Illini Stumble in SFC Unveiling
By Jeff Mayfield

[December 03, 2015]  CHAMPAIGN-URBANA - All the pieces were in place. The Illinois Fighting Illini brought back former Coach Lou Henson and his wife Mary. Over 100 former players were in attendance. The U of I students were moved closer to the court. ESPN2 was there to call the game. But none of it was enough to stave off the Norte Dame Fighting Irish as their huge second half comeback carried them to a 84-79 victory in the newly re-modeled State Farm Center.

The Illini did have a nice first half fueled by all the excitement in the building. However, they could not sustain it and could not get anything going in the second stanza. Woeful shooting and missed defensive assignments created a hole that Illinois could never climb out of. The Big Ten did win the challenge 8-6, the Big 10-ACC Challenge that is, but according to ESPN-it doesn’t really mean anything (why does it mean so much when the ACC somehow wins the challenge and are proclaimed the greatest conference in the history of sports?).

If I told you that Illinois had four players in double figures: Malcolm Hill with 19, Jalen Coleman-Lands had 14, and Jeff Finke and Kendrick Nunn added 13; and that the Illini forced 9 turnovers while only committing 3; and that they shot 50% from the field in the first half; and that Illinois’ bench outscored the Irish 32-13; you probably would’ve felt pretty good and are wondering how much Illinois won by.

However, the rest of the story is Illinois’ shooting fell into the toilet in the second half and ended up a woeful 35%. The Illini were out-rebounded 29-22 and out-scored from the charity stripe 16-8. As the second half story continued to unfold you see how Illinois went from a 10-point lead to an 8-point deficit in near record time. The hole they created for themselves was just too much to overcome.

Illinois is back on the hardwood Saturday as they will host Western Carolina at 2:00pm.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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