Highlights | Press Conference | Photo Gallery | Box Score (PDF)
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- No. 23 Illinois dominated in its regular-season opener, taking down Eastern Illinois, 87-57, at State Farm Center on Monday night.
Coleman Hawkins registered the second double-double of his career, notching a career-high 23 points and a tying a career-best mark in rebounds with 12.
Terrence Shannon Jr. tied a career-best with 24 points, to lead all scorers, and recorded 14 second-half points in the Fighting Illini victory. Dain Dainja recorded his first-career double-double, coming off the bench to score 17 points and grab 10 rebounds on 8/9 shooting.
The Illinois defense made nine blocks, grabbed 10 steals, and forced 18 turnovers, while Eastern Illinois shot 35% from the field and 20% from behind the 3-point lin.
The Illini outscored the visiting Panthers, 41-26, in the second half while shooting 48.4% during the last 20 minutes of play.
Illinois also dominated in the paint, outrebounding Eastern Illinois, 53-30, and winning the offensive rebound battle, 20-10. The Illini also recorded 21 second-chance points while allowing four.
"1-0. It's always a good thing to be that. I thought we played really, really hard tonight. I thought our effort was very, very good," said head coach Brad Underwood. "It's game one. There's a lot of mistakes. It's never real pretty. We'll take the outcome, and wish (Eastern Illinois head coach Marty Simmons) and that group a great year. I like their team a lot, and we'll get ready for UMKC on Friday."
Illinois' first lineup of the regular season mirrored the one the team used in its lone exhibition, featuring three fresh faces – Shannon, Skyy Clark, and Matthew Mayer – and two returners, Hawkins and RJ Melendez.
Illinois jumped out to an 11-6 lead six minutes into the first half, with all five starters scoring.
Neither team went on a run longer than 5-0 in the opening half, but the Illini put together four such offensive stretches to eventually take as large as a 15-point lead in the first 20 minutes.
Hawkins led all scorers in the opening frame, scoring 18 points on 6-for-8 shooting, while his five three-pointers in the first half marked a career-high for the junior.
Illinois headed into the break with a 46-31 advantage, using a strong defensive half to take a double-digit lead into halftime. The Illini notched six blocks and five steals in the first 20 minutes of the contest.
After scoring 10 points in the first half, Shannon sparked a 12-1 Illinois run that spanned nearly four minutes. The senior guard scored 10 of the Illini's first 21 points of the second half, opening up a 67-42 advantage nine minutes into the final frame.
Illinois then extended its lead to 32 following a 9-0 scoring run over three minutes, holding Eastern Illinois without a field goal for over five minutes.
The Illini lead climbed as high as 35 points in the second half, while 12 different players picked up minutes in the final 20 minutes.
Illinois returns to State Farm Center on Friday night, when it takes on Kansas City at 8 p.m. CT.
HIGHLIGHTS
PRESS CONFERENCE
QUOTES
Brad Underwood
"1-0. It's always a good thing to be that. I thought we played really, really hard tonight. I thought our effort was very, very good. The execution, on the other hand, wasn't great, but we're finding that fine line between playing with pace and then understanding when it's not there.
"I thought we played, again, a little bit sped up, and that's hard to say when you want to play fast. We got to understand the difference between playing fast and execution.
"All in all, it's film; it's game one. There's a lot of mistakes. It's never real pretty. We'll take the outcome, and wish (Eastern Illinois head coach Marty Simmons) and that group a great year. I like their team a lot, and we'll get ready for UMKC on Friday."
Coleman Hawkins
On if he can maintain his success throughout the season:
"I think it's definitely possible, especially if teams have a more traditional big playing drop coverages, teams that can't really switch out playing that pick and pop. It's harder for them to get back to the three-point line and contest shots. I definitely think that can be very possible for me. As long as we move the ball like we do, run our offense correctly, I definitely think I can have a lot of nights like this."
On his improved three-point shooting:
"I feel a lot more confident. I've been shooting a lot of shots in practice just like that. I know my freshman year and sophomore year, people would judge me off my three-point shooting. I wasn't confident at all back then. The ball felt a lot different than what it does right now."
Terrence Shannon Jr.
On playing his first official game at Illinois:
"It felt good playing back home in Illinois. It was great. We got a great fan base here. It was very welcoming. Just good to see my family in the crowd every day, every game that we have here. It was just a good feeling overall. We won the game, so that's even better. It's just great being home in Illinois."
On his leadership:
"When I was recruited here, they looked at me as a veteran, coming in as a senior. I also knew when to follow guys like Coleman who've been here already or follow our freshmen because they might know some things that I don't know. Just being there for the guys, the younger guys here, showing them what I've been through. When they're having bad days, I tell them I've had bad days before, too, as I've gotten older in college. You just got to stay level-headed through it all."
POSTGAME NOTES
- Illinois opened its 118th season of men's basketball tonight.
- The Fighting Illini have now posted an all-time record of 104-14 (.881) in season openers.
- The Illini improved to 39-2 all-time (.951) when opening the season at State Farm Center. This includes a current streak of 26-straight wins when starting the year at SFC, a run that began on 12/1/93.
- Illinois grabbed 20 offensive rebounds off its 34 misses, scoring a total of 21 second-chance points.
- It was the first time since Nov. 12, 2021, vs. Arkansas State that the Illini grabbed at least 20 offensive rebounds.
- The Illini defense blocked nine shots, with sophomore RJ Melendez leading the way with three.
- Six different Illini recorded a block in the game.
- Illinois recorded 10 steals, its first double-digit steals total since last year's season opener vs. Jackson State on Nov. 9, 2021.
- The Illini turned 18 Panther turnovers into 16 points.
- Junior Coleman Hawkins scored a career-high 23 points, making a career-high five three-pointers. Hawkins finished with a career-high matching 12 rebounds and dished three assists.
- Hawkins recorded his first double-double of the season and the second of his career, the first since Nov. 12, 2021, vs. Arkansas State.
- Hawkins grabbed a game-high five offensive rebounds.
- Senior Terrence Shannon Jr. led all scorers with a game-high 24 points, which matched a career high, and secured eight rebounds in his Illinois debut.
- Shannon went 13-for-15 at the free-throw line in tonight's game.
- Redshirt sophomore Dain Dainja scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds, including four on the offensive glass.
- It was Dainja's first-career double-double.
- Eight players made their Illini debut tonight
