After a lovely Friday evening in Champaign, Illinois, the college basketball season has officially tipped off for the Fighting Illini, as Brad underwood and his squad got off to a hot start versus the Eastern Illinois University Panthers with a 87-57 win.
After a painful season in 2021 where the Panthers only secured 5 wins, a new and much improved EIU squad came to Champaign, with some familiar faces. Big man Jermaine Hamlin was an Illini last season before transferring to Eastern in hopes of more playing time. He was able to secure just that last night, with 17 minutes, played and 6 points on the night. An overall pretty impressive performance versus his former teammates.
Yaakema Rose Jr, a Lanphier HS (Springfield) native who transferred into the program during the offseason had a nice outing himself. With 10 points and 4 rebounds vs a much larger Illini squad, Rose was able to show off his wild athleticism as he did so many times during his run in the Central State 8 Conference.
The Illini found strength and its star power with fantastic performances from Coleman Hawkins, Terrance Shannon, and Dain Dainja.
Hawkins absolutely lit up the three-point line for the Illini gong 5-8 from behind the arc, 23 points and 12 rebounds for the double-double. He was the best player on the court Friday, and the Panthers had no answer for the Illini Star.
Terrence, Shannon, Jr., a Texas tech transfer, who came to Illinois during the off-season eight put on a wonderful welcome show for his home state crowd. The Chicago native led all scoring with 24 points on the night, including a massive one-handed slam at the beginning of the game, that really helped him win the crowd over quickly.
Dain Dainja was recruited into the program from Baylor mid season during 2021 to help ease the void of the inevitable loss of All-American big Man Kofi Cockburn. He was able to get the job done in a big way Friday night after a 17 point outing, where his size and strength rained dominant. You can tell he has lived in the gym with strength and conditioning coach Adam Fletcher, and has crafted his body into good shape for the 2022-23 season. After a handful of blocks and tough finishes around the rim, it was easy to see that Illinois is going to still have strength and it’s front-court.
Illinois will host the University of Missouri at Kansas City on Friday at 8 PM, and you can begin coverage of the Fighting Illini in Bloomington/Normal on Christmas (NOW) 100.7 beginning at 7 pm CT.
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