By
Keith Carmona
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The Wildcats earn first Final Four berth since 1997 with 87-81 victory against Illini
SAN ANTONIO - With less than two minutes in the game, the UA bench players sat together, their arms linked, swaying back and forth celebrating a win.
Little did they know how hard the game's final moments would be. The Wildcats nearly squandered a seven-point lead in the final 45 seconds only to prevail, 87-81, at the Alamodome.
"There have been so many ups and downs this season that I am not sure there is a team more deserving of this," said senior center Loren Woods.
"We keep using the word, 'Family' with the way that we have come together. But as sweet as this moment is, we have two more games until we can put the final icing on the cake."
Arizona players said they knew this game would come down to whichever team was tougher. But ultimately, it was mental toughness and not pure brute force that has the Wildcats making plans for a trip to Minneapolis.
As Illinois tried to outwrestle UA in the low post, the Illini's strength and physical presence actually ended up hindering them as the game wore on. Six Illinois players fouled out and 36 total UI personal fouls were committed, to which the Wildcats earned 56 trips to the charity stripe, a season-high.
Good thing Arizona can shoot free-throws. The Wildcats buried 43 of those attempts (80 percent), including 9 of 10 in the final minute.
The Illini made four three-pointers in the final 2:04 to cut an 11-point UA lead to just three points with 21 seconds remaining.
"We were just mentally tougher down the stretch every time we got to the line," said Woods, who made 12 of 13 free-throws.
"We got their big men out of the game and were hitting the free ones. How can you better equate mental toughness than with free-throws at the end of a close game?
"The pressure was on and we just kept hitting. It just goes to show that we have the makeup of champions," he added.
In this, the third meeting between the Wildcats and Illini, Arizona players admitted to experiencing a bit of deja vu in the waning moments.
In Maui last November, a game Arizona won, the Illini trailed by 15 points with more than three minutes left, but UI stormed back with a barrage of three-pointers to cut the UA lead to one with 25 seconds remaining.
"I just kept thinking about Maui over and over again with how they nearly did us in," senior forward Justin Wessel said. "People started getting excited on the bench, but I told them, 'Hold on, there's still a lot of time left.' They have cut it before and God knows we don't want that to deal with that again."
The first 20 minutes belonged to Arizona, with sophomore guard Gilbert Arenas leading the way.
Arenas scored 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting (2 of 3 three-pointers) before the break. It wasn't until 11:33 in the first half when Arizona got a field goal from someone other than the lanky sophomore.
But that was just fine, as the Wildcats led 18-9 on the heels of the Arenas charge.
"We knew there was going to be a lot of focus on the big guys inside, so I was able to break off and get open shots," said Arenas, who was named the weekend's Most Outstanding Player. "I guess I was lucky in the sense that my stroke was definitely on tonight. If nothing else, it felt good to fire up my team and fire up the crowd by nailing those shots."
At halftime, the Wildcats led 34-30, with UA beating Illinois at their own raucous style of play.
But rebounding kept UI close. Despite shooting 29.6 percent from the field, Illinois outrebounded Arizona 19-13, including nine offensive rebounds to Arizona's one.
Though UA shot a blistering 56 percent before the break, the Wildcats knew they had to do a better job standing their ground if they wanted to win.
"Coach Olson told us at the half that if we don't get tougher, we were going home," Edgerson said. "Nobody wanted to go home because the guys wanted to enjoy the Final Four. I told them that in order to do that, we needed to take care of business today."
The Wildcats contained UI forwards Brian Cook, Marcus Griffin and Damir Krupalija to fewer points (12) than fouls (15).
Not to be outdone, junior forward Richard Jefferson held UI point guard Frank Williams to just 3-of-15 shooting. Williams - who torched Kansas for a career-high 30 points - finished with nine points and one rebound, while committing five turnovers.
"Gilbert had guarded him the last two games and told me to keep a hand in his shot pocket so he couldn't bring the ball up easily," Jefferson said.
"Every time he drove (to the hoop), I was right there. Loren helped out too, so it was hard for him to elevate and get shots."
