Illinois wins the NCAA Tournament opener against Morehead State thanks to a second-half surge.

Ranked third Illinois defeated No. 14 seed Morehead State 85-69 in the second half on Thursday afternoon at CHI Health Center Omaha to advance to the NCAA Tournament’s opening round. The Fighting Illini defeated the Eagles 46–31 and shot 60.7% in the second half to win their first NCAA Tournament since 2022.
Marcus Domask finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists to achieve his first triple-double of the season. It’s the first triple-double in the history of the Illinois program, the sixth overall in the history of the NCAA Tournament, and the first by an Illini. Domask completed the triple-double performance with a dagger 3-pointer at the 2:58 mark of the second half, the team’s last field goal of the game, having already collected double-digit boards and assists.

Dain Dainja shot a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor in the second half to score 17 of his 21 points, matching a season-high scoring total. In addition, Dainja pulled down eight rebounds, three of which came from the offensive board, and matched his season-high two blocks.
For the sixth straight game, Terrence Shannon Jr. scored at least 20 points, finishing with a team-high 26 points. Shannon finished the second half of play with a 3-for-3 shooting performance after scoring 19 points in the first half. In addition, he had two rebounds, two blocks, two steals, and four assists. Shannon’s play has earned him 669 points this season, one point more than the Illinois school record for single-season scoring.
Coleman Hawkins scored ten points and made two of his three 3-point attempts. In addition, he added one block, two steals, four rebounds, and five assists.
Luke Goode made three 3-pointers for nine points. In addition, he grabbed four rebounds. Late in the first half, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, who came off the bench, scored six points, including two 3-pointers.
Illinois settled down and answered with a 9-2 run to trim its deficit to two points after Morehead State lead the game 2-0 at the start. The Illini led 11-9 in the beginning, but Shannon scored seven of their first nine points.
The first 13 points scored by the Orange and Blue were shared by Dainja and Shannon. With little over 12 minutes left in the first half, Goode made a 3-pointer to trim Illinois’ lead to 19-16, with Morehead State leading by six points. After a steal and transition slam, Shannon reached double digits and cut the Illini’s lead to one, 19–18.
After Hawkins scored the next five points for the Illini, including a dunk and a stepback three that cut Illinois’ lead to one, Shannon hit his first 3-pointer of the game.
The Illini scored an 11-2 run after Hawkins’ triple. Less than a minute after Shannon’s and-1 layup, Gibbs-Lawhorn made a 3-pointer to put Illinois up for the first time. After a two-and-a-half-minute run, Shannon managed to complete an incredible layup through contact, putting the Orange and Blue up 34-29.
Shortly after, Domask scored his first points. Then, with the last field goal of the first half, Gibbs-Lawhorn scored his second triple-double of the game, tying his career-high score.
Illinois led by a team-high 19 points from Shannon to take a 39–38 lead into the half. With six points from Gibbs-Lawhorn and four from Dainja, the Illini’s bench scored 13 points.
Early in the second half, Morehead State regained the lead, but Shannon produced one of the plays of the game. On the next play, Shannon scored a layup to put Illinois back ahead for good after he dove to retrieve a lost ball and then threw it back off the leg of a defender. This was Shannon’s sixth straight game in which he scored more than 20 points.
After that, Dainja scored nine more points for the Illini, putting him in double digits for the seventh time this year and twice in his previous four games. During a 14-3 Illini run, Dainja scored 11 points, and he finished with a powerful transition dunk to force a Morehead State timeout. With 12 minutes remaining, Illinois had its biggest lead of the game—57-48—after that four-and-a-half-minute period.
The Eagles’ 3-pointer briefly reduced the Morehead State lead to just ten points, but it was short-lived. With two minutes left, a 9-0 run that included points from four different Illini players increased Illinois’ lead to 17 points.
Hawkins scored five points in a row, including his second 3-pointer, to push the Illini’s lead above 20 points. Domask had already surpassed ten assists and ten rebounds when he made two 3-pointers in ninety seconds to seal the triple-double.
With a lead of up to 24, the Illini finished the game with a 42-24 run to guarantee a position in the second round of the playoffs.
Illinois will now take on 11th-seeded Duquesne on Saturday in the second round.

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