Turnovers Hurt Illinois In Loss To No. 4 Marquette

The Illinois Fighting Illini turned the ball over 15 times in defeat against the Marquette Golden Eagles

The Illinois basketball had an early test to start the season. 

In the end, they showed they weren't ready for it at this time. 

The Illini lost 71-64 to No. 4 Marquette Tuesday at home. Golden Eagles guard Tyler Kolek, last season's Big East Player of the Year, had 24 points, six rebounds and four assists. The performance was just days after turning his ankle in Friday's win against Rider. 

"Those were two pretty good teams," Illini coach Brad Underwood said. "Marquette is outstanding. My hat's off to them. Their backcourt was nothing short of spectacular. I have a lot of praise for (Tyler) Kolek. I don't know if anybody noticed his ankle, black and blue, and he played 38 minutes. Pretty tough kid. Kam (Jones), I said it pregame, is one of the most underrated players in the country."

It was the first loss of the season for the Illini. They were led by Terrence Shannon, who had a team-high 21 points, two rebounds and two assists. The downfall for Illinois was their inability to take care of the ball on offense. 

"We can't turn the ball over 15 times," Underwood said. "I thought we did exactly what we wanted to do, which was force them into twos. They're so good with Oso (Ighodaro) in ball screens, and flipbacks, and gets. He can pass as well as Tyler does. We were trying to force Tyler to score. He did a good job of it tonight." 

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher for Illini Now. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com.