Illini Pull Off Another Miracle, Shake Down Michigan 91-87 in 2 OTs

By Jeff Mayfield

[April 04, 2023] 

It was Senior Night. It was a chance to garner win #20. It was possible to leap into a tie for 2nd place in the league standings. But you can throw all that stuff out the window when these two teams get together. Let’s put it like this…I feel like I got my money’s worth in this one!

The Seniors, Terrance Shannon, Jr. and Matthew Mayer were honored. Then they honored us by playing game number 30 at the highest level possible. We will miss these two stellar athletes immensely next season. The Illini did get win number 20 on the campaign [the fourth year in a row of 20+ wins=can you say ‘consistency?’] And the Illini pulled into a 6-way tie for 2nd place in the league standings=try to sort that out if you feel compelled.

I know we want to beat everybody on our schedule and everybody in our league. However, there are a few teams where the wins just feel a little sweeter-this was one of those contests!
The Illini hung tough after Michigan got off to a quick start. The Illini were able to take a 33-31 lead into the locker room at halftime. Matthew Mayer led the way as he did most of the night with nine points. Dain Dainja pitched in 8 big points as well.

In the 2nd half Illinois stretched the lead to as many as 9 points and were still up by 7 at 70-63 with 2:35 to go, but somehow [I’m still not quite sure how] the Wolverines finished regulation on a 7-0 run to tie the battle 70-70 and send the game into overtime. Talk about a series of unfortunate events?!

To make matters worse, Michigan spurted to a 7-point lead of their own at 74-81 with only 1:38 left in the extra stanza. But Terrance Shannon, Jr. hit 2 buckets and a freebie, and Ty Rodgers celebrated his breakout to stardom by jetting in for a hoop and the Fighting Illini lived to fight another extra period.

Mayer and Shannon, Jr. took us home from there [actually the two of them scored 17 of Illinois’ 21 combined points in the two overtimes] and the Fighting Illini lived up to their moniker capturing a delicious 91-87 victory over Michigan.

Star Confusion

#1
We could make Terrance Shannon, Jr. star #1 or we could name Matthew Mayer star #1 OR we could pronounce them co-stars at #1. Whatever order-they were both terrific!

Mayer
24 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal

Shannon, Jr.
21 points [13-16 fts], 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks [and we may have spotted him firing off the t-shirt canon into the crowd]!

OR, IF you like defense-we could give you Coleman Hawkins as the #1 star. Why? All he did was wrestle, battle, fight, not give up ground, discombobulate, confuse, and frustrate Michigan’s center Hunter Dickinson.

Oh, he finished with good numbers, but Coleman didn’t break, and he came up big when he had to!

Hawkins
6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals/AND defensive player of the game!

OR, IF you’d prefer to go with an all energy, all hustle guy-the glue that was holding things together and positioning his teammates for success all game long; how about Ty Rodgers for #1 star?

Rodgers
14 points, 7 rebounds [5 of them offensive], 1 steal, 1 assist, AND a +16!
In some ways he took this contest over and you have to give him lots of plaudits on his contributions!

You could also make a strong case for R.J. Melendez-maybe not for #1 star, but for one of the 3 for sure. He was in the right place at the right time seemingly all night long!

Melendez
12 points [5-5 fts], 4 rebounds, and 2 assists.

We thought his additions were timely and clutch and helped carry Illinois to the win.

Honorable Mention

Luke Goode
4 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, and a +9! All that in only 12 minutes of action!

Dain Dainja
8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals

Sencire Harris
2 points [a poster dunk], 3 rebounds, and 1 steal [and stifling defense!]

Brandon Lieb

Gets our unsung hero award. Every time he’s been called on this season he’s come in and done his job. Way to go Brandon-the fans that are paying attention know your contributions!

The rebounds were close to even [Illini lost by one 45-46], but Illinois won the steals battle 9-1; and what really made us happy tonight-Michigan had 12 turnovers while the Illini only committed 7-in a double overtime game-that is not a misprint!

At times it wasn’t a canvas of beauty, but the Illini out-toughed, out-slugged, and out-endured their Michigan counterparts tonight on their way to a convincing victory! The Illini finished the year with a home record of 15-2 and finished the season on a 6-game home court winning streak! The Illinois record now stands at 20-10 and 11-8. The Illini will finish the regular season on the road Sunday versus Purdue at 11:30 CT.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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