Last time out was one to remember for No. 20 Illinois men’s basketball, who upset No. 11 Florida Atlantic in the Jimmy V Men’s Classic. Saturday morning offered another chance for the Illinois to build on its excellent early season record, but No. 17 Tennessee was able to snuff out the flame and hand the visitors a 86-79 loss.

Head coach Brad Underwood’s starting lineup remained unchanged against the Volunteers. Senior forward Coleman Hawkins and graduate student forward Quincy Guerrier held down the front court alongside fifth year guard Terrence Shannon Jr., sophomore guard Ty Rodgers and graduate student guard Marcus Domask.

Tennessee came out firing and scored on each of its first three possessions. Shannon earned a basket of his own on the Illini’s first time down the floor, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with the Volunteers. Three offensive rebounds and turnovers in favor of Tennessee only bolstered its already red-hot offense, to the point where Illinois entered the first media timeout down 19-13. 

Offensive execution was no problem for Illinois, who was 5-8 from the floor and 3-5 from deep at that point. Guerrier was a huge proponent of this excellent start thanks to a return to form in his outside shooting. Two threes and another basket inside from the Oregon transfer made up a majority of Illinois’ output to that point.

Redshirt junior forward Dain Dainja came in and immediately made his presence felt on the defensive end, which in turn led to easier transition looks for Shannon. His first basket also came by way of pure hustle, which Illinois was in desperate need of. Following a miss by Domask, Dainja reeled in two offensive rebounds while fighting to secure two points for the Illini (23-17).

The Illini lived off free throws for a few minutes, not able to get any shots to go down during live play, but a step back three from Hawkins eventually broke the drought. However, that only marked the beginning of another drought and the Illini followed up Hawkins’ three with over four minutes of no field goals. 

During that time, defense and free throws continued to make the game manageable for Illinois. They kept it close to the point that back-to-back baskets from Domask and Guerrier catapulted the Illini out in front in an instant, 31-30.

A three from junior guard Luke Goode late in the half ended up being the difference maker when the buzzer rang and Illinois took a 36-34 lead into the break. Guerrier was the only Illini in double figures (12), knocking in more threes in the first half (3) than he had to this point all season (2).

Hawkins got the second half started with a scrappy putback layup, which put Tennessee in a season-high deficit at home (4). The Volunteers rallied on the back of a flagrant foul against Rodgers, but Shannon quickly responded with a deep three.

Illinois had a similar lead with 16:33 to go, 44-40, but Tennessee battled right back and earned 10 unanswered points to flip the game on its head. The deficit only got worse for the Illini from there and the Volunteers continued to tack on points until they carried an 11-point lead into the final five minutes.

The mountain proved too steep for the Illini to surmount and they were never able to make up enough game through fouling. Through 40 minutes, the final score was 86-79 with Guerrier and Shannon boasting a game-high 22 points.

Illinois men’s basketball will be back home next Sunday, tipping off at noon against Colgate.

@blountco21

[email protected]