Illinois Basketball: No. 17 Illini deliver MSG-like KO against No. 2 Texas

In a colossal upset, No. 17 Illinois pulled through and edged No. 2 Texas at Madison Square Garden

The Illini are a new-look team, which is hard for some people to grasp. The era of Ayo Dosunmu, Kofi Cockburn, Trent Frazier, and Co. is gone. The 2022-23 season has brought in some fresh faces, including transfers like Matthew Mayer, Terrance Shannon Jr., and Dain Dainja.

Illinois is on a collision course to win back-to-back Big Ten regular season titles. In doing so, a tough non-conference schedule has seen it endure some growing pains and major highlights.

The two most impactful signs of growth, however, were away from State Farm Center. The first came in Las Vegas where UCLA was upset by the Orange and Blue on November 18 behind a 29-point performance from Shannon en route to a 79-70 triumph.

Tuesday night saw the Illini travel to “The Mecca” (aka Madison Square Garden) to take on Texas in the Jimmy V Classic. Having faltered against Virginia and Maryland, Illinois knew it had to take care of the little things to get the job done.

Unfortunately, Illini Nation would see their beloved team struggle in the turnover category, surrendering 17 on the night. Trailing by 10 with under eight minutes left in regulation, Illinois went to its newfound superstars to rally the troops down the stretch, eventually forcing overtime, nodded at 68 apiece.

The Illini held the Longhorns in check throughout the extra session, forcing several stops on the defensive end and allowing free throws to put the icing on the cake, as Shannon and R.J. Melendez sealed the 85-78 win.

Brad Underwood was pleased with the way his team performed as the game’s clutch moments kept popping up late in regulation and in overtime, he said.

"”We played this schedule knowing that you have to be [great],” Underwood said post-game. “I like playing really good teams. I like playing really well-coached teams. And you find out about yourself. We found out in the Virginia game with the lead with three minutes to go and didn’t get any stops. We’ve been able to bury that in practice and work on those situations. Tonight, we got them when we need them.”"

What lies ahead for the Illinois basketball program?

Following the win against the Longhorns, the Illini will return home for an 11 a.m. CT tip-off Saturday against Penn State. Illinois enters the contest one game better at 7-2, while the Nittany Lions are 6-2 and have not played since a 101-94 November 29 road loss against Clemson.

The game will air on Big Ten Network.