Jordan Gainey drove the length of the court and scooped in a right-handed layup on the left side of the hoop at the buzzer to lift No. 1 Tennessee to a 66-64 nonconference victory over Illinois before a sellout crowd Saturday afternoon in Champaign, Ill.
Gainey came off the bench to deliver 18 of his game- and season-high 23 points in the second half for the Volunteers (10-0). Chaz Lanier scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half before fouling out with 3:42 to play, while Igor Milicic Jr. posted seven points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Freshman Kasparas Jakucionis scored 22 points for Illinois (7-3), but split a pair of free throws with 5.7 seconds left to set up Gainey’s last-second heroics. Tre White contributed 11 points while Kylan Boswell and Will Riley added 10 points apiece as Tennessee’s defense limited the Illini to 29 percent shooting.
Illinois jumped to an 8-0 lead in the opening 3:30 as Ben Humrichous canned a 3-pointer, Tomislav Ivisic hit a putback, White powered for a shot in the paint and Jakucionis made a free throw.
But it wasn’t long before the Vols forced their defensive will on Illinois and the game turned into a physical free-throw contest. Tennessee took its first lead, 18-17, on Gainey’s pair of free throws at the 7:02 mark.
After six more lead changes, Tennessee held a 31-30 edge at the break as each team finished with six field goals and 17 free throws and five players on each side committed two fouls.
There were so few normal possessions before there was a foul, turnover or forced shot due to physical man-to-man pressure that the Volunteers finished with just one assist in the first half and the Illini had two.
With Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler on the bench after picking up his third and fourth fouls one second apart with 18:13 to play, Illinois put together a 10-0 run early in the second half to take a 43-37 lead at the 14:23 mark.
White drove for a layup, Ivisic fed Boswell for a layup and Jakucionis drove for a lefty layup before putting an exclamation point on the two-minute spree with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and an accompanying free throw.
The Volunteers got back within 43-42 on Gainey’s 3-point play before Jakucionis converted another 4-point play to make it 50-44 with 11:21 to play.
Once again, Tennessee rallied, as lightly used senior backup Darlinstone Dubar and Gainey hit 3-pointers to make it 52-52 with 8:51 left. The Vols took a pair of 1-point leads, but Humrichous regained a 58-57 edge for the Illini with a thunderous two-hand tip slam with 5:01 to go.
The Volunteers regained the lead with 1:34 left when Milicic swiped an inbounds pass and broke away for a dunk and a 64-62 edge.
Illinois forged the game’s seventh and final tie on Jakucionis’ free throw with 5.7 seconds left. With Zeigler and Lanier fouled out, the Volunteers inbounded the ball to Gainey, who charged down the middle of the floor; his layup fell through the hoop as the horn sounded.
–Field Level Media
