Illinois basketball was a bit of a unique case last season, as the Illini were very competitive in Big Ten play but flamed out in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. This season, Brad Underwood and company are trying to raise the bar even more.
The Illini got off to a good start with blowout wins over Jackson State and Florida Gulf Coast, but they got their first big test on Tuesday night at home. No. 11 Texas Tech came to Champaign to take on the 14th-ranked Illini in what ended up being a very close, hard-fought game.
In the end, it was Illinois that made more plays down the stretch to come away with an 81-77 win to get to 3-0 on the season. Despite a furious rally from Texas Tech in the second half, Underwood's club was able to get the win despite not hitting a single 3-pointer in the second half, something that you won't see often in this day and age of college basketball.
Underwood took note of that and shouted out two of his guards for helping his team get the win anyway, via Scott Richey of The News-Gazette.
“Unique we don't make a 3 in the second half. Shows we can do a lot of other things,” Underwood said. “That's the value of Andrej Stojakovic. That's the value of Kylan Boswell getting downhill and living at the free throw line.”
Stojakovic was one of the most highly-touted transfers in the country this season and he showed why on Tuesday night, controlling the game throughout and finishing with a team-high 23 points and three steals off the bench. Boswell added 22 as the starting point guard while showcasing his defensive versatility and guarding all five positions in the win.
Illinois survived an epic performance from Texas Tech star JT Toppin, one of the best returning players in the country, in this game. The standout big man scored 35 points, with 24 of those coming in the second half, and added 11 rebounds in the loss.
Illinois still needs to button some things up as it gets into the flow of the season, but a result like this one goes a long way to show what it can do against another top-tier opponent.
