Texas Upsets No. 5 Illinois

Darren Kelly is showing Texas' opponents the domination only his teammates had seen until recently this season.

Kelly, in his second game back from academic suspension, scored 21 points and provided some critical late-game free throws Saturday as the Longhorns (8-2) knocked off No. 5 Illinois 72-64.

In two games since his return, both wins, Kelly has averaged 22 points for Texas.

"He is a difference maker," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "I said earlier in the year we were a different team in practice than we played. He's not doing anything I don't expect him to."

Maurice Evans had 14 points and Brian Boddicker added 12 as Texas (8-2) won its 18th straight home game. It was the Longhorns first home win over a Top Five team since 1991.

Already blessed with a front line of big bodies with Evans, Boddicker and Chris Owens, Kelly brings scoring punch from the perimeter and slashing speed to the basket the Longhorns haven't had this season.

Conditioning wasn't a problem early on as Kelly had 10 points in the first half. His consecutive baskets with a spinning jumper around Cory Bradford and a floater in the lane put Texas ahead 32-18.

Illinois cut the lead to 34-25 by halftime and continued to chip away in the second half. Brian Cook, who led Illinois with 18 points, dropped in a putback layup to tie it at 50 with 9:16 to play. Boddicker then nailed his third 3-pointer to put Texas ahead again.

Texas led 59-52 before Maurice Griffin made a layup and Cook converted a 3-point play to pull the Illini within two.

The Illini appeared to have stopped the Longhorns on the other end whn Frank Williams forced Kelly into a wild 3-pointer with just five seconds left on the shot clock.

But Kelly drew the foul and swished three consecutive free throws to push the Texas lead back up 62-57. After Williams and Bradford threw up a pair of wild 3-pointers on Illinois' next two possessions, Texas freshman James Thomas put back his own missed layup and hit one of two free throws to make it 65-57 with 2:40 left.

Bradford extended to 76 his NCAA record of consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer but the Illini went just 4-of-25 from long range as a team.

"Our game plan wasn't to shoot 3s" Illinois coach Bill Self said. "Our game plan was to attack them inside. It was frustrating."

Texas gave Illinois a chance to close the gap in the final minute.

After Sean Harrington hit three foul shots to pull the Illini within five, Texas turned it over with 22 seconds left when Royal Ivey's errant inbounds pass sailed across the court and out of bounds.

But Marcus Griffin missed two layups in traffic and Bradford's 3-pointer bounced off the rim and over the backboard. The Longhorns made 11 of 15 free throws over the final three minutes.

The last time Texas played a top five team, the Longhorns, minus Kelly, were beaten by then-No. 2 Duke 95-69 on Nov. 22 in the Preseason NIT.

"Three weeks ago we played Duke and I said tonight we're going to find out just how far we've come in three weeks time," Barnes said.

"We did play hard for the longest period of time that we've played all year."

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