DES MOINES — It didn’t take long at all to realize that, sadly — but not surprisingly — Illinois’ men’s basketball team wasn’t about to change its ways and make something special out of this latest March opportunity.
It was plain to see right from the start of a 73-63 loss to Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. There was zero flow to the Illini offense. There were careless, nervy turnovers by veterans who needed to be better than that. For most of the first half, there were essentially no contributions from transfers and key starters Terrence Shannon Jr., Matthew Mayer and Dain Dainja.
Worse than all that, the Illini (20-13) came out so emotionally flat, even their fans in the stands began to look and sound sleepy.
As for coach Brad Underwood, it has to be said — he didn’t do anything discernibly helpful about any of it.
There won’t be much of anything worth remembering about ninth-seeded Illini’s quiet bow-out against the eighth-seeded Razorbacks, and, truth be told, there might be only one thing:
The Illini didn’t show up.
Not until the second half, anyway, picking up on one of the not-so-hot themes of their season.
“It’s been like that all year,” said Shannon, who had a game-high 20 points but was scoreless for the first 16-plus minutes. “We just didn’t find a way to start and play the full game.”
What’s that all about, anyway? According to one player, RJ Melendez, the team has a bad habit of not running plays called by the coach. According to another, Luke Goode, Arkansas simply came out ready to play harder. According to Underwood, this group of players merely needs more time and seasoning.
“I love our team,” Underwood said. “They fought. They never hung their heads. They never quit.”
They never had a chance Thursday because the guys in the other jerseys apparently wanted to be there more, the sort of thing that is supposed to be unacceptable.
“We all wanted to win,” Arkansas’ Davonte Davis said. “We wanted it really bad.”
The Hogs (21-13) looked like it as they shrugged off a cold start and opened up a 14-point first-half lead. They’re past the first round for the third year in a row and will take their shot at West Region No. 1 seed Kansas on Saturday.
The only time the Illini led was after the first basket of the game, a post-up by 6-10 Coleman Hawkins. Did the Illini feed Hawkins down low after that? No, they didn’t post him up again at all.
Mayer, who won a national championship at Baylor, saved his worst game for last, finishing with as many turnovers — three — as points, rebounds, assists and steals combined. He missed all five of his three-point attempts.
Leading into the game, Underwood emphasized that he wanted his team to bring a free-and-easy disposition to the arena and just have fun playing. It sounded like a good idea after a season in which so much seemed strained and unsatisfying for this mix of players.
How did that work out? A fur trader stuck in a bear trap has only slightly less fun than the Illini appeared to be having for most of their “one shining moment.”
Where’s Ayo Dosunmu when you need him? He made everyone around him confident.
Where’s Kofi Cockburn? His monster dunks gave teammates so much energy.
Where’s Trent Frazier? He’d slap the floor on defense and everybody knew the battle was on.
But those fellas are long gone, and this first-round battle never really began. Or if it did — a Melendez spurt briefly cut the deficit to five points in the late stages — it was way too late. The dye had been cast, and the Illini never truly threatened an opponent that was under .500 in the Southeastern Conference.
Arkansas has a pair of projected lottery picks in freshmen Anthony Black and Nick Smith Jr., but the talent on the floor wasn’t the difference in this game. It was the Illini — plenty talented themselves — struggling without a true point guard and not fitting together as an even close-to-smooth offensive operation.
To the end, Underwood could do nothing about it. He now is 2-3 in the tournament at Illinois, which still hasn’t made it past the first weekend since 2005.
