Illinois Takes Down Kansas City, 86-48

Dainja recorded his second double-double of the season, shooting 81.8% and notching career highs in points, rebounds, and blocks in his 23 minutes off the bench.
Jayden Epps and Skyy Clark put together career-best scoring performances with 13 and 10, respectively, while Terrence Shannon Jr. finished with 14. Illinois outscored

Kansas City by 35 points with Epps on the floor, and Dainja recorded a +27 mark, the next highest number for the Illini.

The Illini forced 23 turnovers, registering 11 steals and eight blocks in the win. Illinois scored 28 points off those turnovers, while the Illini bench registered 43 points.

Head coach Brad Underwood gave minutes to 12 different players in Illinois' second regular-season game of the season, while nine Illini scored in the victory.

Terrence Shannon Jr. opened the scoring with a personal 3-0 run, but the Illini defense made the biggest impact early, forcing three turnovers within the first three minutes of the game.

Illinois then found its groove on the offensive end, using a 21-4 run over a six-minute stretch to push its lead to double digits with less than seven minutes to play in the first half.

The Illini headed into the locker room with a 39-23 lead at the break, fueled by 18 bench points. Shannon and Jayden Epps led the Illini with nine points apiece, while Dain

Dainja grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds in his 13 minutes of first-half action. 

Illinois forced 10 turnovers, recorded six blocks, and made five steals in the opening 20 minutes of action, and it held Kansas City without a 3-pointer in the first period of play.

After Illinois went on short runs to keep its lead around the 20-point mark, a 9-0 run, highlighted by an emphatic Coleman Hawkins dunk and a Dainja block to get the crowd on its feet, pushed the Illini advantage to 27 with 12 minutes to play.

The Illini found Dainja in the paint often in the second half, with the Illinois big man scoring six points during an 8-0 run to give the hosts a 73-42 lead with under six to go in the second half.

Closing the game on a 13-4 run, the Illini took home a 38-point victory to remain perfect thus far this season.

Illinois improves to 2-0 and will face off with Monmouth on Monday night in its next game.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCE

QUOTES

Brad Underwood

Opening statement:

"What a night. Most people know, or at least the guys in our locker room or around me know, that I coach with passion and I coach with some emotion, and tonight was one of those nights. It was just a pretty cool evening. To raise a banner, have those guys care enough to fly 13 hours. Trent's getting on a plane tomorrow. He's got practice Sunday. Alfonso Plummer: here one year, became an all-league player, played a game in Mexico City last night. Kofi: getting ready to go to Japan. We all know Kofi's legacy; his banner will hang. Da'Monte Williams: been playing in Belgium, had an injury, and was getting ready to go back. For those guys to be here, for that to be their priority, it's why I do it. It's why we do this. We don't do for any other reason. Unfortunately, you guys got to have something to write about if we win or lose. I got in this 36 years ago for nights like tonight. To see young people create a memory, five years' worth for Trent and Da'Monte. The video was incredible. I mean, that's what this is all about. That's what this is all.

And so a really cool night.

"Then we have to flip it and play a game that started off really ugly. I thought Jayden Epps came in and did a tremendous, tremendous job of changing our energy. We did not have a great shoot-around today. I thought we were a little flat. Maybe the distractions, maybe a little complacency. We just weren't very sharp, and then I thought we played again almost like we did against Quincy. Just too quick, unselfish, didn't execute, everything was a three. We never cracked the seal of their defense because we never passed it enough to do that. Jayden entered, got us going, and then I thought Dain was just outstanding. I finally got enough sense to just run one little set, just get him a little duck-in in the second half, and he was dominant. He's playing so hard. He's keeping the game so simple. It's amazing how that translates into success.

