Illini Overwhelm FDU, 104-71

By Jeff Mayfield

[December 31, 2023] 

Even though there is some big off the court news hanging over its star player, the Illinois Fighting Illini simply unloaded on the FDU Knights, 104-71 last night in a sold-out State Farm Center. The Illini put 6 players in double figures in this contest and had an amazing 3 players who finished the night with double doubles.

And that’s not all. The Illini shot a blistering 52% from the field, hammered the boards for 54 caroms, shared the juice with 21 assists, and drilled 13 3-pointers, in a game where they never trailed!

This team appears to be hitting its stride and banging on all cylinders heading into Big Ten play. Earlier in the season, we reported our thoughts and concerns going into the year. At that juncture we indicated that this team was much more cohesive than the last couple of editions-that this team would share the rock more -shoot it better-and attack more-and that is exactly what we are seeing so far.

As far as sharing with you our 3 stars from the game-that is almost impossible to do because the Illini were a wave of destruction and every player took his turn to add to the demolishment….but, here goes:

Justin Harmon

Obviously, JH is feeling more comfortable the deeper we get into the schedule. I can share from personal experience that when you’re a part of a deep team you don’t always get enough minutes to find a rhythm and a groove. In other words, our 2nd team [the first five off the bench] on any given night could be better than our starting five-but if you’re not getting enough tick you sometimes don’t get a chance to showcase your skills. JH took advantage of the extra minutes last night. So much so that he was a one-man wrecking crew at the close of the 1st half scoring the final 14 points of the stanza and that is not a misprint! His four 3-pointers on the way to an 18-point night electrified the crowd and dashed any hopes of FDU being competitive in this battle!

Dain Dainja

I wish this article had the ability to change and rotate what player/star comes up next every time you click on this site. I’m guessing it was a nightmare for FDU as the Illini kept coming in waves and they were probably ready to tap-out by halftime! They certainly had no answer for Dain. Dainja’s post moves continue to improve. He’s a space eater on the low block and in matchups against other bigs [not stretch players] we like our chances with DD! He finished the outing with 19 points and 6 rebounds while missing only one shot-that’s efficient production! DD doesn’t always get big minutes but when he makes them count like last night-he is a monster!

Coleman Hawkins

Again, our stars of the game are interchangeable. We coulda gone with Ty above or Quincy or ??? But we go with CH in this slot because so many fans don’t seem to realize all the things that Coleman does. He is so valuable because of all the intangibles he brings besides just being a really good shooter and defender! Last night he nailed five 3-pointers [4 in the 2nd half] and check out his line: 18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 blocked shot! I’m surprised we didn’t see him parking cars and selling dippin’ dots too! The more he brings the better we are!

Ty Rodgers

His athleticism is off the charts. He plays with such a high level of energy it forces our opponents to expend so much effort that it almost takes them out of their game. We’ve seen some good rebounding guards in our day and some who could get to the cup well but none better than what TR is bringing right now. In this ball game Ty celebrated his first ever double double on 10 points and an eye-popping 15 [count ‘em] rebounds, to go along with 5 assists!

Quincy Guerrier

QG is developing a huge fan base and why wouldn’t he? Last night he came away with his 3rd double double of the season! All he did was finish the night with 14 points and 11 rebounds. He is such a force that at times he is unguardable and hard to box out! We can’t keep him out of our star spotlight either!

Marcus Domask

Smart, heady, coachable, solid, mature, fundamentally sound…we could go on all night with the adjectives and sperlatives that describe this portal pick-up. AND when he struggles in one area-he makes up for it in 3 others! Case in point in this one he cobbled together his first double double of the year with 11 points and 11 assists. He also had two blocks and a steal! What an addition to this ball club!

Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn

We’d be remiss if we didn’t include Dra. This guy is lightning in a bottle! He’s fast, he’s quick, he’s electric and plays at a frenetic pace. I’m sure he’s not getting the minutes that he wants but IF he keeps taking advantage of the chances he does get-like last night-he could become more and more valuable! In just the 2nd half in this one he had nine points and four rebounds.

Where do the Illini go from here?

AND, what does it all mean? It means the Illini finished the non-con portion of their schedule with a record of 9-2 [10-2 overall since they’re 1-0 in the Big10]. But all of the plaudits they’ve garnered along the way including the chance to be ranked in the national top ten the next tine the rankings come out-won’t help them a bit when league competition resumes on Tuesday night when they host Northwestern.

It will be tough, hard, and difficult without Terrance Shannon, Jr. [for those who may not know-TSJ was arrested and charged this week on an alleged incident that happened in Kansas back in September. We have always lobbied for victim’s rights-their chance to be heard and every care contingency that can be afforded. AND we’ve always lobbied for due process as well, even though our society seems to struggle with the time-honored concept of innocent till proven guilty. We’re not lawyers so it seems best to let the legal experts handle the legal matters-but as and IF we are able-we’ll try to keep you in the loop as best we can. One last thing here-even though we are all so excited about this edition of our team-basketball isn’t as important as justice, safety, the truth and a host of other things-and it took some of us a long time to learn that].

Bottom line-the league season is here whether you’re ready for it or not. It will be a brutal slugfest as we re-start with the Northwestern at home and Purdue on the road. Just get ready for a wild ride and a wooly adventure. We love our loyal LDN readers and as always, we’ll try our best to bring you all the action!

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

Respond to the writer at [e-mail].