Michigan unable to stop Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois in 97-68 loss

Michigan Wolverines basketball (8-17 overall, 3-11 Big Ten) is now 0-5 without sophomore point guard Dug McDaniel, who’s been suspended for road games due to an academic issue. The Maize and Blue fell at Illinois (18-6, 9-4 Big Ten) Tuesday night at State Farm Center in Champaign, 97-68. The Illini remain second in the Big Ten behind Purdue.

The Illini were led by 31 points from guard Terrence Shannon Jr., who’s now gone over the 30-point mark three times this season. They got it done with 12 made threes, their second-highest mark of the season behind making 13 against Farleigh Dickinson back in December.

Here’s a recap of how the game unfolded.

First half

Michigan came out featuring sophomore forward Tarris Reed Jr. early. He missed two field goal attempts to begin the game before getting the Wolverines on the board, tying the game at 2-2 with 17:34 on the clock. The Wolverines held a 5-4 advantage after a senior forward Terrance Williams II and one and made free throw on a turnaround jumper, but Illinois forward Coleman Hawkins put the Illini in front 7-5 with a left-wing triple. After another Williams two-pointer, Illinois guard/forward Marcus Domask got Illinois the lead back with a three to make it 10-7. The Illini led, 12-9, at the 13:46 media timeout.

Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. didn’t play the first time the two teams met, suspended due to a rape charge, but this was his seventh game back in the lineup. He didn’t score until the 13:34 mark, finishing a fast-break layup. That got the Illinois transition offense going, with guard Ty Rodgers also scoring on the break and Shannon finishing another layup on the run to give his team an 18-11 edge at the 12:13 mark.

Illinois opened up a 24-13 lead, but Michigan fought back with a couple positive plays. Freshman guard George Washington III missed a three badly a few minutes earlier, but he came up with a steal and made a sweet feed to redshirt sophomore forward Will Tschetter, who finished with a dunk in transition. That came after graduate guard Jaelin Llewellyn made a pair of free throws. Michigan trailed 24-17 at the under-8 media timeout.

Michigan was getting to the rim, with graduate forward Olivier Nkmahoua dunking after a baseline drive and graduate guard Nimari Burnett slashing through the lane for a finish that cut their deficit to 31-27 with 4:09 remaining in the half. Burnett left Shannon open for a three — his second in as many possessions — that put Illinois back up by seven points.

Shannon nailed his third and fourth threes of the game down the stretch in the first half, too, taking over with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the stanza. His fourth triple gave Illinois a 15-point edge, 44-29, prompting Michigan head coach Juwan Howard to call his first timeout.

Illinois finished the half on a 16-2 run, capped off by a three-pointer from forward Luke Goode.

Illinois shot 64 percent from the field and scored over 1.4 points per possession. The Fighting Illini made 7 layups and a whopping 8 threes in the first half. Michigan connected on 39 percent of its field goal attempts and posted just 0.85 points per possession.

Second half

Illinois started the second half the way it finished the first, making threes. Hawkins made an open one on their first possession to make it 50-29. Shannon hit another at the 18:24 mark, then Hawkins tripled less than a minute later. Illinois had a 26-point lead after an offensive rebound and layup from forward Quincey Guerrier with 16:11 to play. Illinois made 5 of its first 7 attempts from the field, including 3 triples.

Illinois continued to make it ugly, pulling ahead to a 30-point edge with a pair of Shannon free throws with just under 15 minutes to go. He had 29 points at that juncture. Michigan stopped the bleeding with a pair of Nkamhoua twos and a dunk from Williams. Illinois was up 69-43 when Michigan took a timeout with 12:26 to play.

Michigan trailed 82-48 at the media timeout with 7:32 remaining. The Wolverines were on a 2:32 scoring drought at that point. Illinois, meanwhile, was still cooking offensively, shooting 13-of-23 in the second half and adding 5 free throws on as many attempts. Guerrier really got going with a dunk and a three. Illinois started to empty its bench, and even backup guard Justin Harmon made a jumper.

Michigan kept its typical rotational players in the game and was able to keep up with the Illini second team. Williams scored six-straight points to cut a 36-point deficit to 30 with just over three minutes to go, but there was no hope for a comeback.

Michigan emptied its own bench with just under three minutes to go. Garbage time played out with Illinois winning by 29, 97-68.

Shannon led the way for Illinois with 31 points, marking his third 30-plus point outing of the season. Only three others scored in double figures for the Illini — Hawkins (17), Domask (13) and Guerrier (10). They shot 56 percent from the field and cruised to victory.