Sports
MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Defensive Illini improve to 2-0 … – Danville Commercial News
Becoming partly cloudy after some morning light rain. Morning high of 58F with temps falling to near 45. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..
Clear. Low 26F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: November 17, 2023 @ 12:38 am
Illinois senior Terrence Shannon Jr. shoots over Oakland’s Trey Townsend in the first half of Friday’s game at the State Farm Center in Champaign. Shannon had 15 points as the Fighting Illini defeated the Golden Grizzlies 64-53.
Sports Editor
Illinois senior Terrence Shannon Jr. shoots over Oakland’s Trey Townsend in the first half of Friday’s game at the State Farm Center in Champaign. Shannon had 15 points as the Fighting Illini defeated the Golden Grizzlies 64-53.
CHAMPAIGN — It’s only the first week of the men’s college basketball season, but the Illinois Fighting Illini are already thinking about March and how they can be successful.
On a night when nothing came easy on the offensive end, the Illinois defense stood the challenge for the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in a 64-53 victory Friday night before 15,544 at the State Farm Center.
“On a night when we did make free throws, we didn’t make layups, we didn’t make dunks and we didn’t make 3s … it’s important to find a way to win a game when none of those things go your way,’’ said Illinois coach Brad Underwood. “It was really ugly and I love that. You wish you made a few, but we didn’t. You have to find a way to win ugly games. Tonight, we did that with an unbelievable defensive effort.’’
Illinois (2-0) shot a respectable 47 percent from the field (26-of-55), but the Illini were just 4-of-16 from 3-point range and 8-of-16 from the free-throw line.
Because of those shooting woes, the Illini found themselves trailing the Golden Grizzlies 45-42 with 10 minutes, 46 seconds left in the contest after a basket by Oakland’s Trey Townsend.
Over the next 16 possessions, the Golden Grizzlies managed just two 3-pointers and a conventional field goal as the Illini outscored them 22-8, including a 16-0 run fueled by six points from Quincy Guerrier, who recorded the 14th double-double of his career with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
“We were just locking up on defense, playing together and communicating,’’ said Guerrier, who became a father on Thursday. “My goal is find a way to help us win games.
“Defense is going to be a big key for us to win games. Like today, we were not shooting the ball well, free-throw percentage was terrible. So we have to find a way to win the games when shots are not falling.’’
Guerrier wasn’t the only Illinois player coming up big on both the defensive and offensive ends of the court.
Terrence Shannon Jr., who scored a team-high 15 points, was responsible for holding Oakland’s Jack Gohlke to six points on 2-of-6 from 3-point range. Gohlke had 18 points and 18 3-point attempts in the Grizzlies 79-73 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes to open the season.
“This is a game that I stressed over a lot,’’ Underwood said. “Gohlke is a difficult defend because he’s always off the ball. It takes a lot of mental focus to handle that and I thought Terrence did a tremendous job.’’
Shannon admitted it was an all-around solid defensive performance by the Illini.
“We did a good job of grinding and defending,’’ he said. “Honestly, teams are going to score. We just stayed locked in and figured out our mistakes. Sticking to our principles and staying solid.’’
That defensive effort not only pleased Underwood, but Oakland coach Greg Kampe was also very impressed.
“Wow, they can guard,’’ he said. “I thought you saw two really, really good defensive teams. We guard goofy and they just go guard you. They took Gohlke and (Blake) Lampman out of the game.’’
In addition to his team-high 15 points, Shannon also dished out five assists and grabbed three steals. Sophomore Ty Rodgers had his third double-figure scoring game of his career with 10 points, while Dain Dainja also had 10 points to go with seven rebounds.
The Illinois defensive mentality will face one of its biggest tests Tuesday night when the fourth-rated Marquette Golden Eagles come to the State Farm Center for a 7 p.m. contest as part of the Gavitt Games.
“It’s an unbelievable challenge, as I thought it was really going into the Oakland game,” Underwood said. “This is a team that has elite passing, and they’re an elite cutting team. So I think you can’t relax away from the ball. And I think those are two of the important things that we talked about.’’
Marquette (2-0) returns more than 80 percent of its scoring from a team that was a No. 2 in last year’s tournament.
The Golden Eagles backcourt duo of Kam Jones and Tyler Kolek are averaging 31.5 points per game, and last season they combined to score 28 points per contest.
Illinois figures to use Shannon on one of those guards as the senior has recorded five steals in the first two games this season.
“It’s a big reason that we’re as good as we are, is the job Terrence does defensively,” Underwood said. “His commitment level on that end is extremely high.”
GAME 3
Marquette Golden Eagles at Illinois Fighting Illini
Site — State Farm Center in Champaign
When — 7 p.m. Friday
Records — Marquette 2-0 overall, 0-0 in the Big East Conference. Illinois 2-0 overall, 0-0 in the Big Ten Conference.
Rankings — Marquette moved up to No. 4 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll, while Illinois moved up to No. 23.
Television — Fox Sports 1
Radio — Illini Sports Network, including local stations WDAN-AM 1490 and WDNL-FM 102.1
Series history — Illinois leads the all-time series 9-6 over Marquette, but the Golden Eagles defeated the Fighting Illini 67-66 on Nov. 15, 2021 in Milwaukee, Wis.
Last game — Marquette beat Rider 95-65 on Friday in Milwaukee. Illinois defeated Oakland (Mich) 64-53 on Friday in Champaign.
Up Next — The Golden Eagles will travel to Las Vegas for the 2023 Allstate Maui Invitational where Marquette opens against UCLA on Nov. 20. The Fighting Illini will continue their six-game homestand with a 7 p.m. contest on Friday against the Valparaiso Beacons under the direction of former Illini standout Roger Powell.
Projected starters — Marquette: G Kam Jones, 6-5, junior. G Stevie Mitchell, 6-3, junior. G Tyler Kolek, 6-3, senior. F Oso Ighodaro, 6-11, senior. F David Joplin, 6-8, junior. Illinois: G Terrence Shannon Jr., 6-6, fifth-year senior. G Marcus Domask, 6-6, graduate senior. G Ty Rodgers, 6-6, sophomore. F Quincy Guerrier, 6-8, graduate senior. F Coleman Hawkins, 6-10, senior.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Scoring — Marquette: Jones 21.5, Ighodaro 13.0, Chase Ross 11.5, Kolek 10.0. Illinois: Shannon 15.5, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn 9.0, Dain Dainja 9.0.
Rebounding — Marquette: Ighodaro 9.0, Ben Gold 5.5, Kolek 5.0. Illinois: Amani Hansberry 8.0, Dain Dainja 6.0, Hawkins 6.5.
Assists — Marquette: Kolek 5.0, Sean Jones 4.5, K.Jones 4.0. Illinois: Hawkins 3.5, Shannon 3.0, Domask 2.0.
Sports Editor
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.
Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox.
First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: