Highlights | Press Conference | Photo Gallery | Box Score (PDF)
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Coleman Hawkins registered the first Illinois triple-double in two seasons, recording 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Fighting Illini's 73-44 win over Syracuse at State Farm Center on Tuesday night.
Hawkins is the fourth Illini in program history to record a triple-double, while the win marked head coach Brad Underwood's 100th victory with the Orange and Blue.
Terrence Shannon Jr. led all scorers with 17 points, and RJ Melendez and Jayden Epps also finished in double figures in the 29-point win.
Illinois outscored the Orange, 43-21, in the second half, holding the visitors to 23.2 percent from the field during the final 20 points of play.Â
Illinois opened the game with a 7-1 run, which included four points from Hawkins, and held Syracuse without a field goal for the first four minutes of the contest.
After neither team could pull away midway through the first half, three Shannon 3-pointers pushed the Illinois advantage to six points.
The Illini held the Orange without a field goal for nearly five minutes to close the frame, taking a 30-23 lead into halftime. Shannon led all scorers with nine points at the break, while Illinois registered an assist on 10 of its 12 first-half field goals.
Melendez and Hawkins both knocked down 3-pointers early in the second half to give Illinois a double-digit lead with 12 minutes to play.
Illinois took control later in the frame, using a 12-0 run over a three-minute stretch to jump out to a 23-point advantage with five minutes to play. Melendez scored seven points during that run, while the Illini converted five-straight shots to take their largest lead of the night.
Hawkins achieved his triple-double late in the game, celebrating his 10th assist with a fist pump and his 10th rebound with a big grin.
The Illini advance to 6-1 with the win ahead of their Big Ten opener against Maryland on Friday night.
HIGHLIGHTSÂ
PRESS CONFERENCEÂ
QUOTES
Brad Underwood
Opening statement:
"We talk a lot about how do you win games when the ball doesn't go in. Tonight was one of those nights where the ball didn't go in. Pretty ugly night, and yet I felt great about our offense. I felt great about the shots we got. I felt great about our execution. I thought that, for obvious reasons, Coleman's triple-double, but more importantly, I think he's just special against the zone with his feel, and I knew we had the right guy to put in the middle. He played with great, great patience. He's a great pivot guy. That sounds corny, but you have to pivot a lot against the zone in the middle of it.
"That being said, I thought our guys did a terrific job to slide into open spots. I have a hard time complaining about any shots that we took. I thought we did a great job on Judah Mintz. I thought we did a great job on Joe (Girard III), made life tough. I thought our switching was really effective. I thought in the second half, we did a much better job of defensive rebounding, which allowed us to get out and get in transition.
"A lot of lessons to learn with what we keep talking about, figuring out how to win when the ball doesn't always go in. It wasn't very brief. We're better team than that. We've been really sluggish in practice. We've been wracked with the flu. We've got a ton of guys out. Dain's still feeling pretty bad; he's had it for four or five days. He's probably had it the worst. Terrence has had it. Terrence had it right before the Lindenwood game, so we've been wracked with that.
"We need to get healthy, and obviously we start Big Ten play on Friday."
On Coleman Hawkins:
"I think he's been good all season long. He's a great decision-maker. When he tries to hit singles and not home runs every time, he's really good. He's so good at the point of the press. I've been frustrated with him, challenge with him on the glass because some of our early stuff he's getting 10-12 a night. Obviously, he got back to that. Coleman can be that guy. That's what we see a lot of in practice and know that he's got the skill set to be that guy."
On Illinois' 21 assists on 24 made field goals:
"When you play the zone, one of the things that you're not going to be very good against is the assist total of baskets. They give up a lot of assisted baskets, and that's just the nature of the beast. There's not as much dribble drive and play into shots that way where you come off the ball screen, shoot a pull-up. There's much more team-oriented moving the ball. I thought we did a great job of that. I think we had two turnovers at half. We like to say it's hard to complain. All I did was applaud them at half. We got great shots and keeping shooting them."
On RJ Melendez:
"I loved his first play. The first play was something we haven't seen out of RJ: go offensive rebound. He got a block. He was a little aggressive. He picked up a cheap second one, but that's really hard to do, come back and just get your bearings about you when you've been sitting out a long time. I tried to put him in for a minute or two, just to stay somewhat warm in the first half. It's good to see because he started to play well."
On Matthew Mayer:
"He is a winner. He knows all about winning. It doesn't matter the score. He made those same plays in the UCLA game, dove on the floor in the UCLA game. He saved an out-of-bounds pass against the press against UCLA. Good things are coming. I told him he may have to get his mullet back to get that jump shot to fall because he's getting great looks. He's making them in practice. He's working at it. That's what we brought Matt in here because Matt knows how to win, he knows what it takes, and he's done that since high school."
