Loss To Michigan State Paved Way For Illinois Rebounding Against Michigan

The Illinois Fighting Illini had three-game winning streak interrupted with a loss to Michigan State on Sunday.

The bad performance led to them starting a new streak three days later.

On Wednesday, the Illini bounced back from the defeat with an impressive 97-68 victory against the Michigan Wolverines. Illinois coach Brad Underwood said the poor effort against the Spartans led to the recovery.

"We lost," Underwood said. "Losing. There's two things that happen when you lose. You either learn from it or you accept it. We have a great locker room. We're not going to accept that."

The Illini blew an eight-point lead in the final six minutes against the Spartans. It was the second straight time they were unable to keep a late lead. They did the same against the Nebraska Cornhuskers but hung on to win in overtime.

"This is a really smart group, it's a cerebral group," Underwood said. "So losing ... is brutal. So they don't accept it and we learn from it. We talked about it. We showed film and then we went out and corrected it."

Guard Terrence Shannon had a game-high 31 points in the win against the Wolverines. He shot 11 of 15 from the field, including 5 of 8 from the three-point line. It was his third 20-point game in the last four.

“He’s a guy that has to want to be that guy,” Underwood said. “Terrence is going to score 20 most nights just by being out there. That’s his impact on us. Everything starts on the defensive side.

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