Illinois Basketball: 14-0 run ends Illini’s season against Arkansas

Arkansas ended the Illinois basketball postseason run in the blink of an eye on Thursday night.

With the score 41-36 early in the second half, the Illini seemed to have a fighting chance in its opening-round NCAA tournament game against Arkansas. Then, all of a sudden, a 14-0 from the Razorbacks ensued.

Minus a late rally from RJ Melendez and Terrence Shannon Jr. that cut the deficit to 62-57, it wasn’t enough to overcome an Arkansas squad with nothing to lose.

Brad Underwood and Illinois were sent home in the first round of NCAA tournament action, 73-63. The game marked the first time Illinois would fall to the Razorbacks in team history and the first time in the Underwood era that his Illini was booted in the opening round.

Illinois trailed nearly the entire game, as Arkansas’ electric pace became a significant issue for the Illini. Underwood, who failed to advance past the Round of 32 for the third straight season, felt differently.

"“Absolutely not [when it comes to pacing]. We’re good in transition,” Underwood said after the loss. “These two guys right here [RJ Melendez and Terrence Shannon Jr.] are awesome in transition. You’ve got to make good decisions when you play fast.”"

Playing fast wasn’t the issue in Illinois’ season-ending outing. Shannon Jr. and Melendez were two of the lone bright spots Illinois had all game long, combining for 30 of the Illini’s 63 points. It was 17 turnovers, shooting less than 50% from behind the three-point arc and in field goal range, and Illinois’ inability to counter Arkansas in crunch time.

A deflated Shannon Jr., who can choose to come back to Champaign for the 2023-2024 season if he so chooses, says that he wished he and his teammates’ on-court execution could have met Underwood’s expectations.

"“Something I can learn, something we can learn as a team is probably doing a better job of following Coach’s game plan,” Shannon Jr. said. “Throughout the year, we had a lot of games where the Coach would tell us what the other team would do, and they would do it, and it would be because of our mistakes.”"

In terms of mistakes, the Arkansas game was no different. Nearly every time the Illini would make an error, even as simple as a mishandled ball out-of-bounds, the Razorbacks would capitalize.

Like a microcosm of Illinois’ rollercoaster season – up again, down again. Then up again, down again, the ride crashed and burned in Des Moines, Iowa.

The Illini finished the 2022-2023 campaign 3-4 over their final seven games, each loss just as frustrating as the one before.

Brad Underwood wants to return every Illinois basketball player he can for the 2023-2024 season.

Underwood says there are many positives to take away from his 20-win Illini squad. He is excited about the future with his new additions Amani Hansberry and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn coming to Champaign next year and who he hopes will be a similar core from the 2022-23 season.

"“We have signed some guys we feel really good about,” Underwood said.  “I think there is no doubt we finished last in the Big Ten in shooting from the three-point line. We were not a very good shooting team, which became a must. We will continue to evaluate. We probably need some depth up front and some pieces there, but we will figure all that out as we go. And we like the young people we have signed and have them coming into our program. We will continue to go find — we’ve got a great staff, and we will continue to go find rock stars in the portal like we have the last two years.”"

The question remains – will those so-called “rockstars” go on a basketball tour for the ages, or will Illinois end up in the same position they’ve been in the last several seasons?’

A very important offseason awaits as March Madness rolls on without the Orange and Blue.