An early test was next on the schedule following a pair of season-opening wins for No. 23 Illinois men’s basketball. That test came in the form of No. 4 Marquette, who also 2-0 entered the State Farm Center on Tuesday night. Despite remaining competitive throughout and taking several leads in the second half, Illinois came out on the losing side with a final score of 71-64.
For the third game in a row, Illinois’ starters consisted of senior forward Coleman Hawkins and graduate student forward Quincy Guerrier in the frontcourt with fifth-year guard Terrence Shannon Jr., sophomore guard Ty Rodgers and graduate student guard Marcus Domask rounding out the first five.
The Golden Eagles came down with the tip-off and returned to the defensive end empty-handed despite getting two chances on their first possession. Conversely, a drive and kick from Hawkins found Domask wide open in the corner to open scoring for Illinois.
A couple of seconds later, Marquette cashed in the coveted free McDonald’s nuggets for the Champaign area and sent the crowd into a frenzy. Rodgers extended the lead with some crafty work on the inside, but the Golden Eagles battled back to make it 7-6 heading into the first media timeout.
The count was evened at the line once play resumed and a Marquette lead followed suit. Blossoming as large as 13-7, a substitution and three from junior guard Luke Goode ended up being Illinois’ solution. A three from Shannon brought the Illini within one point a few possessions later, but that was immediately erased by the Golden Eagles.
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It wasn’t until Domask emerged from a pack of hopeful rebounders with a steal that the State Farm Center had a reason to get on its feet again. His eventual pace-pushing and-one finish tied the game at 17-17.
The next Illini basket was just as energizing, as Shannon got free from his defender for a wide-open emphatic slam. But it was mostly a game of catchup from that point on, with Marquette leading for the final 7:10 of the half. It even seemed like the Golden Eagles would take a game-high eight-point lead into the break, but a last-second three from Goode managed to make a dent (36-31).
That three made Goode the leading scorer of the half (10), and he was also one of just two Illini with multiple baskets from deep (Domask). The rest of the team was a combined 1-11 from three to go along with there being four Illini who took multiple shots and had zero makes. Guerrier was a huge plus on the defensive end and even reeled in a team-high eight rebounds.
Domask broke the second-half seal with a turnaround jumper in the paint after each team traded scoreless possessions to start out. Marquette answered, but Hawkins finally got his first shot to go in with a putback layup. Another defensive stand and fast break lob to Domask put Illinois within one point, drawing a Marquette timeout in the process (38-37).
A ticky-tacky foul call on Goode that enraged the Illini crowd gave two more points to the visiting side, but the Illini quickly found Hawkins in the corner for his first three of the game and a tying basket. He added to this positive stretch with a huge block on the other end that set up an electrifying fast break layup for Shannon. That basket gave Illinois its first lead since there was 15:53 to go in the first half (42-40).
Marquette answered with a crowd-silencing basket, but Domask injected fire back into the State Farm Center with another made three to retake the lead. Keeping in the spirit of go-ahead baskets, Rodgers added one to his resume with a pretty behind-the-back move to get past his defender on the perimeter and a hand-changing layup past the inside defender (52-50).
Unfortunately for the Illini, a five-minute scoring drought ensued. By the time Goode snapped it with a shot from deep, Marquette had scored eight unanswered points (58-55).
Illinois remained competitive from there and even when it seemed to catch a break and make a huge play, Marquette always had an answer. A difficult contested three from Shannon cut the lead to four with 3:12 to go, but that was met by four straight from the Golden Eagles (68-60).
Shannon sank four straight free throws to return to a four-point deficit, but by that point, there were just 29.7 seconds remaining (68-64). That proved too little time for the Illini to mount a comeback, and they ultimately fell 71-64.
A huge second half thrust Shannon to the top of Illinois’ scoring, totaling 21 points to go along with two rebounds and two assists. Domask remained constant through both halves to be second on that list with 18 points and six rebounds.
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