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Chicago • Call this one an opportunity lost.
Everything was setting up perfectly for BYU on Saturday night at United Center, and the Cougars had Illinois on the run, panicking at times against a stifling zone defense.
But the Cougars couldn't quite finish after overcoming a 16-point deficit in the first half, and fell 75-73 when Nick Emery's long 3-pointer rimmed out at the buzzer.
"I feel blessed that we were able to win against a really good team," said Illinois coach John Groce.
After delivering a monster game — 25 points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes while battling foul trouble — BYU's Eric Mika was wondering what might have been.
"We did a good job coming back and fighting and making it into a game," Mika said." It came down to one, two, three big-time plays we needed to make, and like coach said, Illinois just made them. They made the hustle plays, got to the 50-50 balls, and we didn't convert on a couple things we could have, and that's the result."
The Cougars never led in the second half, but were within a point, 69-68, when freshman Colby Leifson made his second 3-pointer with a minute, 50 seconds left. But Illinois' Maverik Morgan hit a jumper, second-chance points after the Cougars couldn't come up with a defensive rebound, with 36 seconds left.
Then Tracy Abrams came up with a steal and a fast break layup to push the lead to five. Senior L.J. Rose scored five points in the final 17 seconds to bring the Cougars back, but Emery's 3-pointer was off-target after Malcom Hill missed a free-throw with 4.4 seconds left.
"We didn't come ready to play from the beginning," Rose said. "We got a group out there that was ready to compete, and they got us back into the game. They brought life back into the team. We really fought, but it was a little bit too late. There were a lot of winning plays that we didn't make, that I didn't make. That's pretty much it."
Illinois got 10 offensive rebounds, which it turned into 13 second-chance points. The designated home team made three or four shots as the shot clock was about to hit zero.
"A couple of times I think we did everything right [defensively], and they just jumped up and made the big shot," BYU coach Dave Rose said.
What the Cougars wanted to avoid — Mika getting into early foul trouble — happened in the first half, and the Cougars' center and leading rebounder and scorer went to the bench with his second foul with 12:15 remaining in the first half and the Cougars trailing 18-13.
With Mika watching from the bench, the Illini raced out to a 37-21 lead. Rose gambled and put the sophomore back in with 5:42 left, and BYU slowly crawled back in it.
"We came off a really good win against Colorado, with the same kind of athletes, the same kind of size and length," Dave Rose said. "But we got into this game, and for some reason that surprised us. … We should be past that. We should be past that 11 games into the season."
Emery added 16 points and TJ Haws 10, while Rose had nine assists. Freshman Yoeli Childs started for the fifth straight game and had eight points and nine rebounds.
"We did some good things to get it there, and that's what I will continue to emphasize with these guys, the positive things that we did," Dave Rose said. "Hopefully their confidence will start to expand between each other.
"I think we got good confidence in ourselves. We need to expand our confidence in each other."
Twitter: @drewjay Illinois 75, BYU 73
BYU (7-4)
Childs 3-5 2-2 8, Mika 9-12 7-8 25, Emery 5-15 3-5 16, Rose 3-7 0-0 7, Haws 4-12 1-1 10, Aytes 0-1 1-2 1, Guinn 0-1 0-0 0, Shaw 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 0-2 0-0 0, Bryant 0-0 0-0 0, Beo 0-3 0-0 0, Leifson 2-2 0-0 6, Frampton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-61 14-18 73.
ILLINOIS (9-3)
Black 2-3 0-0 4, Thorne 3-4 0-2 6, Abrams 6-15 0-0 15, Hill 3-12 3-5 10, Coleman-Lands 4-13 0-0 12, Nichols 0-0 0-0 0, Finke 3-5 2-2 10, Morgan 7-10 0-2 14, Williams 1-1 0-0 2, Lucas 0-0 0-0 0, Tate 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-64 5-11 75.
Halftime—Illinois 43-37. 3-Point Goals—BYU 7-22 (Emery 3-8, Leifson 2-2, Rose 1-4, Haws 1-7, Beo 0-1), Illinois 10-26 (Coleman-Lands 4-10, Abrams 3-7, Finke 2-4, Hill 1-5). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—BYU 34 (Childs 9), Illinois 37 (Morgan 10). Assists—BYU 22 (Rose 9), Illinois 18 (Tate 5). Total Fouls—BYU 16, Illinois 19.