Illinois Hands Iowa Loss, College Roundup

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Published on January 26 2017 6:33 am
Last Updated on January 26 2017 6:33 am

Illinois' John Groce has heard many differing opinions about what he should do with point guard Te'Jon Lucas. The ones screamed at him during the game weren't why he decided to start the freshman against Iowa, his impact and control of the offense paid off in Illinois' 76-64 win Wednesday night.

A few moments before tipoff, while TV was preparing to start the game, Lucas focused on remembering what the first play was, not worrying about his first start.

"I'm glad I was able to start," Lucas said. "I'm just going to keep coming, trying to start each game."

Lucas finished the game with six points and six assists while Michael Finke scored 17 points off the bench and led Illinois (13-8, 3-5 Big Ten).

Illinois got off to a quick 10-0 start in the first few minutes of the game and never relinquished the lead.

Offense was not a problem in a game where Illinois looked dominant, shooting 55 percent from the field in the first half, which is good since the Illini struggled shooting in the second half. Illinois finished shooting 45 percent, including 9-19 from beyond the arc.

The offense thrived with good ball movement thanks in large part to Lucas' leadership — Illinois finished with 18 assists, the second-most this season.

Maverick Morgan had 12 points and seven rebounds.

But Wednesday is just one win. Groce compared the rest of Illinois' season to climbing a ladder.

"At the end of the game it's just one game," Groce said. "We have two days to prepare for another one Saturday."

Nicholas Baer scored led the way for Iowa (11-10, 3-5) with 12 points and Peter Jok added 10.

The Hawkeyes got off to a slow start, shooting under 20 percent from the field for the first eight minutes of the game and 37 shooting percent for the half.

"It felt about the same," Iowa coach Fran McCaffrey said.

Jok battling a back injury.

"We all have to look ourselves in the mirror individually," he said. "We have to figure something out. We have 10 games left."


Belmont 77, EIU 64

Belmont opened the second half making seven straight 3-pointers.  Eastern Illinois could not get a 3-pointer to fall during a big run late in the second half as Belmont remained undefeated in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 77-64 win over EIU on Wednesday night in Lantz Arena.
 
Belmont won its tenth straight game improving to 14-4 overall, 8-0 in the OVC.  EIU lost its fifth straight game falling to 9-12 overall, 1-7 in the OVC.  The Panthers will host SIU Edwardsville on Saturday at 3:15 p.m.
 
Leading 32-28 at the half Belmont made seven straight 3-point attempts to open the second half as the Bruins pulled out to a 57-44 lead with 11:51 remaining as Nick Smith hit a 3-pointer and completed the four point play at the line.   Taylor Barnette made three of the 3-pointers in the run while Amanze Egekeze and Smith each dropped in two.
 
The Panthers remained in the game getting low post baskets by Demetrius McReynolds and Muusa Dama.  McReynolds scored 18 of his team high 20 points in the second half.  Dama finished the game with 12 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks.  The four blocks moved him into second on the EIU single season blocks chart as he passed former EIU standout Kevin Duckworth.
 
Dama also did a solid job guarding the OVC Player of the Year Evan Bradds in the low post.  Bradds finished with 23 points but was 8-of-21 in the post with Dama holding him to 7-of-20 when matching up against him on the floor.  Bradds has been among the nation’s best shooters the last couple of years hovering around 63 to 65 percent from the floor for the year.
 
With Bradds drawing the defensive assignment from Dama, Belmont turned to Barnette as he sank a pair of free throws and added a jumper from the top of the key to push Belmont’s lead to 64-48 with 9:41 left in the game.  Barnette finished with 15 points.
 
Ray Crossland answered with a jumper with 9:09 to play and EIU cut the Belmont lead down to seven points on a free throw by McReynolds with 6:52 to play.  The Panthers made a defensive stand following the McReynolds free throw but missed a pair of 3-pointers that would have cut the lead to four points.  Austin Luke drove the lane on the other end of the floor and converted two free throws.  He then hit a jumper at 5:35 to give Belmont a double digit lead.  Luke had nine points to go with nine rebounds.
 
EIU would get the lead under ten points just one more time in the game.  Belmont finished the game shooting 58 percent from 3-point range (11-of-19) and 84 percent from the free throw line (16-of-19).  Egekeze finished with 13 points.
 
EIU was only 2-of-16 from 3-point range on the night.  Terrell Lewis was the third EIU player in double figures with ten points.


Tennessee State 76, SIUE 56

SIUE started slowly and never quite recovered Wednesday as the Cougars suffered a 76-56 setback to Tennessee State in a men's basketball game at the Vadalabene Center.

The Cougars sustained their eighth consecutive loss and dropped to 5-17 overall and 0-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference. SIUE has lost 14 of its last 15 games. Tennessee State improved to 13-8 and 4-4 overall in ending a three-game skid.

"Offensively, we got off to a slow start and had some lulls," SIUE Head coach Jon Harris said. "But we battled, even though we had a slow start."

The Cougars managed just 18 first-half points and trailed by 14 points at the break. SIUE, which never led in the game, got to within eight points early in the second half, but no closer.

"We were trading baskets with them and that's not what we wanted to do," Harris said.

Carlos Anderson, a sophomore from Alton, tried to keep the Cougars pointed in the right direction. He scored a team-best 15 points and had three assists and two rebounds. He tallied 10 of his points the second half.