"I told our guys after the game, 'It's not just about UMKC. It's about the games that you have down the road. It's about the process, and practicing the right way, and playing the right way because you just don't flip a switch.' At some point, you're always going to be at the level of your preparation, and today we didn't prepare very well mentally. I just thought we were a little flat. We got it going, but all in all, I thought Skyy Clark was outstanding. I thought Skyy did a tremendous job. He had five turnovers last game, and he had zero tonight. He had five defensive rebounds. I liked their two guards; UMKC's two guards were good, and I thought he stepped up for the most part to the challenge on the defensive side. We've got some pretty good guards coming at us here in the future.

"All in all, we're happy we got a win. I thought our rebounding effort was not up to standard, but again, we've got to do a better job of preparing, and that's on me."

On Dainja:

"Dain's really skilled. There's not much Dain can't do. His right hand, left hand. Where we have to help Dain is by simplifying, not trying to do things too much. When Dain gets in trouble, he tries to overhandle and spin all the time. He can play out on the floor because he can really handle it. He's kind of the dancing bear. He's got great, great feet.

He's light on his feet. He's got great, great length. He's 265 pounds. When he hits you, you know it, and the thing I've been impressed with is just his tenacity on the glass.

That's been very, very consistent. He's a ton. He was really good last year. Kofi had problems with him on the scout team just because you can't guard one shoulder; he can go either way."

On Epps' offense and getting him to find his spots:

"I'm gonna make him the other team's best guard every single day on the scout team because he was terrific yesterday and today. We couldn't guard him, and I think that maybe gave him a little bit of confidence to just go play. Jayden works really hard to try to do the right thing and please everybody. Sometimes that can get in your way, and we don't want him to lose his aggressiveness and his assertiveness, and we saw that tonight."

Dain Dainja

On his role coming off the bench:

"I try to just bring energy to the team. I want to win. That's the biggest thing for this program. I think it's just winning. When I step out on the floor, I try to do everything for the team I can to win."

On wearing down UMKC's big men:

"Yeah, I did. Our guards do a good job of feeding me in the post, so I really appreciate that from them. I definitely wore them down today."

Jayden Epps

On providing a spark off the bench:

"I feel like every night isn't gonna be everyone's night, so it's just next man up. Some nights it might be my night, some nights it might be Dain's night. It could be anybody's night at any time, so if someone's off, someone else has to step up. That's how our mentality has to be. When someone's on, we gotta play together and stay together, and I feel like that's gonna get us over."

On his more aggressive approach on offense:

"I would just say bringing the energy on defense. That's what got me going. Bringing good defense and just rallying my teammates together to get going. Obviously, our defense led to offense. I was just playing defense, playing hard, and it just got us all going in the late first half and second half."

POSTGAME NOTES

Illinois is now 1-0 in the all-time series against Kansas City.

This is the fourth-straight year the Illini have began the season 2-0.

The Illini defense forced a season-high 24 turnovers in the game and have now forced at least 18 turnovers in both games this season.

The Illini defense turned over the Roos 10 times in the first half and 14 times in the second half.

Illinois scored 28 points off of those turnovers.

The Illini held the Roos to just 31 percent (20-64) shooting from the field.

Illinois grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, turning those boards into 18 second-chance points.

The Illinois bench out-scored Kansas City 43 to 7.

Nine different Illini scored in tonight's game.

Four players reached double figures.

Redshirt sophomore Dain Dainja recorded his second-straight double-double, scoring a career-high and team-high 20 points and grabbing a career-high 15 rebounds in 23 minutes of action.

Dainja shot 9-for-11 from the field.

Dainja secured 12 rebounds in 13 first-half minutes.

Dainja became the first Illini since Kofi Cockburn on March 6, 2022, to grab at least 14 rebounds in a game.

Freshman Jayden Epps finished with a career-high 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting, including a career-high two three pointers.

Senior Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 14 points, secured four rebounds and dished out a game-high five assists in the contest.

Shannon Jr. has double-digit point totals in both games this season.

Freshman Skyy Clark poured in a career-high 10 points to go along with five rebounds and two assists.

Sophomore RJ Melendez scored a season-high eight points.