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.
Right from the start of a Thursday matchup against 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.
Coach Brad Underwood and his staff didn’t do anything discernibly helpful, either.
There won’t be much of anything worth remembering about ninth-seeded Illinois’ 73-63 loss to the eighth-seeded Arkansas, 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-great themes of their season.
They surely didn’t have any fun for much of this game, which was what Underwood said he wanted them to have — to bring a free-and-easy disposition to the arena after a season when so much seemed strained and unsatisfying.
The second half got vaguely interested at a couple of different points — and very interesting, all too briefly, after the deficit was cut to five in a late-game spurt led by RJ Melendez — but the Illini never truly threatened an opponent that was under .500 in the Southeastern Conference and loaded with freshmen. The Hogs played with higher intensity early on, when the dye was cast.
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.
Illinois finished 20-13. Arkansas (21-13) will face West Region No. 1 seed Kansas on Saturday.
