ILLINOIS vs. ARIZONA

SEMIFINALS

1 Illinois: 80

4 Kansas: 64

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3 Mississippi: 56

2 Arizona: 66

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FINAL

2 p.m.

1 Illinois (27-7)

2 Arizona (26-7)

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* STYLE OF PLAY: Illinois has superior depth in the front court and will be as physical as possible. The Illini, which thoroughly intimidated Kansas, won’t be afraid to foul Wildcat center Loren Woods to establish presence in the paint. The banging will be as much fun to watch as the creativity of Illinois’ Frank Williams and Arizona’s Jason Gardner with the ball. Arizona will spread the points around, while Illinois has become increasingly dependent on

Williams.

* MATCHUP TO WATCH: Illinois’ Cory Bradford and Arizona’s Gilbert Arenas at shooting guard. Illinois will benefit if Bradford finds his form of the last two seasons. “I’m not hitting my shots for some reason,” he said. The explosive Arenas can take over a game, but he scored only 13 in two earlier games against the Illini. Another matchup to watch is Woods against a relay team of rough-and-tumble Illini post players, including Lucas Johnson, a player not shy about committing an intentional foul. “I think he’s crazy,” center Marcus Griffin said. “But I’d rather have him on my team than playing against me.”

* INTANGIBLES: Both teams expected to get here. Arizona dearly wishes to send its grieving coach, Lute Olson, to the Final Four, but once the ball is in the air sentimentality won’t count for much. Olson led Arizona to a national championship in 1997 and has won more than 600 games, but Illini Coach Bill Self is an up-and-comer. He led Tulsa to the Elite Eight last year and quickly has put his signature on an Illinois program that had not advanced past the second round in 11 years. Self is self-effacing when discussing Olson. “He’s won a lot more games than I have,” he said. “He’ll probably coach longer than I will too. I have a lot of respect for Lute.”

* MAGIC NUMBERS: Three, as in best of. Illinois and Arizona already have played twice this season, splitting them. Five, as in the number of Wildcat starters who score in double figures. Nine, as in the number of players in the Illini rotation.

* FINAL ANALYSIS: Both teams won their first three tournament games by double-figure margins. Neither should expect a fourth.

STATISTICS

TEAM COMPARISON

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ILL. ARIZ. Points Per Game 77.8 81.4 Opp. Points Per Game 65.3 65.5 Margin 12.5 15.9 Field-Goal Pct. .454 .479 Opp. Field-Goal Pct. .384 .394 3-Point Shooting .363 .356 Opp. 3-Point Shooting .323 .303 3-Point Baskets Per Game 6.9 5.3 Opp. 3-Point Baskets Per Game 6.3 5.7 Free-Throw Pct. .702 .748 Rebound Margin 7.1 7.3 Turnover Differential 1.0 1.0 Steals Per Game 7.6 7.8 Blocked Shots Per Game 4.3 4.1

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INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

ARIZONA

* Scoring: Gilbert Arenas 16.3; Michael Wright 16.2; Loren Woods 12.8; Richard Jefferson 11.0; Jason Gardner 10.5.

* Rebounding: Wright 8.0; Woods 6.3.

* Assists: Gardner 4.2; Luke Walton 3.2.

* Field-Goal %: Wright 59.5%; Woods 50.2%.

* Free Throw %: Woods 82.4%; Gardner 82.0%.

* Three-point baskets: Gardner 70; Arenas 66.

ILLINOIS

* Scoring: Frank Williams 15.1; Marcus Griffin 11.6; Brian Cook 11.4; Cory Bradford 9.5.

* Rebounding: Cook 6.2; Griffin 6.0.

* Assists: Williams 4.4.

* Field-Goal %: Robert Archibald 57.3%; Cook 54.7%.

* Free-Throw %: Williams 80.4%; Cook 80.2%

* Three-point baskets: Bradford 65; Sean Harrington 50; Williams 35.