CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 25 Illinois never trailed in the second half en route to an 82-75 victory over No. 1 Kansas in the Maui Strong Relief Matchup exhibition at State Farm Center on Sunday night.
The victory came in the team's final exhibition tuneup before next week's regular-season opener. Illinois' last victory over a top-ranked team in a regular-season matchup came against No. 1 Indiana in 2013.
Several players saw minutes in the team's final exhibition game of the season, with 12 Illini getting playing time and eight different scorers registering points.
Coleman Hawkins, Marcus Domask, Ty Rodgers, and Terrence Shannon Jr. all started for the second consecutive game, while Quincy Guerrier picked up his first start for the Orange and Blue.
Shannon once again led the way with a game-high 28 points, and he knocked down a team-high five 3-pointers and grabbed two steals in the victory.
Hawkins knocked down four 3-pointers en route to finishing with 14 points, while he also tallied five rebounds, two steals, and one block.
Guerrier recorded 11 of his 13 points in the second half, accounting for eight straight Illini points late in the final period of play. He also notched a team-high nine boards.
Domask finished with 11 points and five rebounds, two of which came on the offensive glass.
Justin Harmon ended his night with six points and six rebounds while posting a team-high plus-minus rating of +11 during his time on the floor.
The Illini knocked down 11 3-pointers and shot 41% from behind the arc. The Orange and Blue also scored 14 points off of their 13 offensive boards, out-rebounding Kansas, 39-32.
Neither side led by more than three points during the first minutes of play, though Ty Rodgers led the scoring charge with six of the Illini's first 11 points.
With the game tied at 19 just over halfway through the opening half, Illinois used a 12-4 run to take an 8-point advantage, its largest of the first 20 minutes. Hawkins played a big role in the run, knocking down two 3-pointers to put the Orange and Blue in front, 31-23, with just under five minutes to play. Shannon took over down the stretch, hitting three triples, including one with a hand in his face to close the half.
Illinois held a 43-37 edge heading into the locker room, led by Shannon's 16 points. The Illini shot 50% from the field and 44% from deep in the opening half, while they also established themselves on the glass. Grabbing eight offensive boards, the Orange and Blue registered 11 second-chance points while maintaining the lead for the final nine minutes of action.
After the Illini used a 6-2 run to retake an 8-point advantage, the Jayhawks responded with an 8-0 run to even the game at 49 with just over 15 minutes to play. The tie did not last long, though, as five points from Domask and a Shannon layup fueled a 7-0 run from the Orange and Blue to put the home side back in front.
Kansas tied the game at 68 via an 8-1 run, but the Illini went back in front with under five minutes to play. Guerrier accounted for eight straight Illinois points, including a trey to retake the lead, to put the Illini back in front. When the Jayhawks cut their deficit to one, the Illini responded with a 5-0 run, capped off by a Hawkins triple, to extend the home side's advantage to six. Illinois locked down on the defensive end, forcing five straight Kansas misses and holding the visitors without a basket for the final three minutes to secure the victory.
Illinois, which concluded its preseason slate with two wins, will return to State Farm Center on Nov. 6 for its regular-season opener against Eastern Illinois. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on B1G+.
HIGHLIGHTS
PRESS CONFERENCE
QUOTES
Opening statement:
"It's a heck of a day when you raise over one million dollars for a lot of people who need it. I don't think we should lose sight of the fact that two teams competed awfully hard today, but the real winners are not here. They are in Maui and Lahaina. When you lose thousands of buildings, and people lose their lives, and you think about the number of years it will take to replenish and rebuild, that's what this is about to me. We all get wrapped up in the moment, but today was a really positive day. I want to thank our fans, their fans, and Bill for wanting to come back to a place where he did a lot of good things. I'm very appreciative of that.
"Moving on to the game, they are ranked where they are at for a reason, but I thought there were a lot of teachable moments. I was very, very pleased with our offensive flow in the first half. I thought we had difficulty at times in the second half. Both these guys (Terrence and Coleman) got going from three. We took advantage of some ball-screen coverages that they had. I was hoping tonight that Coleman might get 20 threes up. With Terrence, they went under in their ball screens and gave him great, great looks.
"I was really excited about the start of the second half from this standpoint. They made their run. They made a run. Hunter got going. McCullar got going. We gave them a few gifts that way, and then we withstood and got back to playing really good basketball. We had three turnovers late at the seven minute mark or so. Those are turnovers we can't have, but we got a stop or two. We ran really good offense. Quincy had a segment where he was four-of-four from the free-throw line. He made a big-time three that helped break it open.
"To end of the game, there was a lot of lot of age out there, a lot of experience. Early in the season, you rely on that. It is going to be an opportunity for everybody to continue to grow in those areas. We were trying to learn in those situations, and experience was something that I was looking for. Coleman was the youngest on the court, and he has been with us for four years.
"Kansas is a heck of a team. They are going to have a great year. We just have to keep being Every Day Guys and do our job."
On the competitiveness of the game despite it being an exhibition:
"It's been a big focus. One of the standards we have tried to set is being an Every Day Guy. We have probably had half of a bad practice. Our guys are working. It means something to them. Their attention to detail is very high, but they are very, very competitive. There is not anybody in our program who is lost. We play to win.
"We needed to grow. I played everybody in the first half, and it was a little different in the second, but every time we play, we are trying to hook it up. We are competitive in practice. We've worked on a lot of one-on-one. We played a lot of pickup this summer and fall to amp up the competitive side."
On Kansas head coach Bill Self calling him "a tough matchup":
"It's exciting to hear that knowing that this is an exhibition game and it's October. Going down the stretch, it's going to be tough for a lot of teams, not only for Coach Self but for a lot of teams. Knowing my value on this team, what I can bring for this team, it doesn't always have to do with scoring. It can lead to other opportunities for people to score or creating mismatches. It's very exciting to hear that, especially here in October, because we have a long season ahead of us."
On his approach to the game:
"Every game we play in, we want to win. We don't go into a game saying, 'Oh, it's just an exhibition, so let's get through it and see where we're at.' We're trying to win and get better as a team. We'll learn from this game, look at the film, and get better."
