Memphis' black road jersey has blue and silver camouflage, and it did a great job in the first half of hiding the basket. The only player seeing through the fatigues was Illinois freshman guard Richard McBride. His career-high 22 points led No.14 Illinois over Memphis 74-64 on Saturday in Assembly Hall.

In the Illini's first game without sophomore guard Deron Williams, who broke a jaw Thursday against Maryland-Eastern Shore, Memphis head coach John Calipari saw the Illini come together as a team while having to play without their guard. It gave the Illini something to prove on the court.

"When Deron went down that is a cause game," Calipari said. "Then someone you don't expect hurts you and that was Richard McBride. I'm happy for McBride and sad for us."

McBride, playing in his fourth game, came off the bench and provided a spark on both ends of the floor. He launched missiles from the outside, shooting 6-for-10 from the three point line. He added five rebounds, five assists and did not commit a turnover.

"He played the best game from a freshman since I have been here," junior center Nick Smith said.

During a 16-5 Illinois run to start the second half, McBride hit two three pointers.

"A freshman put us on his back for the whole game and we came through with a big win," sophomore guard Dee Brown said.

Defensively, McBride has made huge strides since first stepping foot on campus. Head coach Bruce Weber joked before the season that McBride did not know what defense was. Saturday, McBride guarded Memphis' primary ball handlers, kept them from driving to the basket, and created defensive havoc for his 29 minutes on the floor. Now Weber can only praise McBride's defensive play.

"I think that he is the biggest surprise of anybody," Weber said. "It is amazing how he's bought in. I think he came in with a bad reputation of not guarding anybody ... now he's really bought into it. He does a great job on the ball and off the ball."

Sophomore forward James Augustine had a career-high 21 points and eight rebounds after bruising his shoulder in practice. Weber said playing Augustine against Memphis was "kind of a game time decision."

Brown scored five points, dished out seven assists and grabbed seven rebounds.

The Illinois defense contained the Tigers offensive assault for the entire game. In the first half, Memphis had two scoring droughts totaling nearly nine minutes, where the Tigers did not score a basket. Illinois held Memphis to 36.5-percent shooting.

The defense kept the Illini in the game in the first half. Illinois shot 28 percent in the first half. The Illini found themselves down 19-9 and 21-13 before staging their comeback. With 2:31 left in the half, Augustine made a basket, was fouled and hit the free throw. On the next possession McBride hit a layup off of an Illini steal. Illinois closed out the half with a McBride three-pointer off a steal by junior center Jack Ingram. McBride's buzzer-beater gave the Illini a 28-27 halftime lead.

"We were playing great defense the whole game and the offense carried on over from there," Augustine said.