Illinois can’t brag, but effort is encouraging

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Illinois’ Brandon Paul (left) heads to the basket. He finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds. | Jeff Roberson~AP

Updated: January 24, 2012 9:53AM

ST. LOUIS — Going in, this looked like a very difficult assignment for No. 25 Illinois, if not Mission: Impossible. While the Illini had been squeaking past smaller schools, No. 9 Missouri had been blowing the doors off of virtually every team in its path.

Led by unheralded Joseph Bertrand, the Illini put together a good second-half comeback. But in the end, the Tigers, who had too many offensive weapons and too many gears, grabbed Braggin’ Rights for the third straight time, defeating the Illini 78-74 before a crowd of 22,087.

‘‘Coach was telling us this is a big game,’’ Bertrand said. ‘‘He told everybody to be aggressive, leave everything on the court. I took that and ran with it.’’

Going 9-for-9, Bertrand had a career-high 19 points, 17 of them in the second half. The 6-5 sophomore, who previous high was 11 points against Lipscomb, was averaging 3.2 points.

‘‘Obviously, Joe has struggled,’’ coach Bruce Weber said. ‘‘But we needed something off the bench. I don’t think we were going to put him in first, but he had made some plays in practice. That’s why we gave him a shot. And he came up big. He gave us a huge lift.’’

It was the second loss in three games for Illinois (11-2), which put up a good fight after looking surprisingly vulnerable in a 64-48 loss to UNLV at the United Center last Saturday.

‘‘A loss is never good, but we took a big step,’’ Bertrand said, adding that there was no moral victory in the locker room. ‘‘It’s pretty gloomy. We had the game right there, and we let it slip away. That’s what hurts the most.’’

Still, the Illini were encouraged by hanging with Missouri (12-0).

‘‘We grew up a bit,’’ Weber said. ‘‘It was a good effort. We could have laid down after that first five minutes in the second half. But they hung in there. I’m proud of them. That’s one of the best teams we’ll see all year.’’

Brandon Paul (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Meyers Leonard (14 points, 13 rebounds) also had big games for the Illini. Phil Pressey and Michael Pressey each had 18 for Mizzou.

Down 46-32, Illinois went on a 30-15 surge led by Bertrand to take a 62-61 lead with 7:01 left.

Inserted as a fourth guard in place of forward Tyler Griffey against the small-ball Tigers, Bertrand could be the bench contributor Weber has been looking for.

‘‘Joe made some great reads,’’ Weber said. ‘‘He was simple. He made straight-line drives, jumped up and shot it.’’

The rally came up short when Ricardo Ratliffe outhustled the
Illini for a loose ball and Paul committed two late turnovers for Illinois, which had 17 turnovers.