Illinois vs. Tennessee Game-Winner: Anatomy of an Upset Denied

How Vols sixth man Jordan Gainey was able to take advantage of the final moments to turn back the Illini

Dec 14, 2024; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Jordan Gainey (11) drives the ball past Illinois Fighting Illini guard Kasparas Jakucionis (32) during the second half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images / Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

The last thing some Illinois fans will be looking forward to Sunday afternoon is rehashing the final play that ended the Illini's upset bid against No. 1 Tennessee, which stole away from Champaign's State Farm Center on Saturday with a 66-64 win on Jordan Gainey's last-second layup.

Meanwhile, the sports-pundit class and social media know-it-alls have had the final six seconds of the Illini-Vols barnburner under a microscope for almost the past 24 hours, and the results are back from the lab. You'll never guess: It was bad.

But rather than raking coach Brad Underwood and the Illini over the coals for what may only seem to be obvious failures – why didn't Kasparas Jakucionis stop the ball? Why was KJ sticking Gainey in the first place? Where was the help? – what's more interesting in this case is Gainey's recounting of his end-to-end masterpiece and the origin story of the play as told by Vols coach Rick Barnes.

With the score tied at 64 with 5.7 seconds left on the game clock, and with both Vols point guard Zakai Zeigler and leading scorer Chaz Lanier on the sideline after fouling out, hero duty fell to the hot hand in Gainey, who had already piled up 21 points before pulling the trigger on the game-deciding play.

"I saw the ball bounce, and I just gave it to the ref so everyone could get set up," Gainey said. "And then as soon as Igor [Milicic Jr.] popped open and he gave it back, I just saw my defender keep backing up, and he just kept backing up, and he was just dead in the water."

Jakucionis – the dead-in-the-water defender in question – gave Gainey a healthy cushion, surely hoping to avoid giving up anything easy or getting beat off the dribble early to give the Vols a numbers advantage. When Gainey saw Jakucionis backpedaling and the ample room he was being given even at mid-court, he attacked down the left lane line with a left-to-right in-and-out dribble. Jakucionis didn't flip his hips until he had both feet in the key and Gainey, having already picked up his dribble, had shifted into a higher gear.

"And it was too late for them to send a double," Gainey said, "because there was probably two seconds left, and I was already at the rim at that point. But we executed it perfectly."

UNREAL FINISH

VOLS WINNNNNNNN pic.twitter.com/7KhizezTW2

— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) December 15, 2024

Gainey's finish was a gem – a high-speed, stretching, right-handed layup released from left of the basket, just beyond Jakucionis' contesting hand. Yet it wasn't just a freewheeling, last-gasp wing and a prayer. In fact, Barnes says it's a play whose roots run deep:

"I'll give you a little history lesson on that play," Barnes told the media after the game. "I was an assistant coach in 1980 at George Mason University. We didn't have a big recruiting budget, so we decided – Joe Harrington, the head coach, said – we need to put out a monthly newsletter to all the coaches within a 250-mile radius to try to get George Mason on the map.

"And so I worked with our [sports information director], and we came up with a segment of it where we were going to call it "Coach's Corner," where we wouldΩ ask different coaches around the [Washington] D.C. area – or wherever – to put together their favorite play. And so for the first time, I drove over to DeMatha High School, and that was Morgan Wooten – the legendary coach of DeMatha High School.

"And I said, 'Coach, you've been doing this a long time. I need you to give me your favorite play.' And he said, 'OK,' and he gave it to me. That's the play that we ran today. So that play has been around long time. Morgan – God rest his soul – it was his play. And the first one we put in that newsletter that year."

Salt in the wound for the Illinois faithful? Not if you count yourself as a true basketball fan. Think about it: A still-wet-behind-the-ears Illini club took the best punch the NCAA's top-ranked team could deliver, slugged back and almost floored the bully. That the Vols needed the hand of an on-the-spot sixth man and a page from the playbook of a high school coach who began his career 70 years ago speaks to the connective fabric of the game. It won't always warm you, but it never fails to be a thing of beauty.

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3 Big Takeaways in Illinois Basketball's Loss to No. 1 Tennessee

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