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College basketball rankings: Illinois surges in Top 25 And 1 after thrilling overtime victory over Texas – CBS Sports
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Illinois trailed by double-digits with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation Tuesday night, wasn’t getting a good performance from Terrence Shannon Jr., and seemed on the verge of becoming the latest team to fall to Chris Beard’s Texas Longhorns.
Then a switch flipped.
The Illini closed regulation on a 22-12 run — despite not getting a single point from Shannon, their leading scorer, in that stretch — to force overtime before pulling away in the extra period and upsetting the Longhorns by a final score of 85-78 inside New York’s Madison Square Garden. So, now Illinois is 7-2 with wins over Texas and UCLA — and ranked fifth in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
“I just kept telling [my teammates], like praising them, ‘Man, good job. You’re keeping us in it. You’re all playing great. I got you and I’m going to come through for you eventually,'” Shannon said afterward. “And that’s what I kept telling them in overtime.”
As promised, Shannon did come through eventually. After scoring zero points in the first half and just four points in regulation, the Texas Tech transfer got 12 of Illinois’ 17 points in overtime to hand Texas its first loss of the season. Consequently, the Longhorns have been removed from the top spot in the Top 25 And 1 and dropped to No. 6. That means Houston, still undefeated after Tuesday night’s 76-42 win over North Florida, is the new No. 1 team in the Top 25 And 1. The Cougars’ next game is Saturday against Alabama, which is now No. 8 in the Top 25 And 1.
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