NEW YORK — If Illinois ranks among the better teams in college basketball for a third straight season, wins like the one the 17th Illini earned against No. 2 Texas at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night will serve as proof and credibility to the cause.
Illinois staged an unlikely run late in a boisterous yard to rally and eventually topple the Longhorns 85-78 in overtime in the Jimmy V Classic. It was Texas’ first loss of the young season after squandering multiple possession chances in the final two minutes.
Illinois coach Brad Underwood told CBS Sports it was his team’s most comprehensive performance to date. Underwood has aggressively planned; Tuesday was Illinois’ fifth game of nine overall against a high-major program. An Illini roster, picked by some to win the Big Ten, can now pick up wins over UCLA (7-2) and Syracuse (5-4), but this one has the most value, at least for now.
“I like this [win] because they have great guards,” Underwood told CBS Sports. “This is a really, really old team. Chris (Beard) has lived in the portal and done it as well as anyone in the country. And we did it against them.”
The losses are reasonable and came from home: against Virginia in Las Vegas and in Maryland. At the start of Tuesday, these teams were tied 15-0.
Longhorns vs. Illini was MSG’s first collegiate hoop competition of the season. It delivered free basketball and one of the better clocks in the first month of the basketball calendar. Here are my takeaways and fun facts from the Big Apple.
Underwood is still “puzzling” with his turns
Would you believe that a team now ranked 11th in the country on KenPom.com are still unsure of how they will fare through games against top-end competition? Underwood admitted as much on Tuesday night. That’s fine for now, but obviously not a long-term strategy. Underwood had a great line in the post-game press conference.
“Surprises every night,” he said. “I don’t know who’s going to do it, I don’t know where it’s coming from, I don’t know what it’s going to look like.”
By the looks of Tuesday night, an Illinois team learning to get better in real-time was a group that could eventually be paired with the likes of Purdue, Maryland and any other contenders waiting to pop up in the Big Ten. The early sign was this: Illinois’ top player Terrence Shannon Jr. missed a goal in the first half – yet Illinois went into the break with a 37-34 lead.
Take that every time
“We estimate based on practice,” Underwood said. “It worked in the UCLA game.”
Shannon was still struggling into the second half, so much so that he was benched midway through the second half. Even so, Illinois overcame a 16-2 run by Texas in the second half and even after closing that gap found themselves down 68-63 after Texas senior Marcus Carr sunk a fallaway in the paint over Matthew Mayer with a minute left . At the moment it seemed like the game was over. In fact, these two items were the last in Texas to be regulated.
Illinois freshman Jayden Epps saved the game. He hit a 3-pointer with 33 seconds remaining, then after Texas sophomore Tyrese Hunter missed the front end of a one-and-one, Epps fouled Sir’Jabari Rice of Texas. Epps sunk both foul shots with 7.6 left and sent the game into overtime.
“I’m full of the capacity that this team has,” Underwood said. “We trust our players to make the right moves. It’s different and not as comfortable as I would like sometimes.”
In the bonus session, Shannon Jr. finally appeared after the mostly anonymous first 40 minutes. Shannon scored eight of Illinois’ first nine points in OT, giving his team an advantage they wouldn’t give up. Shannon finished the tournament with 12 of his 16 points in overtime and Mayer led the Illini with 21 points.
Illinois dropped 85 points in the third-best defense per possession in the country. Beginning Tuesday, Texas allowed 23.2% 3-point shooting. Illinois shot 43.5% (10 of 23) and finished with 1.06 points per possession, their best performance against UT this season.
After a double-digit deficit with eight minutes remaining, Illinois showed their resolve by not having a turnover on the stretch or in overtime. Underwood is adamant about recruiting players from a successful background. State titles at the high school level and in the portal Players involved in deep runs in the NCAA tournament. He said it helps the locker room chemistry and eases the transition to playing Division I at that level. It certainly seemed important Tuesday night against a Texas team that’s probably still a little better than Illinois.
That Underwood has the confidence to bench Shannon for much of the second half is a testament to just how diverse Illinois is. And remember, this is a coach that Ayo Dosunmu, Trent Frazier and Kofi Cockburn have all been able to lean on in recent seasons. It’s an impressive roster overhaul.
