No. 23 Indiana charges past Illinois 84-71

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Illinois coach Bruce Weber is tired of watching his team self-destruct in close games.

The young players just can't seem to help themselves.

This time, the Fighting Illini committed 30 fouls and frittered away their chance by giving up a late 15-6 run that allowed No. 23 Indiana to pull away for an 84-71 victory Thursday night.

"I've got to try," Weber said when asked if the team is staying positive. "They're playing against a Top 25 team on the road. We played our butt off, we played some good basketball, we've done it all year. We're close, we've just got to see if we can connect it all together."

Clearly, it was another dismal night in what has already been a challenging season. Illinois (16-8, 5-6 Big Ten) has lost five of its last six and now plays three of its next four on the road.

The Illini had nobody to blame but themselves Thursday.

On a night that D.J. Richardson rediscovered his shooting touch, finishing with 19 points, everyone else struggled. Brandon Paul, the Big Ten's No. 9 scorer was just 4 of 11 from the field and finished with 13 points. Sophomore center Meyers Leonard picked up three fouls in the first 7½ minutes of the second half, going to the bench with four fouls. He fouled out with 3:09 to go after scoring 17 points.

Fouls were a common theme Thursday. Three Illini fouled out and Indiana (19-6, 7-6) went 35 of 42 from the free throw line.

"The refs called good fouls, we made some stupid fouls in the first half," Richardson said. "We've got to do a better job attacking the basket. Their guys did a great job of that."

And none of the Hoosiers' took advantage of the Illinois miscues more than Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo.

Zeller made nifty move after nifty move and drew foul after foul. He finished with 22 points, five rebounds and went 5 of 8 from the field and 12 of 14 from the free throw line.

He had plenty of help, too

Oladipo and Christian Watford had 18 points and Jordan Hulls finished with 15 points and seven assists as Indiana moved within one victory of giving coach Tom Crean his first 20-win season since leaving Marquette for the Hoosiers in 2008.

"You have to execute under pressure, that's one of the greatest forms of toughness you can have," Crean said. "But you have to be able to play through contact as well."