National Basketball Association
Tennessee 86, Illinois 79
When: 12:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 9, 2023
Where: Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center, Knoxville, Tennessee
Officials:
# Don Daily, # Patrick Evans, # Terry Oglesby
Attendance:
21678
By Field Level Media
Dalton Knecht scored 13 of his team-high 21 points in the first seven minutes of the second half to spark No. 17 Tennessee to an 86-79 nonconference victory over No. 20 Illinois on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville, Tenn.
All five starters scored in double figures for Tennessee (6-3), which limited Illinois to 35.4 percent shooting from the field and improved to 1-3 against ranked opponents. Jonas Aidoo posted 14 points and seven rebounds, Santiago Vescovi contributed 12 points and nine rebounds, Josiah-Jordan James added 12 points and seven assists and Zakai Zeigler had 11 points.
Quincy Guerrier paced Illinois (7-2) with a season-high 22 points. All-American candidate Terrence Shannon Jr. scored nine points in the final two minutes to reach 22 points as well, but he hit just 5 of 16 field-goal attempts. Marcus Domask, who scored a career-high 33 points on Tuesday against Florida Atlantic, managed just six points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Illinois entered the day with the nation's 11th-most efficient defense according to KenPom.com, but the Volunteers scored on 10 of their first 12 possessions to seize a 21-15 lead at the 13:57 mark of the first half.
The Volunteers couldn't maintain that pace as they scored just six points over the final 10 minutes of the half, which included a scoreless stretch of over four minutes. Near the end of that dry spell, Illinois took its first lead, 31-30, on Guerrier's 3-pointer with 4:33 left in the half.
While Tennessee frequently attacked the paint, Illinois relied almost exclusively on 3-pointers during the first half -- taking 20 of its 32 shots from beyond the arc. Luke Goode's 3-pointer from the wing with 20 seconds left gave Illinois a 36-34 lead at the break.
The Illini increased their lead to 39-34 early in the second half, but then Tennessee started running its offense through Knecht. He stacked up 13 points in less than five minutes by scoring in multiple ways -- backing down his defender in the post, driving for a finger roll, hitting a 3-pointer, sinking free throws -- to stake Tennessee to a 50-44 lead with 13:43 to play.
The Vols gradually pushed their lead to as much as 12 with 7:04 to go as Jahmai Mashack came off the bench to contribute nine points while slowing down Shannon defensively.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Illinois |
|
Tennessee |
|
Quincy Guerrier 22 |
Scoring |
Dalton Knecht 21 |
|
Coleman Hawkins 4 |
Assists |
Josiah-Jordan James 7 |
|
Luke Goode 7 |
Rebounds |
Santiago Vescovi 9 |
|
Terrence Shannon Jr. 11 |
Free Throws Made |
Josiah-Jordan James 6 |
|
Luke Goode 2 |
Steals |
Santiago Vescovi 2 |
|
Dain Dainja 1 |
Blocks |
Jonas Aidoo 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Illinois
|
79 |
35.4 |
9-36 |
24-28 |
9 |
30 |
2 |
5 |
9 |
| Tennessee
|
86 |
45.0 |
6-18 |
26-34 |
21 |
39 |
3 |
6 |
9 |
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