Underwood told me he really wanted a team that could be nine-deep. At worst, a roller coaster. With how fast he wants to play offensively, it might be necessary.
“They all have certain strengths,” he said. “So I’ll try to play like that.”
Underwood said the team played dumb in their Maryland loss to highlight a spot where the Terrapins made four baskets over a 16-minute span. He had to play 38 minutes against vital Big Coleman Hawkins, something he doesn’t plan to repeat this season.
The key for Illinois was being able to sit Shannon without it ultimately becoming their undoing.
“We played really well and I’m not going to screw up the win,” Underwood told me. “But then it came down to the last few minutes and I know what he can do in those and I went back to him.”
When the time came, Shannon was ready. This team has plenty of room for growth as an enticing squad moving forward.
Matthew Mayer provided Illinois with an early spark against Texas. USATSI
Texas screwed up the game, but that’s not alarming
I won’t overcomplicate this. Texas should have won the game but couldn’t close the door. A hit shot here or a sunk free throw there and it doesn’t go TDC. Check the UT schedule. The next five games are not against scheduled NCAA tournament teams. UT would have been ready to go undefeated and 12-0 into their game in Oklahoma on New Year’s Eve.
But it’s just a loss. Texas will likely be 11-1 after Christmas is over.
“November was great for us. This is December. We didn’t come to Texas to win the second game of December,” Longhorns coach Chris Beard told me outside the Texas dressing room. “We have become a team that wins six games in the tournament. This team has done a great job of winning by wins, be it by play or design or creation and we’ve gotten better through wins after every game and that’s really hard to do. This is our first chance of the season and probably not our last chance to improve after losing.”
Beard said Illinois’ key was Mayer in the first half and Shannon in overtime. One cannot contradict that. Beard added of Illinois’ end-of-game push, “We absolutely knew it was coming.”
Oddly enough, Texas couldn’t get enough of anyone other than senior Timmy Allen, who was the constant: 21 points, eight rebounds, seven assists. This is a guy you’ll be hearing a lot more about as the season progresses. I think he’s Texas’ best player and will prove that in the next 25+ games. But he needs the guards to take on the top 30 competition. Hunter missed a foul shot late on Tuesday and Marcus Carr had a couple of shots he would like to have back.
“When it comes to buying time, college basketball’s best players take over the game,” Beard said. “We needed that second man, we needed that third man. It wasn’t Marcus’ best statistical game, but we all know Marcus can be that guy.”
He will have his nights too. It was a tough defeat that should have been a win. No more and no less. I expect Texas will be one of the teams to watch in January when a robust Big 12 schedule will give them weekly spotlights.
Bittersweet reunion for the Beard family, Shannon
A few years ago, Shannon was the player who helped Beard build the Texas Tech brand, a big recruit who continued the TTU momentum under Beard after the Red Raiders reached the 2019 national title game. Fast forward to 2021: Beard gets the Texas job, Shannon stays with the Red Raiders, working through injuries and obstacles to maintain his reputation as a legitimate collegiate player.
He didn’t follow Beard to Texas, and then when he entered the portal, he chose to go to Illinois eventually. Then the Jimmy V offered this planning fold. Beard takes on his old player. And in overtime he knew exactly what to expect. Shannon hits Texas – Beard had seen that before. It was all too familiar.
After the game ended, Beard shared a moment with Shannon and then made his way to the family area behind the Illinois bench. Shannon’s parents sat in the front row. He exchanged hugs and greetings with them. It was a cute scene that wasn’t caught by TV cameras. But it was clear that it meant a lot to Beard and Shannon’s family.
“I love him,” Beard told me. “We keep in touch with his family, draw every game for him. I don’t like training against former players. I thought he’d be an NBA player after two years in our program, but his body was a little banged up after the off-season bite. If he stays healthy for a second year and plays for us, he’s in the NBA now.
The transfer portal will make situations like this more common in the future. Ideally, coaches can treat it as appreciatively as Beard did on Tuesday.