Illinois and North Carolina came into the season each with a highly-touted freshman forward. For the Tar Heels, Harrison Barnes was accruing national recognition, including a preseason All-America nod. Jereme Richmond was well-known in recruiting and Big Ten circles, but probably not much outside of that. At least not yet.
In watching the two play Tuesday night, you wouldn't know it.
For the better part of the past four games, Barnes had struggled mightily, and UNC's 79-67 loss to Illinois Tuesday night was no different. He hit just 2-of-9 shots from the floor and ended with eight points and six rebounds.
His counterpart, Richmond, has been steadily improving through his smaller amount of minutes in the early going and put forth a very solid effort Tuesday night, scoring 12 points and pulling down five rebounds. He wasn't great, but he was easily better than Barnes -- which is a perfect illustration for this game. The Illini were simply better -- top-to-bottom and start-to-finish -- than the Tar Heels.
It was a balanced, team effort. on both ends of the floor for Illinois As can be expected most games, the trio of seniors -- Demetri McCamey (17 points, eight assists), Mike Tisdale (14 points, five rebounds) and Mike Davis (20 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, three steals) -- led the No. 20 Illini (7-1). Sophomore guard D.J. Richardson added 11 points, including hitting all three of his 3-point attempts.
It was a complete effort for Illinois, as it took care of the ball, shot well -- especially from outside (8-of-13 from 3) -- and kept everyone but Tisdale out of foul trouble.
John Henson led UNC (4-3) with 16 points and six rebounds while Tyler Zeller added 10 points and four rebounds. The Tar Heels have far more questions than answers at this point in the young season, however, having beaten only non high-major teams, Lipscomb, Hofstra, Charleston and UNC-Asheville, while losing to the three power conference teams they have faced.
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