Following an impressive upset over the 11th-best team in the country previously, the No. 20 Illini fell short against the No. 17 Volunteers on Saturday away in the Thompson-Boling Arena. Illinois’ three-game road trip comes to a close as the team looks to return to Champaign on Sunday.
Shots just didn’t fall against the Volunteers
Saturday was by no means a bad loss for the Illini. Coming off road victories against Rutgers and No. 11 Florida Atlantic, another ranked matchup away in Tennessee was always going to be a difficult turnaround. Even with that being said, the Illini got going early and went head-to-head with the Volunteers, avoiding the slow starts that the program’s been susceptible to in recent seasons.
Shots just weren’t falling for the team. This came as quite an unfortunate reality after players like Quincy Guerrier, who isn’t consistently known for lighting it up from three, ended up having a stronger shooting night. On the other hand, after recording 33 points in the last outing, Domask could only manage six against the Volunteers. Illinois never looked like it had bitten off more than it could chew against Tennessee; it was just a case of not being able to close the contest out. A seven-point road defeat to the No. 17 Volunteers isn’t the end of the world, and the Illini will have better shooting nights down the line.
Illinois’ starting five players are indicated with *.
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* Terrence Shannon Jr. (B-)
Illinois’ two stars from the FAU game weren’t able to reach the same level against Tennessee. However, between the duo, it was Shannon who had the better showing in the Thompson-Boling Arena. The fifth-year guard was significantly less effective than fans have been used to seeing, shooting 5-16 from the field and 1-6 from beyond the arc. However, Shannon still managed to put up 22 points to tie with Guerrier as the team’s top scorer as perfect 11-11 shooting from the free throw line helped contribute to his total. It still says a lot that even on what could be considered an off night for the Chicago native, his scoring numbers haven’t taken any major blow.
* Marcus Domask (D)
The difference in Domask’s performance from the game versus the Owls compared to the Volunteers was night and day. It was an unlucky night for the graduate student, who just couldn’t get much of anything to fall. Domask finished the night with a mere six points on 2-11 field goal shooting, and completely blanked from the triple despite five attempts. While he was lights out against FAU, the magic touch was nowhere to be found against Tennessee.
* Quincy Guerrier (A)
Guerrier tied Shannon as Illinois’ leading scorer against Tennessee (22). He did so while being efficient from the field, compared to Shannon who struggled from the floor and earned a majority of his points at the free-throw line. The most encouraging part of Guerrier’s performance was his shooting, an aspect of his game that he has previously excelled in but had been setback due to a wrist injury. He totaled three makes from deep on Saturday, more than doubling his season total to that point (2). The 22 points were accompanied by five rebounds, the second most by an Illini.
* Coleman Hawkins (B)
For stretches, Hawkins excelled against Tennessee. As a facilitator, he totaled four assists to just a single turnover while the defensive end featured the typical prowess Illinois has come to expect from Hawkins. He dealt with foul trouble at points and ended the game with four personal fouls, but still managed to anchor the Illini for an astonishing 36 minutes. Each of his three makes from long distance was impressive and came at impactful points in the game, but were unfortunately accompanied by seven misses.
* Ty Rodgers (C-)
Simply put, Rodgers did not offer much for the Illini against the Volunteers. He finished with zero recorded shot attempts and earned just three points from four shots at the charity stripe. But offense is not exactly a core part of Rogers’ game; defense is where he hangs his hat and it’s something that opposing coaches have cited as a frustrating part of playing Illinois. This made it all the more frustrating to see Rodgers look like a shell of himself on the defensive end against Tennessee and was most likely why he was the only starter with under 30 minutes on the floor (21).
Luke Goode (B-)
Saturday morning was a continuation of Goode doing just about everything he’s asked on the offensive end and holding up well enough on the defensive end. He took five shots, all from outside, and made two of them to build on his red-hot start to the season (22-48, 45.8%). On top of that, Goode played the fifth most minutes of any Illini and had team-highs in rebounds (7) and plus-minus (0).
Justin Harmon (C+)
In his 12 minutes on the court, Harmon wasn’t great but wasn’t bad either. The guard put up four points on 2-4 shooting from the field and snagged two rebounds. The only real qualm from the graduate student’s night was 0-2 shooting from three, including one wide-open miss from the corner. Overall, it was a pretty quiet performance following his confident showing at Madison Square Garden previously.
Dain Dainja (N/A)
Dainja collected three rebounds and shot 1-2 from the field in four minutes on the floor.
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (N/A)
Received one minute against the Volunteers.
Niccolo Moretti (DNP)
Moretti remained out with a foot injury against Tennessee.
