A wild ride back to campus after a weekend home in Chicago had Kiwane Garris riding the bench at the start of Wednesday night’s Big 10 opener against Ohio State. But it wasn’t long before Illinois’ point guard was back in the driver’s seat and steering the Illini to a 79-70 victory.
Garris and fellow guard Richard Keene were the guiding lights against an Ohio State team still searching for an identity. Garris scored 28 points and Keene had a career-high 22 as the Buckeyes sagged back on defense and the two sharpshooting guards made them pay for it.
It was the second straight good shooting night for Keene, who appears to have emerged from a slump. He was 4 of 7 from three-point range and now has made 7 of 12 from beyond the arc in his last two games.
But he was far from just a shooter Wednesday, collecting 7 rebounds and 6 assists, two resulting in spectacular alley-oop dunks by Robert Bennett.
“We didn’t do a very good job recognizing where Keene was on the floor,” said Ohio State coach Randy Ayers. “We lost him a couple of times.”
Illinois coach Lou Henson thought he had lost Garris for a while on Monday when his sophomore guard failed to show up for practice. Garris, it turned out, had missed his ride back to school and said: “I got stopped by the police for speeding and that took more time.”
Garris was not the driver, and when his friend explained the situation “he (the trooper) let us go on our way.”
“He had a legitimate excuse,” said Henson, “but at Illinois, if you don’t practice, you don’t start.”
So Garris was on the bench with Jerry Hester, who did practice Monday but perhaps shouldn’t have. He suffered a back injury Saturday before going home. “When he came back Monday, we realized he still had a problem,” said Henson.
Hester, who scored 29 points in his last game, did not play Wednesday, and that may be one reason why Keene broke loose. “We didn’t run our offense as well as we do when Jerry’s out there,” said Garris. “When he’s there, I can run it to both sides, but tonight I just ran it toward Richard.”
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It might have made more of a difference had Illinois been playing one of the top teams in the Big 10, but the Buckeyes are a long way from that, even if they did get Rickey Dudley back.
Two days ago, Dudley was playing tight end for the Buckeye football team against Alabama in the Citrus Bowl. Henson refuses to believe that the 6-6 senior has not picked up a basketball since last season.
“Dudley was great tonight,” he said. “I’ll guarantee you, watching him shoot, he hasn’t been playing football all the time. He’s been hitting the court.”
Dudley hit the first two three-point shots of his career, tied his career high with 13 points and and corralled 7 rebounds.
Even harder to handle was center Antonio Watson, who had 14 of his 20 points in the second half, many wide-open layups. “At times, we played good defense,” said Henson, “but it seems when we make a mistake, it’s a major breakdown.”
Still, Illinois led from start to finish and twice had leads of 16 points.
“I like Illinois,” said Ayers. “I think their potential is unlimited. If Garris can continue to improve, they’ll be one of the best teams in the conference.”