The News-Gazette.com Weblog

Basketblog

When is 33 not just 33?

Posted by: Paul Klee

Thursday, February 19, 2009 11:31 AM

Nineteen players have worn No. 33 at Illinois. Eddie Johnson, Kenny Battle, Ken Norman are three. But 33 took on a different meaning last night, with Illinois scoring 33 points in a 40-minute game. Maybe in a few years you'll laugh about it - remember that time? - but for now:

- The Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony scored 33 points this season - in a quarter.

- The Suns (142-119) quadrupled the Illini last night.

- On his way to 54 points against Tennessee in January, Kentucky's Jodie Meeks scored his 33rd point with 17:55 remaining in the game.

- If you saw the ESPN ticker at halftime, the Illini's national ranking (18) was higher than their score (15).

- Northwestern isn't the old Northwestern, but it's still Northwestern, and Northwestern has doubled the Illini's point total in 13 games this season.

- A Big Ten player has not scored 33 points in a game this season, though Northwestern's Craig Moore and Kevin Coble had 31, the most points by a Big Ten player in a game this season.

- Illini quarterback Juice Williams sat courtside last night. His football Illini scored more points than last night's Illini in four games last season. The halftime score of Juice's September game at State College (Penn State 21, Illinois 14) had more points than last night's basketball game (Penn State 17, Illinois 15).

- Penn State and Illinois scored the fewest points in a Division I game since Monmouth beat Princeton 41-21 on Dec. 14, 2005. (That was the lowest-scoring game since the three-point line was introduced.) Princeton's leading scorer was Patrick Ekeruo with nine points. Illinois' leading scorers (Chester Frazier and Trent Meacham) had seven points last night.

***

HQ had a better Wednesday than Illinois:

- Live Report.

- "The score's in the 30s."

- Grades.

- Tate.

- Notes.

- Chat.

pklee@news-gazette.com