COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Same old mistakes haunt Illini

Mar. 17—DES MOINES, Iowa. — Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is insane.

That's where the Illinois Fighting Illini found themselves on Thursday afternoon in the NCAA Tournament against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Just like games against Penn State, Purdue and Ohio State in the past month, Illinois got off to a slow start and found itself trailing by double digits at halftime.

And while the Fighting Illini put up a valiant effort in the end, the Razorbacks were advancing into the second round of the West Regional with a 73-63 victory at the Wells Fargo Arena.

"It's always disappointing when you lose, but, I mean, we could have got out to a better start," said Illinois senior Terrence Shannon Jr., who had a team-high 20 points for the Illini. "We didn't run our plays the first couple possessions. But, like (Coach Brad Underwood) said again, it's been like that all year. We just didn't find a way to start and play the full game."

Illinois (20-13) actually took a 2-0 lead on a basket by Coleman Hawkins just 57 seconds into the contest. That would be the only time that Arkansas (21-13) would trail.

The Razorbacks scored eight straight points, four of them coming after a pair of Illini turnovers.

"The one thing we fought to do all year is get started," Underwood said. "I think we went through the first three possessions and didn't run anything, and all of the sudden there are live-ball turnovers and you're behind.

"When you're playing uphill that quickly and you do that in the NCAA Tournament it's a challenge ... we didn't execute very well and got off to a tough start because of that."

Illinois finished with 17 turnovers in the contest, leading directly to 19 points for Arkansas.

"We just felt with their size that if we didn't put pressure and pick up three-quarters court that we were doing ourselves a disservice," said Arkansas coach Eric Musselman. "(Terrence) Shannon is one of the hardest covers in college basketball because of his versatility. He's a great scorer, and we just felt like if we could somehow try to speed them up a little bit that it might be to our advantage.

"I do think that the 17 turnovers that were caused and the 12 steals was maybe as crucial as any stat that you look at once the final buzzer happened."

And while all of the turnovers are costly, it was a steal by Davonte Davis of Arkansas against Illinois junior forward Coleman Hawkins with 1 minute, 41 seconds that might have proven to be the backbreaker for the Illini.

The Razorbacks had seen their 17-point advantage (55-38) cut to five (62-57) on a steal and dunk by Illini sophomore R.J. Melendez.

On the ensuing possession, Arkansas forward Jordan Walsh missed a pair of layups with Hawkins corralling the loose ball. As he raced into the offensive end, Davis came up from behind to take the ball. The Razorbacks regained the momentum when Ricky Council Jr. scored to make it 64-57 with 1 minute, 36 seconds left.

"We had an opportunity," Underwood said. "Every time we made a run — we missed a layup, we turned it over, or missed free throws."

So, why did that keep happening to Illinois?

"We forget that we're one of the youngest teams in the Power Five. We forget we lost so much from the last couple teams," said Underwood, noting that Illinois had five new starters this season.

But, the Illini did have two transfers in Shannon and Matt Mayer, who had previous NCAA Tournament experience.

" I think there's a variety of reasons numerically and analytically that things happened, but let's not forget there are a lot of new faces in that locker room, and team chemistry — these are wonderful young guys — and team chemistry isn't built in a day.

"It takes a little bit of time. I'm happy the places we've gotten to and the things we've accomplished. But, again, there were some challenges and some shortcomings."

Melendez, who finished with 10 points and six rebounds, admits that this team needs to learn from its mistakes.

"For future seasons, we just gotta not make these mistakes again, because it cost us last year as well," he said. "Simple mistakes. A lot of turnovers in the first half. We can't let that happen. We just gotta make sure we always stay connected as a team.

"Never let go of our emotions, just keep them in the game and make sure we listen to coach and everything he says. Because, he has a purpose for every single play, and we didn't run the first three plays like he says."

Thursday's loss is the third straight season that Illinois has failed to advanced past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The last time that the Illini made it past the first weekend was the 2005 season when they were the national runner-up to North Carolina.

Mayer, who had just two points and missed all five of his 3-point attempts on Thursday, is the only player without eligibility for next season. Shannon, who was playing in his senior season, could use his Covid-year as a fifth year, while the rest of the Illini roster of scholarship players consists of Hawkins and Brandon Lieb, juniors, Melendez, Dain Dainja and Luke Goode, are sophomores and then Jayden Epps, Sencire Harris and Ty Rodgers are freshmen. Jamani Hansberry, a 6-8 forward from Silver Spring, Md., and Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn, a 6-1 guard from Lafayette, Ind., will be incoming freshmen next season.

After Thursday's game, former Illini Skyy Clark announced that he has committed to play for Louisville.