Illinois pours it on in second half to beat Morehead State in first round of NCAA Tournament

OMAHA, Neb. — There are starting to be some signs that this Illinois men’s basketball team might be — wait for it — pretty good.

Please, try to muffle your shock.

Illinois is on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after an 85-69 win against Morehead State. The No. 3-seeded Illini (27-8), who will face No. 11 seed Duquesne (25-11) on Saturday, are taking enough winning possibilities with them to jam-pack an Omaha Steaks truck.

It’s pretty encouraging when your bench outscores the other team’s 37-3. And even more so when one of your starters posts a triple-double. And then you tack on another monster scoring outburst from your best player and, well, all the talk about a 19-year drought since Illinois’ last foray beyond the first weekend of the tournament seemingly begins to fade into soon-to-be irrelevance.

“They’re a very good team,” Morehead State coach Preston Spradlin said, stating the obvious.

There were two familiar themes for the Illini in this one. The first was that they dug themselves into another hole, just as they had in three straight Big Ten tournament games. This time, they trailed 9-0 out of the chute and didn’t take their first lead — on a Terrence Shannon Jr. and-one — until 5:51 remained in the first half.

After coming back from double-digit deficits three times in Minneapolis, it might be time for them to consider a game plan that involves employing the same vast skills in first halves that they’ve been hammering opponents with in second halves.

Look, it’s just a thought.

“We’ve got to avoid those [slow starts],” Illini coach Brad Underwood said. “They’re smart. They understand that. But, again, it’s something that we can’t have moving forward. That’s on me. That’s my job to get them bouncing off the ceilings here as we go.”

The second theme was leaning heavily on Shannon, who is on a scoring binge few players in Illini annals can contend with. After pouring in 102 points over three games in Indianapolis, Shannon went for 19 — before halftime — and finished with 26.

When the No. 14-seeded Eagles (26-9) were up 9-0, it was Shannon who calmly hit a three-pointer. As Shannon kept motoring to the rim with his signature left-handed, runaway-train style, the Illini kept seizing degrees of momentum. When Shannon split a double-team and flipped a layup attempt impossibly high off the glass and in for his 19th point of the half, it seemed he could name his number if he wanted to.

“Nothing surprises me with Terrence,” Underwood said. ‘He’s one of the best players in the country.”

But Shannon ended up getting so much help that he didn’t even stand out as the game’s star. Imagine that.

Center Dain Dainja was at his all-time best off the bench in the second half. Over a 5:50 stretch, he scored 15 of his season-high 21 points as the Illini went from two points down to 11 in front. The Eagles, Ohio Valley regular-season and tournament champions, didn’t have the beef inside to counter Dainja, who introduced them to 270 pounds of Big Ten power as he went 9-for-9 from the floor.

“Whatever I can do to help the team win,” he said. “Whatever that looks like.”

And Marcus Domask had a triple-double — only the 10th in the history of the tournament — with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. File this one in the “best transfer-portal signing ever” category. This is why he brought his multifaceted game from Southern Illinois to the Illini, to show his stuff at the highest collegiate level and on the Big Dance stage.

The eight players with tournament triple-doubles before him were a bunch of no-names including Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade, Draymond Green — twice — and the last to do it, in 2019, Ja Morant.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” Domask said, “but at this point in my career, I’m really past all the personal accolades. At this point in March, it’s all about winning. That’s really all I’m trying to do.”

The Illini were heavily favored and — though it took them awhile — flexed too much muscle, size, talent and depth for an opponent from the conference ranked 28th in RPI to deal with. But this was as it’s supposed to go, right?

The Eagles played Purdue, Penn State and Indiana early in the season and know a thing or two about looking up — literally — at a Big Ten opponent. Still, the Illini managed to stand out.

“They’ve got size at every position,” said guard Jordan Lathon, who scored 23. “I don’t think any team we played in the Big Ten had that much size at every spot.”

“And their physicality was off the charts,” added Riley Minix, who had 27.

It’s on to the next and that means Duquesne, which upset BYU 71-67. The Dukes finished the regular season in sixth place in the Atlantic 10 but won the league tournament and are on a nine-game winning streak.

“We’ll have to play well, no doubt,” Underwood said.

Can anyone think of a good reason not to?

Duquesne shouldn’t have a chance against the Illini. There’s a long list of teams that shouldn’t have a chance against them.

Step 1 is complete. Step 2 is busting through to the second weekend, and all the signs say it’s going to happen.