No. 13 Tennessee Drops Third Straight Against No. 14 Illinois

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - No. 14 Illinois utilized their balanced offensive and defensive abilities, dealing a decisive blow to No. 13 Tennessee in a 75-62 victory in a physical, back-and-forth Music City Madness Saturday night game at Bridgestone Arena. 

Illinois Finding Success 

No. 14 Illinois (7-2) led the charge with four players scoring double-digits. These players include Tomislav Ivisc, Keaton Wagler, David Mirkovic, and Kylan Boswell. The Fighting Illini also shot an astounding 48% from the field and 39% from three-point range. Offensively, they were electric all game, including on the defensive side of the ball. Ben Humrichous of Illinois had three blocks and two steals, and Tomislav Ivisic had one block and one steal. The Illinois defensive effort forced Tennessee to take bad or tough shots in what had been a close game at halftime. Even as Tennessee managed on four occasions to cut the deficit to one point. However, each time the Fighting Illini answered back. 

Head coach of Illinois Men's Basketball, Brad Underwood, had plenty to say about his best player, saying, “I would be very remiss, if I didn’t think the MVP of the game wouldn’t attempt a field goal. Ben Humrichous. Ben was absolutely phenomenal tonight on the defensive side. We brought these two guys up here, they were terrific. Ben didn’t shoot a shot, and the job I thought defensively that he was able to do on Nate (Nate Ament).” He continues, “Just his blockouts, his positioning, his fight, impacted. I don’t pay much attention to stats, and who scores, but the impact tonight by Ben Humrichous, and the job he did with his 26 minutes was quite large.”

Tennessee Continues to Struggle 

No. 13 Tennessee (7-3) succeeded in certain areas against Illinois, though still emerging with a double-digit deficit by game's end. The Volunteers out-rebounded the Fighting Illini 46-31, with a season-high 23 offensive rebounds. Despite this, Tennessee shot a season-low 37% from the field and 30% from three-point range. The Vols also faced disaster from the charity stripe, posting 8-18 from the free throw line. This affected Tennessee till the end, as the Vols went without a field goal in the last 4:18 of gametime. Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament from Tennessee went a combined 10-34 from the floor. Tennessee’s front court was also heavily lacking during this game, despite the offensive rebounding. Tennessee also struggled within the turnover department, displaying double figures in turnovers for the eighth time this season. Six of those games featured thirteen or more turnovers by the Volunteers.

“We need more balance there.” Head coach of Tennessee Men’s Basketball, Rick Barnes, said in a statement, “That’s a glaring stat tonight. With that being said, our post guys got to score some of those baskets. We get the ball where we want to get it. It’s the inconsistency. It’s not like we’re going to say we’re going to count on these two guys every night. We need those guys to produce, but we also need, when they’re not doing it, those other guys.” 

Rick Barnes continues, “Little details. Not listening, coming out of timeouts, not doing what we say we’re going to do, finishing plays and free throws. When you’re shooting it well from three, it’s just little things.” 

Up-Next

Illinois is heating up as they’ve continued to win big games this season, including tonight's win against No. 13 Tennessee and November 11th's win over No. 11 Texas Tech. They’ll look to continue this success going into December 9th against Ohio State in Columbus, which begins conference play for the Fighting Illini. 

Tennessee continues their early-season skid, as they’ve lost their past three games, to No. 21 Kansas, an unranked Syracuse team, and their most recent loss to No. 14 Illinois. Tennessee continues to struggle to establish themselves, especially after last season’s Elite Eight appearance. No. 13 Tennessee’s next game is against non-conference opponent No. 6 Louisville in Knoxville. After this game, they’ll begin conference play against No. 25 Arkansas on January 3rd. Tennessee will need to improve on both sides of the ball before the roof falls in on Rocky Top.