It was just a scrimmage, but Malcolm Hill proved how confident he’s become with his shot.

With eight seconds left in the third period of Sunday’s “Illini All In” scrimmage and his team down 21-18, the sophomore forward nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game.

Afterward, Hill joked that he has felt this confident in his game since last season, but then became serious and said he feels more comfortable taking big shots.

“I’m just a little more confident with the ball,” Hill said. “Playing against everybody, every day, because we have such a good defense, has made me a lot better.”

Head coach John Groce agreed that Hill’s confidence has increased after a year getting to know the system.

He just played the game today,” Groce said. “He took what was there. He’s really starting to understand more of what his role is and how to play that role well. He’s picking his spots in the offense. I think he understands where opportunities come up a lot more now than he did a year ago.”

While Hill’s last-second three was a sign of his growth in crunch time, what came next showed that senior guard Rayvonte Rice is still the Illini’s go-to player in late game situations.

Rice, who didn’t seem phased by Hill’s shot, got the ball and dribbled to the left wing, where he elevated and sank a three of his own to give the Orange team a 24-21 win.

“I felt like my team needed me to make a play,” Rice said. “I just dribbled up the court and just drilled it.”

The event was held at the Ubben Basketball Complex and was open to a limited number of fans. It took the place of the annual Orange and Blue scrimmage, which won’t be held this year because State Farm Center won’t be open until Nov. 7 following offseason renovations. 

The event consisted of three 10-minute scrimmages during which the Illini were broken into Orange and Blue teams. After each of the first two scrimmages, the teams’ lineups were shuffled.

Rice led all scorers with 17 points, while Hill and senior center Nnanna Egwu both contributed 16 points. Sophomore guard Kendrick Nunn did not participate in the scrimmage. With a lingering knee issue, he sat out as a precautionary measure. 

“It was great playing in front of people,” Egwu said. “We looked pretty good today. I liked the way we got up and down the floor and people made plays up and down the floor.”

While the third scrimmage was the most intense, with both the Orange and Blue sides trading points, both the first and second scrimmages also created intrigue. The Orange squad won both the first and second scrimmages by scores of 15-6 and 17-10, respectively.

Freshmen forwards Leron Black and Michael Finke scored nine and eight points, respectively, in the scrimmage and looked confident playing in front of Illini fans for the first time.

“It was fun,” Black said. “I feel like we got better today. That’s always our plan, to get one percent better every day. I feel like we played hard and we played well.”

Groce commended the Illini’s effort. He said the team played well but still has areas where it needs to improve moving forward this season.

“I challenged them today to be better and they were,” Groce said. “I thought our effort was good. I thought our attitude was really good. Our execution was okay. We’ll take a look at it but we’ve got some things to clean up.”

Nicholas can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @IlliniSportsGuy.