End of the Game Illinois knocks off the Coyotes of South Dakota behind a 34 point outing from junior Malcolm Hill. Illinois wins 91-79.
00:34 Jalen Coleman-Lands hits the floor after being fouled by South Dakotas Casey Kasperbauer. Lands goes to the charity stripe for two shots, he makes both of them.
00:42 Malcolm Hill is charged with the foul, South Dakota to the line for two shots.
1:04 Michael Finke comes up with a huge three pointer! Puts Illinois up by 9 with under a minute to play. Finke has 13 points today.
2:15 Malcolm Hill drains another three pointer!!! 32 points today for the Illinois Junior.
3:05 Illinois 20 point lead now down to 6
3:05 Illinois having a tough time right now, can't seem to find the basket. Consecutive misses the last two trips down the court.
4:33 Jalen Coleman-Lands at the charity stripe for the Illini, DJ Davis called for the foul for South Dakota. Lands make 1 out of 2.
4:36 Offensive foul called on Dan Jech, Illini fans getting nervous. The Coyotes are only down 7 points now.
6:07 South Dakotas Tre Burnette connects from downtown, battle of the three point shot between both teams today.
7:40 Malcolm Hill drains another three pointer! Ties his career high at 28 points with more than 7 minutes left to play.
9:08 Tyler Hagedorn fouls Illinois Malcolm Hill, Hill to the line for the Illini. Hagedorn now has 4 personal fouls today. Hill goes 2-2 at the line.
9:45 Michael Finke of Illinois makes a nice move on the basket, ball doesnt drop but he is fouled and is sent to the line for two shots. 1-2 at the line.
11:56 Freshman D.J. Williams gets on the board for the Illini, just his second field goal all year.
13:04 Malcolm Hill currently has 24 points, 5 points away from a career high.
14:02 DJ Davis knocks down the three pointer for the Coyotes, Kendrick Nunn answers back with a nice layup.
15:50 Malcolm Hill finishes with a nice drive to the hoop, fouled and makes the shot. Hill is playing out of his mind today.
16:14 South Dakota is off to a 7-0 run right now.
16:14 Tre Burnette of South Dakota drives down the court, scores and is fouled. Sent to the line for the vintage three point play. Makes the shot.
16:39 Coyotes Shy McClelland picks up his fourth personal foul, called for a blocking foul on Khalid Lews.
17:10 Kendrick Nunn fouls South Dakotas Shy McClelland, McClelland goes to the line for two shots, misses both.
18:10 Illinois, Jalen Coleman-Lands drop another three! The Illini are on fire today, best offensive performance we have seen this season.
18:52 Michael Finke drains the three pointer for Illinois, South Dakotas DJ Davis answers back with a nice floater resulting for two points.
19:15 Illinois fouls South Dakotas, Casey Kasperbauser on three point attempt. Sent to the line for three shots, he goes 2-3 from the line.
20:00 Second half is underway!
Currently Illinois has 9 three pointers through the first 20 minutes of play, the most three pointers in a game by any Illini team is 16. The 16 threes came against the Arizona Wildcats in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Illinois is on track for 18 threes today, which would be a new record.
End of the 1st Half Michael Finke makes the buzzer beater, Illinois heads into the break up 55-36 over the Coyotes of South Dakota.
00:50 Malcolm Hill drains yet another three pointer! Illini now have 9 three pointers in the first half.
1:32 Eric Robertson slams it home for the Coyotes, nice pass and score for South Dakota.
1:56 Technical foul called on South Dakotas, Shy McClelland. Hill sent to the line for three shots for the Illini.
2:07 Michael Finke drops the beautiful backside pass to Malcolm Hill, Hill converts for the two.
2:40 Jordan gets fouled on the three point shot, misses but is sent to the line for three shots.
3:35 Aaron Jordan buries the three pointer for the Illini, following Jordans three Trey Norris of South Dakota makes a three of his own. So far there have been 15 threes in the game, 8 of them coming from the Illini.
4:25 Malcolm Hill called for the foul on South Dakotas Dan Jech, Jech scores and gets a trip to the line looking to make it a three point play.
4:40 Kendrick Nunn buries another three! Illinois now has 7 threes in the game.
5:33 Shy McClelland of South Dakota goes to the charity stripe after being fouled by Maverick Morgan. He makes the shot.
6:17 Alex Austin makes the three pointer for Illinois....Lands scores another three on the next trip down the court. The freshman is on fire, currently he has 11 points.
6:45 Illinois Jalen Coleman-Lands answers back with a three of his own. Great game so far.
7:30 Casey Kasperbauer knocks down the three from Jimmer Ferdette range.....what a shot.
8:13 The run for South Dakota is currently 9-2
8:57 Kasperbauer splashes the long ball, South Dakota making a run. Tyler Hagedorn answers back with another three for the Coyotes. Timeout called on the floor.
9:39 Jaylon Tate called with the foul, Tate exits the game as the foul is his second of the game.
10:50 Tyler Hagedorn sinks the three pointer for the Coyotes
11:06 Foul called on Kendrick Nunn for reaching in, Coyotes to inbound. First foul of the day for Nunn.
11:20 Malcolm Hill knocks down both free throws for the Illini
11:21 So far the Coyotes have turned the ball over 9 times, not good at all. Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn combined have 12 points, the rest of the team has 9.
11:50 South Dakota's Dan Jech gets the shot off in time, Jech's mid range jumper is good.
