Malcolm Hill didn’t lift his gaze from the microphone while he spoke about the best game of his career.

The sophomore forward seemed sad in his postgame interview Tuesday night even after recording a career-high 20 points, because his team-leading point total wasn’t enough to help Illinois in a 73-59 loss to No. 7 Villanova in New York City.

“I played all right,” Hill said. “You could say I had a good game with 20 points, but I feel like I made a lot of mistakes on the defensive, end and I let my team down this game. I got beat off the dribble a little too much.”

Hill finished the night at 50 percent shooting from the field and 33.3 percent from three to go along with five rebounds and a steal against the Wildcats.

While Hill wasn’t quick to compliment his personal production after the loss, senior center Nnanna Egwu seemed to answer a question thrown his way about Hill’s offensive growth as if it was a wanted reprieve before the onslaught of questions about the loss.

“He’s been doing this for a while now,” Egwu said. “He’s still growing but he’s obviously grown a lot since he came in as a freshman.”

Hill’s biggest growth seems to be in his maturity. He looked past his individual accolades and focused on the team after the loss.

“I had a good game, but I don’t put too much into it because we lost,” Hill said. “I’m more disappointed by the loss and focused on how to get better.”

A work in progress

For stretches of games this season, this year’s Illini have looked as complete as any group head coach John Groce has coached.

In other stretches, the Illini proved they still have a long way to go before they reach their true potential. The last eight minutes of Tuesday’s game proved how far.

While Groce thought the team played its best basketball to open the second half, both he and Hill said the Illini strayed from their typical style of play to end the game.

“We fell out of character,” Hill said. “We lost ourselves. We got a little too selfish on the offensive and defensive end.”

The Illini tied the score at both 38 and 50 points in the second half but weren’t able take a lead as the Wildcats waited patiently before beginning to pull away as the second half wound down.

To Groce, the reason the team lost momentum down the stretch was because of a lack of cohesion.

“We’re not a team yet,” Groce said. “We got two guys that sat out all last year, and they’ve played nine games at this point. We have not figured out how to connect some of those dots and stay connected. We’ve got to learn how to stay connected and have that grit. We’re just not there yet.”

Looking ahead

The road for the Illini won’t get any easier as Illinois heads to Chicago on Saturday to play Oregon at the United Center.

Groce said scheduling tough nonconference competition like Miami, Villnova and Oregon early in the season will hopefully benefit the Illini later in the year, as the team grows from its mistakes in these loses.

“You get an opportunity to learn a lot about yourself,” Groce said.

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