Like their Governor, Illinois does the unexpected

The governor has long made plain his disdain for downstate Illinois (note to aspiring governors: not a good move to make plain your disdain for 75 percent of your state's territory), but if by chance he were to swing by Champaign during this his August of '74, he'll see a team that likewise enjoys confounding the conventional wisdom.

With their 71-67 overtime win at Purdue last night, Illinois mastered the art of inverting the story line. The stop-the-presses news about this team, as you may have heard by now, is that this year their shots are actually going in. That particular piece of news was lost in translation last night, however, as Bruce Weber's group managed to win a rather unsightly Big Ten scrum despite scoring less than a point per trip.

They won because they deprived the Boilermakers of two things they hold dear: takeaways and Robbie Hummel. In a 45-minute game with 75 possessions against what last year was one of the best teams in the country at creating turnovers, Illinois gave the ball away just six times. That nets out to a turnover percentage of eight. Eight: a number so small you can spell it. Not that the Illini translated all those shots into points, of course. But the lack of quick baskets for Purdue off of their opponent's turnovers was huge.

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