By IlliniGuys Staff

December 14, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Jordan Gainey capped off a huge second half by sinking a full-court layup with no time on the clock as top-ranked Tennessee escaped an upset bid by Illinois, 66-64 Saturday afternoon.

The Volunteers (10-0) improve their best start since 1999-2000 by winning an ugly contest in which star players Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler fouled out and the Illini shot a whopping 36 free throws. There were 14 ties and 14 lead changes, the last coming at the final buzzer.

It was a physical slugfest in the first 20 minutes as the teams battled to a 31-30 Tennessee lead at halftime, the teams combining for 45 free throws, the most in a half between two major conference teams this season.  Tennessee shot just 21 percent from the field with only Lanier managing to connect on more than one field goal. He had nearly half the Volunteers' points with 15.

Illinois wasn't much better at 24 percent and had six players with one field goal each, getting 17 points at the foul line. Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley combined to shoot 13-0f-17 at the stripe, teaming up for 17 points overall before half.

The Illini took control in the second half, going on a 10-0 run - capped off by six straight points by Jakucionis - to take a 43-37 lead. But they then went cold, hitting just two field goals over the next seven minutes while Gainey heated up. He scored 11 points during that stretch with Ziegler and Lanier in foul trouble to allow Tennessee to regain the lead at 55-54.

A key moment at the 1:37 mark when Illinois, trying to inbound the ball along the sideline between their bench and the scorer's table, allowed Igor Milicic Jr. to steal the pass and go down for a dunk and a 64-62 Vols lead.

After Boswell hit one of two free throws for the Illini and Ziegler missed a free throw, Jakucionis was fouled by Ziegler on a drive. Ziegler left the game with his fifth foul as the star Illinois freshman missed the first free throw before connecting on the second for a 64-64 tie.

Gainey took the ensuing inbounds pass and drove the length of the court against a backpedaling Jakucionis, spinning the ball against the glass and watching it fall through the hoop to give the number one ranked team in the country the victory as time expired.

Gainey scored 18 of his season-high 23 points in the second half. Lanier hit just one basket after halftime to finish with 17 points as the only other Volunteer scoring in double figures.

Jakucionis scored a team-high 22 points to extend his own Illinois freshman record with his fifth straight game of 20 or more points. Tre White added 11 and Kylan Boswell and Riley had 10 for Illinois (7-3). Tomislav Ivisic was held to single-digits scoring for the second game in a row with a season-low four points, but led Illinois with 12 rebounds.

The Illini will take the week off before heading to St. Louis a week from Sunday for the annual Braggin' Rights game against Missouri (12pm, ESPN).

Stay with IlliniGuys.com for complete postgame coverage.