Down two points with 11 seconds remaining, Illinois head coach John Groce sat in the huddle, an offensive possession looming, with a chance to tie or win the game.

On the previous possession, Gardner-Webb head coach Chris Holtmann — a teammate of Groce at Taylor University and assistant under him at Ohio University for two seasons — drew up a play that freed a Gardner-Webb screener for a 3-pointer that banked in off the backboard.

Groce called the same play Holtmann did in the huddle, asking his senior guard Brandon Paul to read the defense and either pass to an open man on the perimeter or drive to the hoop.

Paul, seeing that two defenders cheated toward him after the screen, fired a pass to Tyler Griffey near the top of the key. Griffey took aim and released, nailing the 3-pointer and giving Illinois (7-0) a 63-62 lead that would stand as the final score after a desperation heave from Gardner-Webb (4-4).

“I knew it was good as soon as I let it go,” Griffey said.

The necessity for late-game heroics was absent from Illinois’ games last week in the EA Sports Maui Invitational, where it never trailed over the course of three games. But Illinois started sluggish in its return to the Assembly Hall, committing 11 turnovers in the first half while only scoring 24 points.

“I take full responsibility for this afternoon,” Groce said. “That’s on me. We have to be better.”

Part of Illinois’ first-half confusion stemmed from the zone Gardner-Webb used on defense for large stretches, limiting the open looks Illinois generated within its offense. Gardner-Webb also turned the ball over less than Illinois, which stymied any transition offense for the Illini.

The constant in both halves for Illinois was Joseph Bertrand, whom Groce said was the most impressive in practice Saturday and in the shootaround before Sunday’s game. Bertrand had seven of his team’s 24 first-half points coming off the bench and bailed out Illinois’ poor offensive possessions with a slash to the basket or a key offensive rebound, finishing the game with 13 points and six rebounds.

Bertrand’s valuable contributions spilled over to the second half, which forced Groce to interrupt his substitution patterns in order to keep Bertrand on the floor. Starting point guard Tracy Abrams bore the brunt of the bench time during Bertrand’s emergence. Abrams, Illinois’ second leading scorer, had zero points, zero assists and three turnovers at halftime and played just four minutes during the second half. Groce said that he was riding the hot hand with Bertrand and fully expects Sunday’s performance from Abrams to be an anomaly.

“We wouldn’t be sitting in the situation we’re in without Tracy Abrams,” Groce said. “I know he’s disappointed. I’d be shocked if he’s not better on Wednesday night (against Georgia Tech).”

When both teams exchanged baskets in the deciding minutes of the game — the lead changed 12 times throughout the game and four times in the final minute — Groce leaned on his seniors, and those seniors responded.

Griffey scored all of his 13 points in the second half, while Paul added 12 of his 13 points after halftime. The seniors persevered with Griffey scoring in the paint and from outside, and Paul hitting crucial shots to grab or maintain a second-half lead.

“Seniors die hard,” Groce said. “I thought our seniors and Bertrand made big plays.”

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and @ThomasBruch.