Can you ever remember a team having a 27 point lead and winning by two?
That’s what Miami did against Illinois in the opening game of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, winning 81-79. And it looked for all the world like Illinois was going to complete the epic comeback.
As bad as they were early, Illinois was superb down the stretch. Fortunately for Miami, so was Chris Lykes.
The diminutive guard scored Miami’s last six points and drew a foul with two seconds left. He was superb.
And for a good bit of the game, so was Sam Waardenburg.