Texas vs. Illinois score, takeaways: No. 17 Illini upset No. 2 Longhorns in OT, handing them their first loss - CBS Sports

NEW YORK — If Illinois is going to rate among the better teams in college basketball for a third straight season, wins like the one the 17th-ranked Illini pulled off Tuesday night over No.

Underwood has scheduled aggressively; Tuesday was Illinois' fifth game out of nine overall against a high-major program.

Would you believe that a team that rates 12th in the country at KenPom.com still isn't quite sure how it's going to play its way through games against top-end competition.

What Tuesday night looked like was an Illinois team learning to get better in real time, a group that could eventually be right there with the likes of Purdue, Maryland and any other contenders waiting to emerge in the Big Ten.

The early sign was this: Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois' best player, didn't score in the first half — yet Illinois went into the break with a 37-34 lead.

"We guess based on practice," Underwood said.

"I'm full with the capacity with this team has," Underwood said.

In the bonus session, Shannon Jr., finally appeared after a mostly anonymous first 40 minutes, scoring eight of Illinois' first nine points and helping his team gain an edge it wouldn't surrender.

Mayer, who had his best game in an Illini uni, led the team with 21.

It certainly seemed to matter on Tuesday night against a Texas team that is still probably a little better than Illinois. .

For Underwood to have the confidence to bench Shannon for a huge portion of the second half speaks to how multi-faceted Illinois is.

Underwood told me he desperately wants to have a team that can be nine-deep.

Underwood said the team played dumb in its loss at Maryland, emphasizing how the Terrapins won despite making four baskets over a 16-minute span in last Friday's game.

On Tuesday, the biggest development was sitting Shannon and not having that cost Illinois the game. .

We didn't come to Texas to win the second game in December," Longhorns coach Chris Beard told me outside the Texas locker room.

This team has done a great job winning through victories, whether it be by game or design or create and we've gotten better after each game through victories and that's really hard to do.

Beard said Illinois' key was Mayer in the first half and Shannon in overtime

Beard added about Illinois' end-of-game push: "We absolutely knew it was coming." And yet they couldn't stave it off

"When it gets to winning time, the best players in college basketball take the game over," Beard said

It wasn't Marcus' best statistical game, but we all know Marcus can be that guy."

A few years ago, Shannon was the player helping Beard build up Texas Tech's brand, a big-time recruit who continued TTU's momentum under Beard after the Red Raiders made the 2019 national title game

Fast-forward to 2021: Beard gets the Texas job, Shannon stays with the Red Raiders and works his way through injuries and obstacles to maintain his reputation as a legitimate college player. 

He didn't follow Beard to Texas, and then when he went in the portal, he opted to ultimately head to Illinois

Beard going up against his old player

After the game ended, Beard shared a moment with Shannon, and then made his way to the family section behind Illinois' bench

"I love him," Beard told me