CHICAGO - Is it any wonder Mike Krzyzewski likes going home?
Chris Carrawell scored 21 points and Krzyzewski improved his all-time record to 4-0 at the arena which sits in his old neighborhood, guiding Duke (4-2) to a knee-wobbling 72-69 win over No. 16 Illinois at the United Center.
"I wasn't going to let [Coach K] lose in Chicago," Carrawell said after nailing his final eight free throws, including a pair that made it 72-69 with 14.4 seconds to play. "I didn't want to be the first team to give him a loss at home in my senior year."
After the last two free throws, Carrawell walked to the bench and whispered to Krzyzewski, assuring him he wouldn't let his coach's homecoming be spoiled.
"It's nice of him to say that after he made both of them," Krzyzewski joked. "You don't say that before you shoot them."
Illinois had a chance to tie the game on its final possession, but Frank Williams' three-pointer from the top of the key was long, and Duke's Jason Williams snagged the rebound and dribbled out the clock.
"I am very proud of my team," Krzyzewski said. "It was a defensive struggle; points were hard to come by in the second half."
Corey Bradford and Frank Williams each scored 14 points, shooting 9-for-38 from the floor to lead the Illini (2-1). Jason Williams had 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and Shane Battier added 12 points and 10 boards for the Blue Devils, who helped push the ACC's record to 3-1 in the first night of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
The Blue Devils led by as many as eight points in the second half, but had to hang on for dear life in the final minute.
Enter Carrawell.
The senior was cool as ice, drilling four free throws in the final two minutes to keep Duke in front. He finished 12-for-16 from the line and added seven rebounds. "He's the money man," teammate Nate James said of Carrawell. "If I had to put my money on someone to hit them at the end, it would be [Carrawell]."
Duke used a 17-4 run midway through the second half to turn around a game that seemed to be slipping away in front of 20,143 pro-Illini fans at this semi-neutral site.
"That's the first time we went on a run like that, where we really bore down on defense, and our offense fed on that," Battier said. "We showed how good a defensive squad we can be."
Duke trailed 50-47 when Carrawell drove baseline for a dunk and a three-point play with 11:31 left. Moments later, James scored on a tip-in to give Duke its first lead-one that the Blue Devils would not relinquish.
Mike Dunleavy drilled a three-pointer and Jason Williams drove for a layup to make it 10 straight points and stretch Duke's edge to 57-50 before the Illini knew what hit them.
"Illinois is very big and very deep," Krzyzewski said. "We showed tough-mindedness and a will to win which are essential for our young guys."
Illinois went to a 2-3 zone to stall Duke's penetration, but James hit a three from the corner to push Duke's lead to 68-60 with less than four minutes to play.
"It was a zone we had worked on many times in practice this week," James said. "It was the same look and I got an opening."
Robert Archibald and Marcus Griffin combined for Illinois' last six points, but Archibald missed a free throw that would have tied the game 70-70 with 41 seconds to play. Archibald was 5-for-10 from the line.
"It was a good game for us to learn from," Illini coach Lon Kruger said. "I thought Duke took us out of some things we were trying to do. Duke is an outstanding club."
In the first half, Illinois' shooting was the only thing colder than the United Center air. The Illini missed nine of their first 11 field goals-with only a pair of Corey Bradford treys keeping the game close.
Duke opened with a spark and built its largest lead of the half at 19-9 on a Battier put-back dunk of a Carrawell miss. But the Illini eventually warmed up the arena and took advantage of Duke's nine first-half turnovers to score 12 points at the other end.
Trailing 33-27, Illinois ripped off 11 straight points, including eight from Cleotis Brown. Bradford hit a driving, off-balance scoop shot over Boozer, and Brown's second three-pointer of the half made it 38-33 with 1:45 to play.
Krzyzewski called a timeout to try to stem the tide at that point, and Carrawell brought it back to 38-35 with a driving baseline layup. But the Illini closed out the half with a pair of free-throws, making it 40-35 at the break.
The Blue Devils evened the all-time series with the Illini at 2-2. It was the schools' first meeting since Illinois snapped Duke's 12-year, 95-game homecourt winning streak against non-ACC opponents in 1995.
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