No. 1 Tennessee basketball stayed undefeated on the season on Saturday night, pulling out a late victory over Illinois as Jordan Gainey went coast-to-coast and finished at the basket as time expired to give the Vols a 66-64 victory.
The Vols pulling out the win on the road was incredibly impressive as they trailed for much of the game. Few came away more impressed by Tennessee than Illinois head coach Brad Underwood.
“They’re the best team we’ve played,” Underwood said on the Illinois postgame radio show. “It’s not even close.”
Illinois has played a relatively challenging schedule to date with Big 10 matchups against Northwestern and Wisconsin and non conference matchups against Arkansas and Alabama.
The Fighting Illini split those four games, losing to Alabama in Birmingham and beating Arkansas in Kansas City before losing at Northwestern and winning at home against Wisconsin.
Alabama beat Illinois in a much different game stylistically compared to Tennessee’s win in Champaign. The Fighting Illini gave up triple digits to the Crimson Tide in a 100-87 semi road loss while they lost a rock fight against Tennessee.
“Really high level basketball game. They’re number one for a reason and they’re good,” Underwood said postgame. “So much respect for Rick, the job he’s done. Everywhere he’s been along the way, they’ve always been a winner and you know what you’re getting. That made our team better today.”
Tennessee fell behind Illinois 8-0 in the game’s opening minutes and rarely led the rest of the way. The road win felt very improbable due to the quiet night’s of a number of Tennessee’s top players.
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Zakai Zeigler picked up his fourth foul with over 18 minutes to play and ended up logging just six minutes in the second half. It was his most quiet night of the season as he totaled just six points and two assists.
Chaz Lanier came out hot in the first half, totaling 15 points but he scored only two points in the second half on one-of-seven shooting while dealing with foul trouble himself. Igor Milicic also had a brutal night shooting the basketball and missed all eight of his attempts from three-point range.
“I’m shocked that we were able to get it done, with all that foul trouble,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “But these guys found a way to do it.”
The Vols found a way to do it in large part due to senior shooting guard Jordan Gainey. With Zeigler and Lanier sidelined with foul trouble, Gainey came off the bench and scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the second half including the game-winning layup as time expired.
“Give Gainey credit,” Underwood said postgame. “He made a heck of a play.”
Tennessee improved to 10-0 with the win over Illinois. With three buy games remaining on the December slate, the Vols will almost certainly enter SEC play unbeaten for the first time in Rick Barnes’ tenure.
