Box Score
NEW YORK – Kylan Boswell scored a game-high 25 points and combined with Tomislav Ivisic, on his way to a double-double, to lead #13 Illinois' second-half comeback effort. But it was not enough to overcome a cold-shooting performance by the Orange and Blue in a 74-61 loss to #5 UConn on Black Friday at Madison Square Garden.
Boswell's shot 8-for-16 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers, and knocked down all seven of his free-throw attempts. The Illini as a team, however, shot a season-worst 31.7% (19-60) from the field and posted a team-low with 20.7% (6-29) from 3-point range.
After connecting on four of the team's first seven attempts from beyond the arc, the Illini missed 11 straight in 17-minute stretch of game action that spanned halftime, and finished with just two makes from distance – one each from Boswell and Ivisic – during the team's second half comeback effort.
Ivisic was limited to just 2 points and 2 rebounds in the first period, but bounced back to post nine points (including 4-4 FTs) and eight rebounds in the second half on his way to record his first double-double of the season.
UConn used a 10-0 run to build a double-digit lead, 23-12, at the 12-minute mark of the first half. Boswell kept the Illini within striking distance and the team went into halftime trailing 43-32.
Out of the break, the Illini were held without a field goal for the first 7 minutes, but eight free-throw attempts before Boswell's triple at the 12:40 mark pulled them within 14 points, 57-43. UConn with another quick 7-0 run to reach their biggest lead of 21 points, 64-43 at the midway point of the second half. Boswell
Boswell (5 points) and Ivisic (6) combined to lead the Illini on an 11-0 scoring run that pulled the team back within, 64-54, with just more than 5 minutes to play. The Illini held the Huskies without points for nearly 5 minutes during that run.
Ivisic's 3-pointer at the 2:56 mark cut the Illini deficit to just 7 points, 59-66, before a controversial four-point play by the Huskies all but stifled the Illini's comeback effort.
The Illini defense forced an errant shot off the backboard by UConn's Alex Karaban with less than 4 seconds on the shot clock, which was erroneously reset to 20 as the offensive rebound was cleared out to Malachi Smith with 2 seconds left. Smith then drew contact against Jake Davis on a 3-point heave that banked in before he hit a free-throw to give the Huskies a 70-59 lead. The officials reviewed the shot clock error but determined that Smith's attempt would have fallen within the duration of the original shot clock.
The four-point play thwarted the Illini's late push, as the team's exchanged free throws in the final 77 seconds to close out the game.
#13 Illinois now turns its attention to another neutral-court, ranked showdown vs. #17 Tennessee on Saturday, Dec. 6, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. (7 p.m. CT / ESPN).
POSTGAME NOTES
Players
- Kylan Boswell scored a game-high 25 points (8-16 FGs, 7-7 FTs) with nine rebounds and a team-leading three assists.
- Fourth game of the season, seventh of Illinois career, with 20+ points
- Posted double-figures scoring for the seventh time in eight games this season, and the 31st time in 43 career games as an Illini.
- Shot 2-for-8 from 3-point range, his fourth game of the season with multiple 3-pointers and his first since hitting 3 in Illinois' win over #11 Texas Tech on Nov. 11.
- Played a season-high 39:05
- Tomislav Ivisic posted his first double-double performance of the season with 11 points and 10 boards.
- Season-high 10 rebounds
- 14th-career game as an Illini with at least 10 rebounds and his 15th-career game as the Illini's leading rebounder
- Second straight game in double-figures scoring, third of the season and 25th of his career.
- David Mirkovic finished with 8 points and 8 rebounds (4 offensive) and a pair of assists
- First game of his career with fewer than 10 points after reaching double-digits in each of his first seven contests.
- Fifth game of the season with at least 8 boards and his third game with at least three offensive rebounds
- Multiple assists in five straight games and six of his first eight games, overall
- Second-most offensive rebounds (4) this season behind the 8 he tallied in his 21-rebound game vs. Colgate on Nov. 4
- Zvonimir Ivisic recorded a game-high 5 blocks and added 4 points and 4 rebounds
- Fifth game of the season with multiple blocks, averaging 2.9 blocks per game
- Mihailo Petrovic logged a career-high 17 minutes, 34 seconds in his fourth game since returning from injury to start the season.
- Dished out two assists and is averaging 2.8 per game through his first four contests.
- Andrej Stojakovic was limited to just 3 points on just 1-for-7 shooting
- Entered the game as the team's leading scorer at 18.5 ppg
- Posted two assists, his third game of the season with multiple helpers, and his first since Nov. 14 vs. Colgate
Team
- Illinois falls to 6-2 on the season with its only two losses coming away from State Farm Center in matchups with top-15 ranked opponents.
- Illinois is 0-2 this season away from State Farm Center with losses to #11 Alabama (90-86) at United Center and #5 UConn (74-61) at MSG.
- Illinois is 1-2 this season vs. ranked opponents with a home victory over #11 Texas Tech (81-77) on Nov. 11.
- Illinois is 1-4 all-time vs. UConn and have lost four straight vs. the Huskies.
- The Illini have lost five straight games vs. ranked opponents on a neutral court.
- Illinois moves to 6-10 all-time in 16 games at Madison Square Garden
- Illinois shot a season low 31.7% (19-60) from the field overall, and 20.7% (6-29) from 3-point range.
- Illinois was outrebounded, 43-38, for the first time this season.
- The Illini are 31-56 when being outrebounded in the Brad Underwood era.
- Illinois scored fewer than 80 points for the first time this season.
- Opened the year with seven straight games of 80+ points, the team's longest streak since a run of 12 straight to open the season by the 1988-89 Flyin' Illini.