On his 100th win at Illinois:
"A lot of really good players. A lot of great, great coaches, administration who helped us survive early. It doesn't happen. I'm the beneficiary of that. I'm grateful. I've said a million times I couldn't imagine doing it any place else. I love this place. I love our fans. I love the fact that you all care about us enough to write about us and follow us. I hope there's 100 more and counting. In the future, I think this program can elevate to the levels that we haven't seen yet. There were some hard times, and I don't forget those. I hope that next time, they don't take as long as this. That means we've sustained a level of success that we didn't have the first two years."
Coleman Hawkins
On his triple-double:
"I've never had a triple-double. It was a great moment. I know my freshman year, seeing Ayo get two. I was the fourth player and it was the fifth one in program history, so that's a great moment. That's huge."
On if he was aware of how close he was to a triple-double:
"The score is right by the stats, so every time I look up, I kind of see the stats. First half, I think I saw I had six rebounds, a couple points, and like five assists. Then I was really like, 'OK, this is possible. I'm definitely going to play hard.' I know I shouldn't be doing that, but play hard and hopefully get a triple-double, and it just so happened to come."
On gaining the coaching staff's trust:
"It means a lot. Just every day in practice, there might be something I see, and he's the head coach coming up to me, asking me what I see, what I think is best. It means a lot to have his trust. It's just a motivating thing when a coach comes to you and asks him you what you see out there. My confidence is sky high when stuff like that happens, so just knowing that he trusts me, it means a lot."
RJ Melendez:
On his 15-point second half:
"Just keeping the energy from the bench the first half. I know getting in foul trouble was not gonna give me playing time in the first half because that's Coach's decision. After the second half, coaches told me, 'Just come and play hard, and things are gonna flow your way. Just guard the ball, don't foul, and trust me, things will go your way.' I just followed what they said to me and just played hard."
On locking in defensively when shots weren't falling:
"Just executing things that we practice and scouting and practicing it before. Just making sure that we are following what coaches say. We're just playing hard, actually. That's all it takes. Not being lazy, making sure you're locked in every single time we have film, so make sure you know your personnel and all that. It's just staying locked in."
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM NOTES
- Brad Underwood becomes the sixth coach in program history to amass 100-career wins, joining Lou Henson, Harry Combes, Bruce Weber, Doug Mills and J. Craig Ruby.
- Illinois defeated Syracuse for the first time in program history in Champaign.
- The Illini are now 3-1 all-time against the Orange.
- The Illini are now 11-13 all-time in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and now 1-0 when facing the Orange in the Challenge.
- Illinois has won three-straight challenge games for the first time since winning four in a row from 2009-12.
- The Illini are now 7-4 in Challenge games played in Champaign.
- The 29-point margin of victory is the largest by either team in series history.
- Illinois grabbed 17 offensive rebounds in tonight's game.
- It is the second time this season they have grabbed at least 17 offensive boards.
- Illinois scored four second-chance points off of those rebounds.
- The Illini bench outscored the Orange 19-10 in tonight's game.
- Through eight games this season, Illinois has outscored the opponent's bench 214-121.
- Illinois committed a season-low seven turnovers.
- The Illinois defense forced 17 Syracuse turnovers, scoring 18 points off of those turnovers.
- The Illini defense forced more turnovers (11) in the second half than field goals allowed (7).
- The 39 3-point field goals attempted sets a new State Farm Center record.
PLAYER NOTES
- Junior Coleman Hawkins recorded his first-career triple-double, scoring 15 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists. It is the fifth triple-double in program history. He is the fourth player with such a performance.
- Hawkins ended the first half with six points, six rebounds and five assists.
- His 10 assists set a new career high.
- He is the first Illini since Ayo Dosunmu on Feb. 20, 2021, to record a triple-double.
- Three of the five triple-doubles in program history have come during the Underwood era.
- Senior Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 17 points and added seven rebounds and two assists.
- Shannon Jr. has scored at least 17 points in four games this season. He also grabbed at least seven rebounds four times.
- Shannon Jr. has made at least four 3-pointers in three games this season.
- Sophomore RJ Melendez scored 15 points, shooting 2-for-5 from behind the arc.
- Melendez has scored at least 15 points in back-to-back games.
- Freshman Jayden Epps scored 11 points off of the bench tonight.
- Epps has double-digit scoring efforts in three-straight games and in five of his last six overall.
- Fifth year Matthew Mayer grabbed eight rebounds, his second-straight game with at least eight boards.
