NEW YORK — Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 12 of his 16 points in overtime, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:34 remaining, and No. 17 Illinois rallied to hand second-ranked Texas its first loss of the season 85-78 on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic.
Jayden Epps added 11 points, including the final five points of regulation — a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left and two tying free throws with 8 seconds remaining. Epps then blocked Marcus Carr’s jumper in the lane just before the buzzer to force overtime in an entertaining showdown at Madison Square Garden.
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Illinois forward Matthew Mayer, who faced Texas several times at Baylor, tied a career high with 21 points as he made his first seven shots and finished 8 of 10.
Shannon, who missed 8 of 9 shots in regulation, took over in the extra period to help Illinois (7-2) beat a ranked foe for the second time this season. He opened overtime with a jumper after Carr was called for traveling and hit an open 3 from the right wing over Brock Cunningham for a 73-70 lead.
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Shannon converted a reverse layup and finished off a three-point play to make it 77-70 with 2:16 left. Carr hit two free throws to get Texas within one with 1:28 remaining. Epps hit a layup, RJ Melendez sank two free throws to put Illinois ahead by five and Shannon made two free throws with 27.7 seconds left.
Timmy Allen scored a season-high 21 points for Texas (6-1), which was looking to open 7-0 for the first time since 2014-15. Tyrese Hunter added 10 points, but Carr was held to nine points on 3-of-14 shooting as Texas had 12 shots blocked and shot 42%.
Texas took its only double-digit lead when Dillon Mitchell hit a layup with 8:28 left. Illinois cut the lead to 58-56 on a 3 by Melendez nearly four minutes later. After Cunningham hit an open 3 with 4:15 remaining, Si’Jabari Rice made a 3 for a 64-58 lead.
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Allen found Cunningham for an open jumper that counted when officials called goaltending on Illinois’ Coleman Hawkins. That gave Texas a 65-61 lead with with 1:51 remaining.
Carr’s rainbow jumper in the lane made it 68-63 with a minute left, and Illinois had a 3-pointer by Melendez waved off because it called timeout with 45.3 seconds left. After the timeout, Epps made an open corner 3 with 33 seconds remaining.
Hunter missed the front end of a one-and-one to set up Epps’ tying free throws.
Illinois: The Illini continued to struggle with turnovers, committing 17. But only two came in the final 10-plus minutes of regulation or overtime. Illinois’ 15th turnover was an offensive foul by Mayer, which sent him to the bench with four fouls with 10:42 remaining.
Texas: The Longhorns had little offense beyond Allen and Hunter. While the duo was a combined 13 of 29, the rest of the team missed 24 of 40 shots.
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Illinois: Hosts Penn State in its second Big Ten game Saturday. The Illini lost their conference opener to No. 13 Maryland.
Texas: Hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the Jimmy Blacklock Classic on Saturday.
