On a night that honored all-time great head coach Lou Henson and revealed the colorful upgrades at State Farm Center, the Illinois men’s basketball team had plenty to play for. Notre Dame looked like the team with more to prove, though, and handed Illinois a 84-79 loss to spoil its raucous homecoming.

The loss marked the Illini’s third consecutive defeat in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge and was their first non-conference defeat at State Farm Center since 2010.

“The crowd was really good to be there and support us,” freshman forward Michael Finke said. “I just wish we could have gotten them a win.”

The Illini channeled their home crowd’s energy and shot 50 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes to take an eight point lead into the half, but came out of the locker room to find a lid on the basket. A 25-to-8 run to open the second half propelled Notre Dame into the lead and Illinois struggled to find many quality shots, settling for an array of deep threes.

Illinois shot 1-for-14 to open the second half until guard Jalen Coleman-Lands knocked down a three to bring the Illini within six points with just under 10 minutes left in the contest. The freshman marksman finished the game with 14 points and four made threes off the bench. He led a 32-point bench effort.

Notre Dame consistently stifled any murmurs of an Illinois comeback, though, and a corner three from Steve Vasturia to put the Irish up by double-digits with under two minutes remaining was the dagger. With disappointed Illini fans filtering out of the arena around them, the Irish finished the game off at the free throw line to hand the Illini their fifth loss of the year.

Forward Malcolm Hill led Illinois with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting and Kendrick Nunn mustered 13 points and seven rebounds on a pour shooting night in his third game back from injury.

With a 15-to-3 assist-to-turnover ratio, head coach John Groce wasn’t upset with the offensive effort. The other end of the floor was a different story, though.

“Our defense was not good enough,” Groce said. “It was bad in the second half. I thought we made a lot of mistakes, we did not defend the three-point line very well. I’m getting tired of saying it, and guys have got to start doing it.”

From the opening tip, the fans at State Farm Center were as amped as advertised, and the Illini’s intensity on both ends of the floor matched the electric atmosphere. Solid defensive rotations stifled Notre Dame’s inside attack and forced six first-half turnovers, resulting in eight Illini points.

On the offensive end, the Illini looked crisp and came at the Fighting Irish with a balanced attack — four different Illini tallied at least five points and five separate players drained a three. Illinois had just one turnover in the opening half.

“For whatever reason, we didn’t have it in the second half,” Groce said. “To me, that’s a focus thing. It’s about mindset.”

Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey cited the change to a 2-3 zone as the main factor in the second-half turnaround. The switch to zone forced Illinois to launch 29 threes — 10 above its season average. 17 of Illinois’ 37 second-half attempts came from deep and just six of them found the bottom of the net.

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