After the school’s first Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight appearances since 2005, Brad Underwood has taken no time to reload. But before we get into that, let’s look back at one of the best Fighting Illini seasons of all time.
Let’s start with the moves Illinois made last offseason. Acquiring Marcus Domask, Quincy Guerrier, and Justin Harmon in the portal along with bringing in Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and Amani Hansberry, there were a lot of new faces that had to be acclimated to the Everyday Guy culture. A shocking Sencire Harris redshirt left Ty Rodgers as the only returning lead guard with prior experience at the University. Bringing back Terrence Shannnon Jr. and Coleman Hawkins proved to be the difference-makers we all thought they would be, as those two elevated their games a step further than what we saw from them last year. Domask was a steady force running Booty Ball out of the post, while Rodgers and Guerrier rounded out the starting 5, as those two terrorized opposing teams on the offensive glass.
I truly believe that this team would not have gone nearly as far if it wasn’t for the Shannon Jr. suspension. Out of nowhere he was gone for 6 games, and other players needed to step up. This is where Marcus Domask really emerged as that primary scoring option, while Guerrier, Harmon, and Hawkins all improved their offensive outputs as well. We saw that team come back from down by over 20 at Purdue and make it a game again, and from that point on the team was rolling.
When TSJ returned, there was a clunkiness about it, guys weren’t sure whether to keep playing the way they had or if they needed to get TSJ involved, and TSJ wasn’t looking the same as the potential National Player of the Year candidate like he had been up until the suspension. The main thing that suffered was the defense, as we saw the KenPom rankings drop further and further with each game. The offense continued to rise, and the Illini had one of the highest KenPom offensive ratings in the last 20 years. However, late game management is where the clunkiness reared its ugly head the most.
Multiple games that should have been won turned into losses, the especially bad ones being at Northwestern, at Michigan State, and the abysmal finish at Penn State. After the Penn State game especially, I felt like this was going to be another season that we would fall short, as the previous 3 years gave me no reason to think otherwise. It was at this point that the team turned it around, only losing to the 2 teams that played in the National Championship in their last 12 games. This period also included the Big Ten Tournament Championship, Illinois’ second in the last four seasons.
Brad Underwood had done everything at Illinois, except for win in March. The hot finish to the season landed Illinois as a 3 seed in the tournament, and a spot in what appeared to be the most difficult region in the bracket. There were 4 conference tournament champions (UConn, Iowa St, Illinois, Auburn), and 6 teams that were ranked in the top 25 of both the AP poll and the KenPom rankings pre-tournament (UConn, Iowa St, Illinois, Auburn, SDSU, BYU). The Illini’s 2nd round unlucky streak seemed certain to continue, as BYU was given a 6 seed instead of a 5 seed only because BYU does not play games on Sundays. After being given the extremely underseeded Loyola and Houston in 2 of the last 3 years as opponents, I found it hard to be too optimistic.
But then the tournament started. Illinois started slow against their first round opponents in Morehead St, but after Terrence Shannon Jr dove and threw it off of a Morehead St player (a play that should have been in the “One Shining Moment” video), the game was over. Dain Dainja, a player who hadn’t seen as many minutes as he probably deserved all season, became the tournament hero, rattling off 21 points off the bench on a perfect 9-9 shooting. TSJ had kept the Illini in the game in the first half, and he finished with 26 points. Domask finished with the 10th EVER triple double in NCAA Tournament history, as the Illini rolled into the second round.
Rather than being set up for the fateful underseeded 2nd round matchup, The Illini saw Duquesne instead. This turned the tides of expectation immediately. Illinois went from a trendy pick to be upset by BYU to a team that many analysts felt would be the best challenge to UConn in the East region. Illinois handled business against Duquesne in a game that was never really competitive, and made their first trip to the Sweet Sixteen since 2005.
Then it was the fateful matchup of the #1 KenPom offense and the #1 KenPom defense, Illinois vs. Iowa St. for a spot in the Elite Eight. After a quick TSJ start, it seemed like the #1 offense was going to run away with this game as well. Iowa State settled in around the halfway mark in the first half and turned the basketball game into the chess match that everyone had anticipated. The game looked like it could have gone either way, even though the Illini never trailed. Iowa State kept clawing their way back, but 29 points from Terrence Shannon Jr, encapsulated by a clutch steal and dunk with under a minute to go, was enough to help the Illini move on.
The game against UConn went how about every game went for UConn in the tournament. The first half seemed like the Illini still had a fighter’s chance, but the shots just stopped falling. A 30-0 UConn run ended the Illini’s chance at making the Final Four, and even though the loss didn’t come as a shock, it was how we lost that made it hurt that much more. A program that had been the butt end of first weekend jokes had shown up to play all tournament, though, and as a current student I couldn’t be happier with how the season turned out.
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