12:52 Kendrick Nunn buries the three, Illinois is probably playing their best basketball right now. Havent seen this team play like they are since the game against Springfield.
14:08 Shy McClelland converts on the layup, South Dakota now at 5 points. Khalid Lewis for Illinois would respond with a missed three, rebounded by the Coyotes.
14:47 Maverick Morgan checks in for Illinois
16:00 Tre Burnette knocks down the first bucket of the day for the Coyotes, Burnettes 3 pointer brings the score to 16-3.
16:09 Jalen Coleman-Lands strike again from downtown, Illinois is up 12-0. Following Lands basket Malcolm Hill steals the ball and scores the layup. Now up 14-0.
17:19 Jalen Coleman-Lands knocks down the stepback shot for two. Illinois so far has made it look easy, passing the ball very well early on. Currently Illinois is 4-4 from the field and have grabbed every rebound in the game.
18:37 Malcolm Hill drains the three, Illini up 5-0.
19:21 Kendrick Nunn steals the ball drives down the court and scores, Illini on the board first here at the State Farm Center.
20:00 We are underway in Champaign! Opening tip won by South Dakota
Did you know?
The last time these two teams met was in 1971 in Champaign, IL. Illinois won that game by a final score of 96-56.
Good afternoon, Illinois - South Dakota will be getting underway in roughly 30 minutes. Stay tuned throughout the contest as I will be providing live updates throughout the game.
Senior Trey Norris is averaging 27 minutes off the Coyote bench and ranks fourth in the Summit League in assists. He handed out a career-high 10 in the win against South Dakota Mines. He led the Summit League in assist-to-turnover ratio last season. He scored a season-high 19 points in the win against Kansas City. Norris is coming off of a three point game against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Trey Norris- Guard- 6'0", 180 lbs.
Starting guard Shy McClelland is averaging nearly 12 points per game, shooting 53 percent from the field, and has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the Summit League at 2.83-to-1. McClelland, who sat out all of last season, averaged 15.5 points at Mesa Community College as a sophomore two seasons ago. McClelland is coming off of a 10 point performance in a win against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Thursday night.
Shy McClelland- Guard- 6'0", 190 lbs.
South Dakota Coyotes
Malcolm Hill has played in 388 of a possible 440 minutes so far this season, ranking fourth in the Big Ten with an average of 35.3 mpg. His versatility is evident in the fact that he ranks either first or second on the Illini in points (17.1 ppg), rebounds (5.3 rpg), assists (3.9 apg), steals (1.5 spg) and blocked shots (8). Hill is coming off of a 22 point outing against UIC last Saturday - his 22 points were the most scored by any player in the game. Illinois went on to win that game by a final of 83-79.
Malcolm Hill- Guard- 6'6", 220 lbs.
Michael Finke playing the center position is completely different then Mike Thorne. The difference between the two is similar to that of an elephant and an ant, Thorne is 6’11” 270 and Finke is 6’10” 230. Finke though has some real advantages, he has the skill set of a guard playing the PF and C positions which makes him very difficult to guard. Finke has done a great job of taking advantage of the minutes he has had as Thornes replacement. Thorne went down with a torn ligament in his knee against Iowa State back on November 30th in the Emerald Coast Classic, therefore Finke got the nod and started playing more.
Michael Finke- Forward- 6'10", 230 lbs.
Illinois Fighting Illini:
Players to watch:
The South Dakota Coyotes come into this game with a 7-4 record following their win against the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in double OT. South Dakota’s senior guard Tre Burnette scored the game winning basket with 1.2 seconds left in double OT propelling the Coyotes to a 92-91 victory. The win was the sixth for the Coyotes out of their last seven games, one of the wins coming against Big Ten opponent Minnesota back on December 5th when the Coyotes took down the Gophers in double OT. South Dakota is a very balanced scoring and very accurate shooting team. The Coyotes rank 37th in the nation in assists and 42nd in field goal percentage and five players are averaging 10 or more points per game.
The two keys for the Illini in that game were free throws and turnovers. The Illini shot 35 free throws and made 24 of them, while UIC shot 14 and made 10 of them. Illinois also led in points off turnovers with a 17-9 advantage over the Flames, most of those points came in transition following errors committed by UIC. Malcolm Hill was one of four Illini in double figures, scoring a game-high 22 points. He drained 5-of-8 shots and made a living at the charity stripe, hitting a career-high 11-of-14. Coleman-Lands made four three pointers and finished with 15 points, while Kendrick Nunn and Michael Finke added in 14 points and five rebounds each.
The Illinois Fighting Illini come into this game with a 6-5 record following their win against the UIC Flames last Saturday in Chicago. After letting a double-digit lead slip away, Illinois used a big second half rally to take down the Flames of UIC. The Illini looked to have had the game in control as they were up 41-30 at the break, however, UIC would come back strong and went on a 14-0 run to take the lead with less than 10 minutes left to play. The lead changed hands multiple times following that big run by UIC, that was until Illinois freshman Jalen Coleman-Lands hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to put Illinois in front by one. Following the three by Lands, Illinois never trailed for the remainder of the game.
Hello and welcome to VAVEL USA’s LIVE Coverage of the South Dakota Coyotes vs Illinois Fighting Illini in College Basketball. Tip-off for this game is at 3 PM ET, at which I, Christian Hansen, will bring you LIVE commentary from the game.