FINAL FAREWELL : Illini Saddened, but Proud of Season After the End Comes One Game Early

Illinois guard Steve Bardo collapsed to the court after Michigan defeated the Illini, 83-81, in a Final Four semifinal game Saturday in the Kingdome.

He buried his head in his hands and photographers captured his moment of agony.

“I’m a tough competitor,” Bardo said. “I hate to lose, playing cards or a video game. And anytime I lose I’m going to be upset. I’m going to be cordial, but I don’t have to like losing.”

Tears didn’t flow in the Illinois locker room after it was over.

“We’re men, and men don’t cry,” Illinois guard Kendall Gill said. “Things just didn’t go our way.”

The vanquished Illini filed silently into their locker room, where they knelt in prayer. Coach Lou Henson addressed the team and then the locker room was opened.

Henson was proud of his team.

“In the eyes of some, this will go down as a pretty darn good basketball team,” Henson said. “In my eyes, this will go down as a team with great character. At the beginning of the year, we didn’t know how far we could go. I’m proud of this team because they outworked other ballclubs.

“They tried to do it tonight. They just couldn’t quite get it done. Michigan played a very good basketball game.”

Although the Illini were obviously disappointed, they maintained their composure after the loss.

“Even though we lost, we knew crying wasn’t going to solve anything,” said forward Kenny Battle, who scored a game-high 29 points.

But even if the Illini had shed some tears, no one could blame them.

After beating Michigan by margins of 12 and 16 points during the regular season, the Illini lost to the Wolverines after Sean Higgins scored on a follow shot with two second left.

Higgins said that Michigan was determined not to lose to Illinois for the third time this season.

“It’s like when you get chased home from school by a bully, you get tired of it,” Higgins said. “We were tired of losing.”

Higgins raised his fists in celebration as he ran down the court.

Illinois’ Nick Anderson said the ball just bounced to Higgins.

“I boxed Higgins out and unfortunately the ball bounced right into his hand,” Anderson said.

Illinois had one last chance to win. After using a timeout, the Illini set up a play for Anderson, who would take a shot off a screen, but the Wolverines forced Bardo to throw away the ball on the inbounds play.

“I tried to get (Anderson) the ball,” Bardo said. “But they had him double-teamed and I was trying to hit Kenny (Battle) when I threw the ball away.”

And that was the game.

How did Illinois lose it?

The Illini said the Wolverines rebounded better than they did in the first two meetings.

“They didn’t rebound like that the first two times we played them,” Anderson said of the Wolverines. “And they also played together. The first two times we played them they looked for one or two guys to do all the work.”

A lot more people did the work for Michigan Saturday.

Michigan got most of its points from Glen Rice (26 points), Rumeal Robinson (14) and Higgins (14).

Bardo, who was assigned to check Rice, couldn’t stay with him.

“I felt I could have done a better job of guarding him (Rice),” Bardo said. “He had an outstanding game, but I don’t think I played well.”

While Rice, Robinson and Higgins were responsible for the Wolverine offense, center Loy Vaught took care of the rebounding, getting 16 rebounds.

The Wolverines, who had been embarrassed on the boards in their first two games against Illinois, outrebounded the Illini, 45-39.

“Rebounding was the key,” Vaught said. “That was the reason we beat them.”

The Illini will be rooting for Michigan in Monday’s championship game against Seton Hall.

“I’ve got to stick with Michigan because they’re from the Big Ten,” Anderson said.