Ordinarily, there are extra butterflies floating around before a season opener. Coaches and players spend a little extra time contemplating how good their teams might look on opening night.
No. 25 Illinois need not bother with this step before hosting Eastern Illinois in Monday’s opener at State Farm Center in Champaign. The Illini already know their potential because they knocked off No. 1 Kansas 82-75 in a nationally televised exhibition Oct. 29 while raising $1 million for Maui wildfire relief.
“I was very pleased with our offensive flow,” said Illinois coach Brad Underwood, a nod to his offseason project to fix a roster that didn’t have enough good passers or shooters last year. “The end of the game, we had a lot of age out there. A lot of experience. Early in the season, you rely on that.”
During the final five-plus minutes against Kansas, Underwood went exclusively with fifth-year seniors Terrance Shannon Jr., Marcus Domask, Quincy Guerrier and Justin Harmon and fourth-year junior Coleman Hawkins — exactly what he hoped when he lured graduate transfers Domask (Southern Illinois), Guerrier (Oregon) and Harmon (Utah Valley) in the spring.
Shannon, who tied for the 11th-most votes for the Associated Press’ preseason All-American team, paced the Illini with 28 points. He and Hawkins (14 points) set a hopeful tone for Illinois’ season by teaming up to hit 9 of 18 3-point attempts.
For a team that ranked dead last in the Big Ten and 340th nationally in 3-point shooting (30.8 percent) last year, it was a welcome sight. And while Illinois’ 8-to-14 assist-to-turnover ratio in the exhibition looked a lot like last year — which ended with a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a first-round loss — the ball moved with much more purpose against Kansas than last year.
“I feel like we’re all on the same page here offensively and it’s been successful so far,” Hawkins said. “It’s only going to get better, too.”
Illinois and Eastern Illinois are meeting in the season opener for the second year in a row. The Illini claimed an 87-57 home win last season. Shannon and Hawkins are the only starters back from that game.
Eastern Illinois coach Marty Simmons, whose team is picked to finish last in the 11-team Ohio Valley Conference after going 9-22 last year, welcomes nine new players to his school located 45 minutes south of Champaign.
Fifth-year guard Caleb Donaldson (8.5 ppg) is the only one of EIU’s top five scorers who returned this season. Junior-college transfers Kyndall Davis and Corey Sawyer Jr. will be among the newcomers asked to push the pace.
“We’ve got a nice mix of returning players and new players,” Simmons said. “The attitude’s been off the charts. Guys have really been competing hard, so we’re just excited to make that next step for our program.
“I like our versatility. We’ve got a lot of guys who can play multiple positions. I don’t think we have just one guy who’s going to get 25 a game. I think we’ve got several guys capable of doing that.”
–Field Level Media