As Illinois forward James Augustine left Saturday's post-game press conference, he muttered to junior center Nick Smith, "I usually don't get any questions."

Augustine became the answer man for more than just Saturday's press conference. The 6-foot-10 sophomore scored 21 points and helped the No. 14 Illini defeat Memphis 74-64 Saturday to improve to 6-2 on the season.

"At the end of the half, we got a couple in to James," head coach Bruce Weber said. "We got a couple layups. We made a conscious effort of it."

Five of Illinois' final eight points in the first half came from Augustine. An old fashioned three-point play from Augustine with two minutes, 30 seconds remaining in the first half tied the game at 21-21.

Before Augustine's play, Memphis had led since they took a 5-2 lead with 17:52 remaining in the first half.

"At halftime we talked about it, where did you have success? Going inside," Weber said. "Now, you get it inside, it opens up the outside and we got a couple jumpers."

Augustine's 21 points Saturday established a new career-high, bettering the 19 points he scored at Penn State last season. He made 8-of-10 field goal attempts while playing a career-high 37 minutes.

"We noticed in film that we could get the ball inside and get angles," Augustine said. "We knew that we could do a little high-low. We went kind of back to a little last year with a little high-low. Once that worked the first couple of times, we just kept going to it and it just kept going."

The high-low provided Augustine plenty of chances to make layups, but the Memphis defense could not just play behind him. Augustine sank a left-handed hook shot with 7:07 remaining in the second half to give Illinois a 58-46 lead.

"Coach always emphasized getting post moves going, and it's probably about time that I made one," Augustine said. "Most of the shots I've made all year have just been inside the paint. Everybody gives me kind of a hard time about that, but it was good to get that hook going and give me a little more confidence.

"Once confidence comes around, I think I can use it a little bit more."

Augustine's offensive development helped cover for the struggles of junior forward Roger Powell. Powell leads the Illini in scoring for the season, but shot just 3-for-8 against the Memphis defense.

"He worried us," Memphis head coach John Calipari said. "I think he's the glue of this team. I think he rebounds and does all the dirty work. He scores tough baskets. We did put an emphasis on him not hurting us."

Though seven points won't hurt too much, the timing of each of Powell's baskets was crucial. Powell recorded two field goals in the first half. The first basket made the score 7-5 and ended a stretch of 2:08 without an Illinois basket.

Powell's second basket of the first half decreased the deficit to 19-12 and ended 3:09 without a field goal for Illinois. The only basket for Powell in the second half answered a Memphis basket 16 seconds earlier and gave Illinois a 32-31 lead.

"Powell does his thing," Calipari said. "He got baskets that hurt us when he got them."

Weber said Powell continues to feel responsible for the injury that occurred when Powell's man screened Williams during Thursday's game against Maryland-Eastern Shore. Williams ran into the screener and fractured his jaw in two places.

"No one feels worse about Deron than Roger because that was Roger's man," Weber said. "I think it's really affected him because he feels so bad about it."

While Williams' fractured jaw plagued Powell's play on Saturday, Williams helped lighten the mood before the Illini played the Tigers.

"He wrote a thing on the board that said, 'Please call out screens' that was all he said," Weber said. "We got a good laugh before the game and maybe that broke the tenseness."