It was the prototypical trap game, and Sam McLaurin spotted it before anyone.

The senior transfer’s head coach at Coastal Carolina purposely used to schedule games just like the one the Illinois men’s basketball team played on Sunday. 

“Our coach would do some of the things that Eastern Kentucky is doing,” McLaurin said at practice on Thursday. “It’s not a coincidence that they’re scheduling us right after exams, all of our students are going home. They’re undefeated, we’re undefeated. They’re coming in trying to steal one.”

In addition to the pressures of final exams, the Illini have a tough test looming in the Braggin’ Rights game against No. 12 Missouri. And with the Illini’s undefeated record entering the contest, Eastern Kentucky could have been easy to overlook.

But in the debut of head coach John Groce’s stark orange blazer, the Illini would not falter. Illinois never trailed in its 66-53 win over Eastern Kentucky on Sunday, advancing to 12-0 on the season heading into the final two games of the team’s nonconference schedule.

“The biggest thing is I’m going to be driving home in my car tonight proud of these guys for their effort and their toughness,” Groce said. “We played. We fought. We battled. We were looking for that. We’ve been talking about it amongst ourselves for the last three or four days, and we did it at a really high level.”

Starting games with high energy became the focus of this week’s practice after the Illini failed to bring their A-game against Norfolk State on Tuesday, admitting they had played down to their competition in the 64-54 victory. The Illini were looking to thump the Spartans after earning a top-10 ranking for the first time since 2006, and it just didn’t happen.

Eastern Kentucky posed a greater threat, one that could have very well led to an upset.

Eastern Kentucky throttled Norfolk State in a 68-44 beating on Nov. 24 and remained one of the last two unbeaten mid-majors in the nation.

The Colonels entered Sunday’s contest ranked second in the nation in forcing turnovers and had been holding opponents to 29-percent shooting from behind the arc.

The first half spelled disaster for the Illini, who rely heavily on the 3-point shot; they entered Sunday’s contest ranked first in the nation with 10.8 3-pointers per game.

Eastern Kentucky held Illinois to 25 first half points on 15-percent shooting from behind the arc and just 38-percent shooting from the field. Poor shooting and foul trouble plagued Illinois, particularly from sophomore point guard Tracy Abrams, who had to sit for 13 minutes of the first frame with two fouls. With their coach’s message from practice still waiting to be validated, the Illini headed into halftime leading by just five, largely due to Eastern Kentucky’s struggles from the free throw line.

“I told our team at halftime, I really felt we were going to win the game because if we had just made our free throws in the first half, and not missed the front end of one-and-ones, we would have had the lead at halftime,” Colonels head coach Jeff Neubauer said.

Thirteen second half points by Abrams led the way, as the Illini jumped out to a 36-22 lead in the first six minutes after the break. They saw that lead shrink all the way to 42-38 before turning the jets back on and closing the game with authority.

“It’s what we worked on for three of four days,” Groce said. “It’s what we talked about. If we hadn’t, it’d be like being a classroom teacher, which I used to be back in the day and still am. It’s just 94×50 and not a classroom, but that’s what we wore out, and not doing it you’d be concerned. They got the message.”

That call to action was heard loud and clear by Nnanna Egwu, who received most of the preseason attention from Groce but had disappeared as a true contributor in the early part of this season despite playing big minutes. Groce called Egwu’s game on Sunday his most complete of the season, praising the sophomore center for everything his seven points and four blocks didn’t tell on the post-game stat sheet.

“Tonight he goes 3-for-4, and he stepped right into those things and had a look in his eye like, ‘Hey, that sucker is going in,’” Groce said. “He shot it well tonight. I thought he did a good job on both ends of the floor and played the most complete game he’s had to this juncture.”

Brandon Paul carved the path for the Illini with another impressive scoring performance, sinking what’s become a standard 17 points, and adding three assists and two blocks. But he also contributed to the Illini’s struggles, as Paul and Abrams displayed poor ball handling, combining for 10 of the Illini’s 20 turnovers in the game. Groce said he wouldn’t know whether to credit the sloppiness to Eastern Kentucky’s knack for ball-hawking or unforced errors before watching the game film.

While this one won’t go down as the Illini’s prettiest win, Groce said Sunday’s victory was important to get back on the right footing. The energy Groce preached in practice was there, and that was what he needed to see from his team before travelling into St. Louis to attempt a run at ending the Illini’s three-game losing streak in Braggin’ Rights contests.

“We’ve won all of our Big Ten challenges since I’ve been here,” Paul said. “Obviously the Missouri game is huge for us. They’re not going to just hand us the trophy. We’re going to have to fight for it.”

The Illini have done their share of fighting in tight games this season, but they’ve managed to keep the unbeaten streak alive to this point.

While Groce insists he likes to keep his eye on the next game and the next challenge at hand, he does respect tradition. That’s why he wore the orange sport coat on Sunday, in tribute to Lou Henson, who was in attendance for the game and received a resounding ovation when he was introduced to the crowd.

“Coach Henson and I talked this summer, and I told him if he came back I’d wear the orange coat,” Groce said. “I have a respect for Coach Henson and what he’s done for this program.”

Don’t look now, but Groce is already breaking records for a first-year coach in the program. In front of Assembly Hall’s largest crowd of the season, Groce tied Fletcher Lane for the best start in Illini history for a first-year coach on Sunday, a record that’s been around since 1907-08.

Ethan can be reached at [email protected].