Head hit a pair of 3-pointers, Brown made a basket in the lane, Head scored after a steal, Williams drove for a basket and then made a steal and fed Brown for another basket with 45 seconds left.

After Jack Ingram deflected an inbounds pass, Williams hit a 3-pointer to tie it with 38 seconds to go.

“Guys left and right on their team were hitting big buckets, left and right, left and right. Whether it was a big guy or a guard,” Arizona’s Mustafa Shakur said.

“It was just an unbelievable thing to lose a game that way.”

Even Weber, who was drawing up the defense to spark the comeback, couldn’t keep track of all that happened.

“It was just crazy,” he said. “We picked up the pace, did a little 2-2-1 zone, denied. Jack made a steal, Dee made a steal and I’m not sure how Deron got the last 3,” Weber said.

After Williams tied it at 80 in regulation, Salim Stoudamire, the hero of Arizona’s semifinal win over Oklahoma State with a last-second game-winner, dribbled the clock down and then passed the ball to Jawann McClellan. He missed, but Stoudamire came up with a loose ball, only to have his shot blocked by Head.

“The defense collapsed on me so I wasn’t going to force it so I kicked it out to Jawann,” said Stoudamire, who managed just nine points under heavy defense from Williams.

Williams hit two more 3-pointers in overtime, but Illinois’ victory wasn’t secured until Arizona’s Hassan Adams, who’d scored five points to get the Wildcats within a point, missed a rushed shot just before the final buzzer.

Adams couldn’t get the ball inside to Channing Frye or drive, so he took the shot. But it wasn’t close.

“It’s extremely hard. ... My disappointment is for the team,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said. “I’m disappointed we didn’t reach one of our goals. I wish we could have closed it out.”

Williams, a junior who might leave for the NBA, finished with 22 points, hitting five 3-pointers, and had 10 assists. Head, playing with a sore hamstring, added 20.

“We just played very hard down the stretch,” Brown said. “Deron Williams, the best guard in America, came through, made a lot of great plays. In the huddle we just said we aren’t going to lose this game.”

Stoudamire had a miserable game, making just 2 of 13 shots — 1-of-7 on 3-pointers — his chance of going to the Final Four for the first time as a senior erased.

“It was just an off night on my part. I didn’t knock the shots down,” he said.

“I didn’t quit though. I tried to do other things on the floor and it just so happens that we came up short.”

Frye was a force all night and finished with 24 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots. His 3-pointer with 6:03 left in regulation was the last field goal the Wildcats scored in regulation.

Adams scored 21 on 9-of-13 shooting.

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