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Men's Basketball
Former Teammates Turner, McCamey Square Off in Semifinals
By Brandon Castel

INDIANAPOLIS – This year’s Big Ten Tournament might take place in Indianapolis, but Saturday’s matchup between Ohio State (25-7) and Illinois (19-13) will feature two of Chicago’s favorite sons.

Evan Turner is going to be tough for the Illini to stop.
Photo by Jim Davidson

Fresh off his “shot heard round the world” against Michigan, Evan Turner will square off against high school teammate Demetri McCamey Saturday (1:40 p.m. ET, CBS) at Conseco Fieldhouse in the semifinals of the 2010 conference tournament.

Turner and McCamey have been in this position before, but never against each other. The Buckeyes and Fighting Illini each reached the conference semifinals last season, with Ohio State advancing to the finals with an 82-70 win over Michigan State. Illinois fell to eventual champion Purdue 66-56.

While Turner captured national headlines for his game-winning buzzer-beater in No. 5 Ohio State’s 69-68 win over Michigan, McCamey went for 13 points, eight assists and five rebounds in the Illini’s 58-54 upset of No. 13 Wisconsin.

Turner and McCamey each shot 6-of-15 from the floor and each had eight assists in victory. After getting out to an early 11-3 lead, the Illini led by as many as 16 points (46-30) against the Badgers, a team many had picked as a darkhorse to win the conference tournament with Jon Leuer back in the lineup.

But the Badgers shot just 6-of-33 from the floor in the first half and trailed 29-20 at the break. They shot 40 percent in the second half, but finished 28.6 percent for the game while the Fighting Illini hit 52 percent of their shots and 60 percent of their shots from behind the arc.

The Buckeyes also shot over 50 percent in their win over Michigan, with four players scoring in double figures. Turner led the way with 18, but David Lighty and William Buford each chipped in 15 points.

Lighty the Key?

David Lighty has been a problem for the Illini in their first two meetings with the Buckeyes.
Photo by Jim Davidson

While the matchup between Turner and McCamey will once again take center stage Saturday, it might very well be David Lighty that keeps Illinois Head Coach Bruce Weber from sleeping tonight. Turner has posted some monstrous stat lines against Weber’s team this season. He went for 16-12-5 in a 73-57 win in Columbus on March 2 nd after putting up 16-11-8 two weeks earlier in a 72-53 win in Champaign.

But if teams in the Big Ten have learned anything this season, it’s that Evan Turner is going to get his. The possible National Player of the Year is too talented to be held down for an entire 40 minutes. Even with Illinois guard D.J. Richardson doing a good job against him, Turner still posted near triple-doubles in his two games against the hometown Illini.

It has been Lighty’s ability to compliment Turner’s output that has led to two blowouts. He scored 17 in the first meeting and 15 in the second with many of his baskets come during key stretches for the Buckeyes.

The Illini start one seven-footer and two 6-9 guys in their front court. That might sound like a matchup nightmare for the Buckeyes, who go 6-8, 6-5 and 6-5 across front, but according to Weber it’s just as tough for his big men to matchup with Lighty because of his speed and athleticism.

“Lighty is a tough matchup for us,” Weber said after he scored 12 of his 17 points in the first half up in Champaign.

“They hurt us in transition a little bit and the thing I feared was Lighty in transition. Your four-men are used to running back to the paint and now he’s out there on the perimeter as another ball handler.”

Lighty’s ability to defend and rebound against bigger players allows him to be affective playing the four against someone like Mike Davis, who has a good four inches on Lighty. His improved outside shot also makes him a matchup nightmare for bigger forwards who must also be aware of his ability to drive the ball to the basket.

Illinois Projected Starting Lineup:

C 54 Mike Tisdale (7-0, Jr., Riverton, Ill.)

F 24 Mike Davis (6-9, Jr., Alexandria, Va.)

F 30 Bill Cole (6-9, Jr., Peoria, Ill.)

G 1 D.J. Richardson (6-3, Fr., Peoria, Ill.)

G 32 Demetri McCamey (6-3, Jr., Chicago)

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