With their heads held high after a comeback win over the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinal, Brad Underwood’s No. 2-seeded Fighting Illini marched into the Target Center to face the No. 3-seeded Nebraska Cornhuskers in Saturday’s semifinal game.

Underwood made no adjustments to the starting five, putting out fifth-year guard Terrence Shannon Jr., senior forward Coleman Hawkins, graduate forwards Marcus Domask and Quincy Guerrier and sophomore guard Ty Rodgers to start the game.

Despite the Illini being the higher-seeded team, Fred Hoiberg’s Cornhuskers demanded to be taken seriously after a dominant Keisei Tominaga-led win over Indiana the day before. This notion was very clear from the opening tip, as fifth-year forward Reink Mast was on fire in the first seven minutes, scoring 13 of Nebraska’s first 18 points with 5-7 shooting to give the Huskers an 18-4 lead.

Terrence Shannon Jr. answered bucket for bucket, hitting back-to-back threes to keep the Illini within striking distance.

However, this didn’t last long. Both Shannon and Mast’s hot hands cooled off fast, but unlike Illinois, Nebraska kept its foot on the gas. Junior guard Brice Williams and senior guard Jarron Coleman combined for 20 points in the half to bring the Cornhuskers to a 51-40 lead over the Illini going into the half.

The first half for the Illini was the culmination of the last four weeks in which their defense has been some of the worst in the Big Ten Conference. Fifty-one points was the most allowed by Illinois in a half all season long — Nebraska was seemingly hitting every shot, achieving 57.6% shooting in the first 20 minutes.

Illinois was on the brink of disaster going into the locker room. Not only could the Illini not defend threes or backdoor cuts, but they couldn’t sink a shot to save their lives after Shannon cooled off — only making a measly 35.1% of their shots in the first half.

Already leading by 11, Nebraska extended its lead to 15 points, with a score of 55-40 just a minute into the half.

The Cornhuskers had the momentum and a better shooting percentage while winning the battle on the glass. 

Then, out of nowhere, Illinois completely took over.

Shannon heated up once again, leading the Illini on an 18-6 run over seven minutes to cut the Cornhuskers’ 15-point lead to just three points.

Defense, scoring, rebounding and all-around effort — everything suddenly started clicking for Illinois. Players who were uninvolved in the first half started making a huge difference: Guerrier contributed 11 points on perfect 4-4 shooting while Goode hit two clutch three-pointers to tie Nebraska at 68 and another to take the lead.

The 71-70 lead with 8:22 remaining was Illinois’ first since the score was 10-8. The Illini then went on a 22-5 run to completely flip the script on the Cornhuskers, taking a 15-point lead with just two minutes left.

None of this would’ve been possible without Terrence Shannon Jr. The second-team all-American guard achieved not only a career-high but a Big Ten tournament record with 40 points on 11-22 shooting.

Domask and Rodgers were also crucial down the stretch, as Domask finished with 16 points while Rodgers led the team with 13 rebounds, seven of which came off the offensive glass.

Thanks to an uncanny second-half resurgence, Illinois ran away with the victory at a final score 98-87.

Stringing together back-to-back wins in a dramatic fashion, the Illini aren’t able to catch their breath just yet. Illinois now advances to the Big Ten championship game to face No. 5 Wisconsin after they upset the top-seeded Purdue by hitting a game-winning shot in overtime.

The two teams will battle it out for the trophy in Minneapolis on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. CT.

@JackLarson2003

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