CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – #25 Illinois opened head coach Brad Underwood's seventh season at the helm of the program with a 116-65 win over Ottawa (Kan.) in an exhibition game at State Farm Center on Friday night.
The exhibition gave Underwood the opportunity to give minutes to his entire roster, with all 15 Illini earning playing time and 14 different players scoring at least one point in the victory.
Returners Luke Goode, Coleman Hawkins, Ty Rodgers, and Terrence Shannon Jr. all featured in the starting lineup, while newcomer Marcus Domask rounded out the group with his first start with the Orange and Blue.
Seven different scorers registered double-digit points, led by a game-high 18 from Shannon.
Freshmen Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and Amani Hansberry both finished in double figures. Gibbs-Lawhorn totaled 15 points while shooting 60%, while Hansberry tallied a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.
Goode knocked down three triples and notched 11 points, while newcomer Justin Harmon finished his Illinois debut with 11 points. Quincy Guerrier and Hawkins both ended their outings with 10 points.
Domask recorded eight points while knocking down two 3-pointers, grabbing four offensive boards, and dishing out a game-high six assists.
The Illini recorded an assist on 26 of their 45 field goals while outrebounding the Braves, 59-22. The Orange and Blue grabbed 20 offensive boards and finished with 17 second-chance points while dominating the paint with 56 points in the lane.
Illinois got out to a quick start, pulling in front, 19-4, through five minutes via points from six different scorers. The Braves cut their deficit to 10 before the Illini used a 22-5 stretch to extend their advantage to 27 points late in the opening frame. A 7-0 Illinois run over the course of 60 seconds gave the hosts their biggest lead of the first half at 32 points before taking a 59-30 edge into halftime. Ten different Illini registered points, while the Orange and Blue shot 62% in the opening 20 minutes.
Opening the second half with a 17-0 run, the Illini held the Braves without a basket for nearly five minutes to extend their lead to 46 points. Illinois maintained its 40-point advantage for a majority of the final frame before a 9-0 run, which featured all nine points from freshmen Gibbs-Lawhorn and Hansberry, pushed the home side's lead to 51 points. The Illini led by as many as 54, ultimately closing out the night with a 51-point win.
The contest was the first of two Fighting Illini exhibitions this season, as the Orange and Blue will take on #1 Kansas in the Maui Strong Relief Matchup in Champaign. Tipoff on Oct. 29 is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT and serves as the final game of the team's preseason slate.
HIGHLIGHTS
PRESS CONFERENCE
QUOTES
Opening statement:
"I would like to thank Ottawa. Obviously, there's a connection there with Joey (Biggs), and it's been well-documented. That's a good basketball team. That's a good NAIA basketball team. I'm going to enjoy watching and following their progress throughout the season. They did some things that caused us some problems, and now I'm excited to go watch film and learn from that.Â
"Most of the emphasis going into tonight was not about personnel or anything they did. It was about us having a fundamental base, making all the fundamental plays that we've been working on, trying not to make mistakes, communicating and over-communicating, and valuing possessions.Â
"I thought we did a lot of good things. I loved the start of the game. Luke got us going. Marcus got us a couple extra possessions with offensive rebounds. I love the fact we had 26 assists. I was very disappointed in the fact we gave up five threes. Most of those were on very poor close-outs. I think one was contested.Â
"I really challenged him at halftime, and I loved the start of the second half. I thought our defense had some bite. I played everybody even minutes. It was great to see Nico, and Dravyn, and Amani get their feet wet and all find some success.Â
"We have a little different one coming in nine days. We have a lot to work on, a lot to continue to grow, and educate, and talk through, but there were a lot of positives today."
On acclimating himself into the team after not playing during the team's trip to Spain:
"Yeah, it's been good. Obviously, not being able to play in Spain was a bummer. That kind of sucked, but it's been solid. Through practices, you learn your role, and watching film with the coaches a lot is where you learn where to pick your spots. It's easy to play with these guys. The ball moves. We had 26 assists. When the ball is moving, it makes it easy to play with everybody."
On how he fits into the Illini team and what he envisions his role to be this season:
"For me, as a fifth-year senior who has played a lot of games, I just have to be a leader for this team. I've been around the block for a minute now. I've been around here. I can use my experience, help everybody out, and make winning plays. I want to get on the glass, share the ball, and do whatever I need to do that night to win a game. That's why I'm here. I'm here to win games."
On playing in State Farm Center for the first time:Â
"I think we played well for our first time. We have a lot of experience and a lot of leadership, which helped a lot. I think we have a lot of things we have to clean up, especially if we want to compete against Kansas coming in here next week, but overall I think we did great. We've been talking about defense, and on the boards, we did a lot of stuff that we talked about doing in the locker room."
On what envisions his role to be for the Illini this season:
"Especially this year, my role is to come in off the bench, get extra possessions, get extra points with little putbacks and easy points around the rim, and do all the dirty work. I feel like we have enough scorers on this team, so somebody has to step up, take control of the dirty work, and make winning plays."
