Coleman Hawkins Goes For 30 Points In Illinois' Comeback Against Iowa

Sometimes the best way to overcome a loss is refusing to dwell on it.

That's exactly what the Illinois Fighting Illini did after falling to Penn State last week. They moved on from it with a 95-85 victory against the Iowa Hawkeyes Saturday at State Farm Center in Champaign.

"The good thing was we didn't have time to take a day off and just think about it," Illinois forward Coleman Hawkins said. "We flowed right into practice. We came out and had two great days of just going hard."

Hawkins had a 30 points to help the Illini rally from a seven-point, second-half deficit. He was 9 of 11 from the field and also had five assists and five steals.

"He's a really good player," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said of Hawkins. "And he got off to a good start, which is obviously not what you want when you're defending him. He's got a handle. He's got NBA 3-point range and he can go inside."

The Illini only had two other players in double-figures _ Terrence Shannon and Justin Harmon each had 12 points_ but were keyed by balance. All 10 players who played scored. It was the ideal way to bounce back from the tough loss at Penn State, where they blew a double-digit, second-half lead.

"I like this team a lot," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "I use the word "team" in all caps. Today was an unbelievable team victory."

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Illini Now. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com