Terrence Shannon Jr. poured in 31 points and No. 14 Illinois rolled to a 97-68 victory over Michigan on Tuesday night in Champaign, Ill.
Shannon shot 11 for 15 from the field, including 5 of 8 on 3-point attempts. Coleman Hawkins supplied 17 points, five rebounds and five assists for Illinois (18-6, 9-4 Big Ten), which holds the second spot in the conference behind second-ranked Purdue.
Marcus Domask tossed in 13 points and Quincy Guerrier added 10 with seven rebounds.
Terrance Williams II had 17 points and six rebounds for last-place Michigan (8-17, 3-11). Olivier Nkamhoua and Tarris Reed Jr. each contributed 13 points and combined for 11 rebounds.
The Wolverines, who made just one 3-point attempt in 10 attempts, held their last lead at 5-4. Illinois had a three-point lead seven minutes into the contest, then scored the next eight points on layups by Ty Rogers, Shannon, Domask and Dain Dainja.
That gave the Fighting Illini a 22-11 advantage. Michigan began to chip away when down 27-17. The Wolverines had an 8-1 spurt, including two baskets from Nkamhoua.
Shannon answered with a 3-pointer with 4:30 left in the half. After a layup by the Wolverines’ Nimari Burnett, the Fighting Illini erupted with a 16-2 run to grab a 47-29 halftime lead.
Shannon scored 11 points during that outburst, including a trio of 3-pointers. Luke Goode hit a 3-pointer with 6 seconds left in the half to finish it off.
Illinois shot 64.3 percent from the field during the first 20 minutes with Shannon scoring 19 points.
The Fighting Illini continued to pour it on in the second half. They scored the first six points to stretch the advantage to 24 points. Hawkins drained a 3-pointer and Shannon followed with a three-point play.
Hawkins nudged the lead to 25, 59-34, on another 3-pointer. Illinois’ lead reached 30 points on a pair of Shannon free throws with 14:51 remaining.
The Illini led by as much as 37.
–Field Level Media