A veteran group of All-American caliber guards showed just why the old adage "Guard play wins games" is so true. Between Luther Head, Deron Williams and Dee Brown, the Illini put on a show that rivaled any team in the nation.
It all started innocent and promising enough with Deron Williams cutting down the lane for a mid-range shot, countered immediately by Ronny Turiaf passing to Sean Mallon for a nifty layup.
When Illinois turned it over on their next possession, things briefly looked bright. But Mallon lost the handle and Illinois was officially off to the races.
Seven turnovers by the Zags in the first five minutes and it wasn't long before the #4 team in the country was up by twenty and just starting to get hot. Bombarding GU with trey after trey, sandwiched between breakaway layups, the Illini guards blitzed the Bulldogs while the inside games of Turiaf, Mallon and JP Batista were essentially neutralized.
Giving up 58 points in the first half while scoring 27, well, the game was all but over.
As John Wooden looked on in this event, held in his name and honor, Adam Morrison would score 11 first half points and 15 second half points, plus a good number of rebounds. Turiaf would score 12 and Derek Raivio and JP Batista rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Zags climbed back to within 17 points by the final buzzer for an 89-72 result that really wasn't that close.
Gonzaga returns to home to host the Washington Huskies on Wednesday, December 1, for a 5:00pm tipoff.