Highlights | Press Conference | Photo Gallery | Box Score (PDF)
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. --Â Illinois brought the energy from start to finish in a bounce-back 69-60 win against Ohio State at State Farm Center on Tuesday night.
The Illini came to play defensively, making six blocks and four steals, while Illinois dominated on the glass, outrebounding Ohio State, 44-30. The hosts grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and scored 13 second-chance points, and the Illini made 16 fast-break points while holding the Buckeyes to just one.
"I was very pleased defensively tonight," said head coach Brad Underwood. "I thought everybody came in and did a nice job tonight defensively against a very talented offensive team."
Terrence Shannon Jr. scored a game-high 17 points in the win, including 12 in the first half. Shannon made all nine of his free-throw attempts, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out three assists, and notched one steal.
Jayden Epps made the second start of his career, recording 14 points, his 13th game with double-digit points this season. Epps also tallied two rebounds and one assist.
Matthew Mayer hit two 3-pointers en route to 12 points, while he grabbed eight rebounds and made two blocks.
Coleman Hawkins shot 60% from the field and registered 11 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and a team-high three blocks, his highest defensive mark since Dec. 6.
Ty Rodgers scored four points off the bench and grabbed eight rebounds, tying his career-best mark.
Hawkins opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, his eighth straight game with a triple. Both teams registered early 7-0 runs, though the Illini led by four halfway through the opening frame after holding the Buckeyes without a field goal for nearly six minutes.
With six minutes to play in the first half, Illinois extended its advantage to double digits, using an 11-2 run to extend its lead to 11 points. The Illini eventually took a 34-26 lead into halftime, led by 12 points from Terrence Shannon Jr. and two Matthew Mayer triples.
The Illini returned from halftime with lots of energy and took advantage of strong defense to open the frame on a 4-0 run. Ohio State cut its deficit to single digits, but Illinois did not let that last long. The Illini used a 10-0 run that featured two Jayden Epps 3-pointers and two Dain Dainja 2-pointers to send State Farm Center into a frenzy and push their lead to 48-31 with 15 minutes to play.
Illinois continued to battle, using an 8-3 run to push its advantage back up to double digits. Holding the Buckeyes without a field goal for over five minutes, the Illini used dunks from Coleman Hawkins and Ty Rodgers to take a 16-point lead with six minutes remaining.
With the nine-point victory, the Illini have now won five of their last six games and improve to 5-4 in conference play. Illinois (14-6, 5-4) will travel north for its next contest, taking on Wisconsin (12-6, 4-4) in Madison on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.
HIGHLIGHTS
PRESS CONFERENCE
QUOTES
Brad Underwood
Opening statement:Â
"I was very pleased defensively tonight. You get the six-rated KenPom team offensively, and you know what they're capable of. I think they went 18 of 50 from two. That was the plan. They shoot a lot of twos. We wanted to make them hard and contested. Obviously, Brice is a very, very talented freshman. He's a really, really good player. I thought we did a great job on him.
"I thought Coleman was really solid. Tonight was a very good team effort. I thought Ty Rodgers impacted the game. I thought Brandon Lieb, his entrance into the game in the first half with a couple of blocks. Two things we talked about a ton was transition --Â keeping them out of that was huge tonight, and I think we were really good that area -- and rebounding the basketball. Coleman almost, again, with a double-double, nine rebounds. Coleman was terrific. Six assists, one turnover. Didn't have a great shooting night from three, but I thought he really controlled the game at both ends of the court.
"Obviously, TJ finds a way to get 17 about every night or more. I thought everybody came in and did a nice job tonight defensively against a very talented offensive team."
On the fast-break scoring disparity:Â
"It's about execution on the offensive end. Sometimes your best defense is really good offense and trying to execute it. We didn't have a ton of live-ball turnovers that could get them out and running. It's been a point of emphasis for two straight days. It's making sure we're getting back. I thought our attention to detail was really good tonight."
On moving Jayden Epps into the starting lineup:Â
"He was great. There wasn't anything big. It was just kind of a gut feeling. Sencire has been incredible, and he's going to continue to be. Maybe on the offensive side, teams are gonna have a little different approach with Jayden in the game. I love the fact Jayden got up 13 shots tonight. I thought he missed some he normally makes, but there's a little different approach the defense has to take when he's in the game."
Coleman Hawkins
On the defensive intensity:
"Yeah, just really kind of fighting over those ball screens. We threw in a little double package. Got a glimpse of that. We kind of just locked into the scouting report, tried to limit scouting-report mistakes, and I think it went pretty well for us today. Holding them to whatever they shot on offense, but I think we did a pretty good job."
On capitalizing on crowd energy, especially on missed free throws:Â
"I noticed it when they're going crazy like that. Sometimes I hope they miss just so we can get the crowd going. The crowd's always great, so I like when people miss two free throws in a row. It's gotten the crowd into it, and the crowd will get us into it."
Terrence Shannon Jr.
On the freshmen's confidence:Â
"I feel like they're always confident. We put it in them. Coach puts it in them. They were just ready to play. Ty rebounds like that and plays that aggressive a lot of the time in practice. When his name got called today, he came out and performed."
On Coleman Hawkins:
"He's a great passer, one of the best passers I've ever played with. He can rebound the ball. He's a mismatch for their big, and he can go out and guard a guard. I feel like we're unbeatable when Coleman plays like that."
On playing with aggression:
"My team and Coleman also, they always want me to be aggressive. I'm pretty hard to stop going downhill, whether it's kicking it out to an open teammate or finishing. I'll just stay aggressive because that's my role for this team."
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM NOTES
- Illinois won its first game over Ohio State in Champaign since Jan. 1, 2017.
- The Illini have won three of the last four matchups overall.
- The Illini improve to 14-6 on the season and 5-4 in Big Ten play.
- They have won five of their last six overall.
- Illinois shot a season-high 88.9 percent from the line (16/18).
- The Illini held the Buckeyes to shooting 36.7 percent from the floor, more than 10 percentage points below their season average (47.2).
- Illinois out-rebound Ohio State 44 to 30, its second-largest rebounding margin over a Big Ten opponent.
- Illinois has grabbed 14 offensive rebounds in three-straight games.
- Scored 13 second-chance points tonight.
- Four Illini had at least seven rebounds, the second time this season with such an occurrence, first since the season opener.
- The 44 rebounds matches the second-highest total of rebounds grabbed by an Ohio State opponent.
- The Illini led the Buckeyes 16-1 in fast break points.
- It's the fewest allowed to an opponent this season.
- Illinois had six blocks in the contest, the seventh time in the last eight games they've reached that mark.
- The Illini assisted on 13 of their 24 field goals.
PLAYER NOTES
- Terrence Shannon Jr. scored a game-high 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dropped three assists.
- Went a perfect 9-for-9 at the free throw line.
- Scored 12 points on 3-for-6 shooting in the first half to lead all scorers.
- Went 6-for-6 at the line in the half as well.
- Freshman Jayden Epps scored 14 points in the second start of his career, his first in a Big Ten game.
- Matthew Mayer scored 12 points, knocking down two 3-pointers, and added eight rebounds.
- His fourth game this season securing at least eight boards.
- Coleman Hawkins scored 11 points, on 5-for-10 shooting, and tallied nine rebounds and a game-high six assists.
- Dain Dainja scored six points, going 3-for-5 from the floor and grabbed four rebounds.
- Freshman Ty Rodgers scored four points and secured eight rebounds off of the bench.Â
- Has eight rebounds off of the bench in two of his last three games.
