first timeout, if you're Georgia and you're playing close to home and you walk out and it's somewhere 50-50, 60-40 our fans, how would you feel?" Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "And they played like the motivated team, like they had a chip on their shoulder."

The upstart Bulldogs, now 5-4, beat Illinois for the first time in six meetings. They played one step quicker, made the extra pass and got by on will when the energy ran low.

Georgia led for the entire second half until Demetri McCamey's 3-point play with 35.6 seconds left put Illinois up 67-66.

Sophomore Trey Thompkins answered with a baseline drive to draw a foul with 22.2 seconds left. He made both free throws to get Georgia the lead back, 68-67.

Thompkins came down with the rebound on the other end of the floor after McCamey missed, shooting high over Albert Jackson. Thompkins made two more free throws with 6.6 seconds left to seal it. He and McCamey finished with 21 points apiece.

"I imagined myself being back in my backyard when I was a kid, trying to knock down free throws so I can get in and eat dinner," Thompkins said.

Thompkins had missed three practices during the week after having two wisdom teeth pulled, and he didn't start the game. But he fed off what his teammates told him about the practices he missed during the 10-day break since Georgia's previous game.

"The guys were going through practices that were very grueling," Thompkins said. "They were explaining to me how much we've got to become more of a team. This week taught us how much of a team we are and how much better we can become."

Georgia and Illinois were tied 32-32 at halftime before the Bulldogs rebuilt a lead by getting Illini center Mike Tisdale in foul trouble. Tisdale picked up his third and fourth fouls in the first five minutes of the second half.

Travis Leslie went up-and-under for a layup to draw Tisdale's fourth foul and complete a 3-point play to put Georgia up by nine, 44-36, with 15:35 left. Tisdale drew his fifth and final foul on Thompkins' baseline play that led to the winning free throws.