Instant Analysis: Alabama Takes Down Illinois 100-87

After taking the Tide's best shot in the first half, the Illini fight back – but fall short

Nov 20, 2024; Birmingham, AL, USA; Illinois forward Will Riley (7) attempts to block a shot by Alabama center Clifford Omoruyi (11) in the CM Newton Classic at Legacy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In its first matchup with a true college basketball heavyweight, No. 25 Illinois took No. 8 Alabama's best punch – and hit the deck. Hard.

The Illini went on to lose a 100-87 decision Wednesday at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, but despite the cuts and lumps they walked away with after slugging it out with the Crimson Tide, they also learned something about themselves:

They don't stay down.

Down 52-38 after a first-half shellacking, the Illini were left to pull themselves together, figure out what went wrong and then fix it – quickly. They didn't get all the way there, but there were enough positive takeaways to give coach Brad Underwood reason to believe that this team can be built into a contender.

Freshman forward Will Riley bounced back from a rough first half to finish with a team-high 18 points, guard Kylan Boswell broke out with a 17-point effort and freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis pitched in 15 points, four rebounds and six assists as the Illini matched Bama punch for punch in the second half, outscoring the Tide 49-48.

Learn and grow.#Illini | #HTTO | #EveryDayGuys pic.twitter.com/nCfOvFTpmy

— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) November 21, 2024

But what mattered, of course, was the final score, and the Illini were always going to have trouble fighting back from a beating over the game's initial 20 minutes, when they struggled to contain dribble penetration, dug too deep in help D and were victimized by plain old bad luck.

That much seemed clear almost from the tip. Alabama forward Grant Nelson, who was a pedestrian 3-for-10 from 3-point range entering Wednesday, came out firing from the perimeter – and perhaps for good reason. Illinois' strategy seemed to be soft close-outs on Nelson, who exploited the extra space by starting the game with three straight 3s – the last of which gave the Tide a 9-7 lead.

After Jakucionis dropped in a layup to tie the score, Bama guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. banged home his own 3 to give the Tide a 12-9 advantage they would maintain the rest of the way. The Illini allowed Bama to shoot 52.0 percent from the field and forced only seven turnovers on the game.

Illinois struggled with dribble penetration and Alabama's frontcourt size in the halfcourt and failed to keep up in transition. Underwood's biggest offseason concern was the progress of the defense – and Wednesday's output showed why.

But the effort never flagged, and when the Illini started to click on offense in the second half, they appeared to briefly have Bama on the ropes. Forward Ben Humrichous splashed a 3-pointer at 10:11 to cap an 11-2 run, Illinois had closed the gap to 73-65.

In the end, the Illini's porous defense, impotence at the free-throw line (just 13-for-24) and ball-handling miscues – a sped-up Jakucionis had six of Illinois' 13 turnovers – prevented what could have been a storied comeback. But it was an experience this group can learn from. There are more fights ahead, and the Illini know now that they belong on the floor with college basketball's biggest hitters.

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