The IU men’s basketball team played one of its best first halves of the season. IU outscored No. 12 Illinois 41-34 through the first 20 minutes of play and only turned the ball over four times.
The Hoosiers accomplished that without sophomore standout Trayce Jackson-Davis scoring his first field goal until 14 minutes into the game.
“I think our team was here to play tonight,” IU head coach Archie Miller said. “We started better than we have started in the past. We had a terrific first half.”
But the Hoosiers couldn’t keep that level of play. They let the Illini back into the game and allowed them to force overtime. What could’ve been another upset over a ranked team quickly turned into the Hoosiers’ third overtime loss of the season.
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After only scoring three points in overtime, IU ultimately fell 75-71 to Illinois.
“Our guys competed, but we are not tough enough to finish games yet,” Miller said. “There are just too many of those plays right now that we are not able to finish off. The tough plays that you have to make to win and that is why we are in so many heartbreakers.”
IU went into the game knowing that 7-foot center Kofi Cockburn would be an issue. He shut Jackson-Davis down early, swatting his shots and posterizing him on the other end of the floor. Jackson-Davis went most of the first half with just two points on his stat line.
The Hoosiers were without sophomore forward Jerome Hunter Tuesday. Miller said it was his decision to not have him play.
“He has a chance to earn his way back on the floor. He practices every day,” Miller said. “But he's not going to take the floor again until the coach feels that he's in the right frame of mind to, number one, lead himself the right way. And number two, has the bigger picture in mind in terms of protecting our team at all times, and Jerome’s a good kid.”
Miller said he could’ve used Hunter in the game, but he doesn’t feel he can help the team until he shows him those changes.
So junior forward Race Thompson stepped up. He played 37 minutes — the second most on the team — and added 18 points and eight rebounds.
“Race’s a warrior,” Miller said. “He probably benefited as much as any guy with the break. Physically, he's really struggling, I think in the last couple games of being able to go, but he was physical tonight.”
Thompson played into the physicality of Illinois by hustling on the boards and drawing nine fouls. Miller said he’s a leader, and he’s developing into a terrific team player.
The problem, however, was Thompson only shot 50% from the free throw line, leaving 6 points on the floor.
“Race played a hell of a game,” Jackson-Davis said. “I know he wants a few of those free throws back. I thought he really picked us up and kept us in the game. Props to him, he did a great job.”
After the game, Thompson walked back out onto the court with a basketball by himself. He headed straight to the free-throw line and began to put shots up. It was just him and someone there to rebound for him in the middle of the empty Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Although both IU and Thompson played well enough to hold a lead over Illinois, the team didn’t do the right things down the stretch to hold them off. Miller said his team can play with anyone, they just have a hard time finishing games off.
“In this league you not only have to play well, but you have to play super super tough at the right times,” Miller said.
The Hoosiers didn’t play tough at the end of regulation when they needed to the most. Senior guard Trent Frazier outscored IU 10-4 by himself during the last five minutes of the game. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie up the game and then two free throws to give Illinois a two-point lead with less than a minute left in regulation.
“Trent Frazier really stepped up in that one segment of the game, when it could have went either way, he banged a couple threes and got three free throws out of it and that one stretch,” Miller said.
With 30 seconds left, sophomore guard Armaan Franklin made a layup to send it to overtime. But the Hoosiers fell flat in overtime.
After leading by as much as 7 points earlier in the game, the Illini outscored the Hoosiers 7-3 during extra time. IU didn’t score until there were seven seconds left in overtime, and by that point, it was too late.
What seemed like it could’ve been another huge win over a ranked Big Ten team quickly turned into another heartbreak for the Hoosiers.
