Whenever No. 8 Illinois chipped away at No. 11 Alabama’s lead late Wednesday night, the crowd of 17, 775 fans at the United Center would roar. Alabama’s Labaron Philon Jr. answered every time, telling the Illini fans in Chicago to pipe down with a drive or a tip-in or a 3-pointer. Philon, a sophomore guard, scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half, including nine straight in about 98 seconds, to help lift the Crimson Tide to a 90-86 victory. The Fighting Illini weathered a horrific scoring drought to start the second half to pull within two points with eight seconds to play on Ben Humrichous’ 3-pointer. But the Tide won the foul- and free-throw shooting contest that followed. Philon made 1 of 2 free throws. Illinois’ Kylan Boswell made 1 of 2. Alabama’s Houston Mallette made both, and the Tide walked away with their second win over a ranked team in three straight games. Alabama was coming off a seven-point loss to No. 1 Purdue entering the game, but had beaten No. 14 St. John’s by seven. “He’s a pro,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said of Philon. “Give him all the credit in the world, he’s a really good player, and he made the plays. Sometimes good players have the ability to take over a game like that, and he did that.” Illinois guard Andrej Stojaković led all scorers with 26 points but also had five of Illinois’ 11 turnovers and was 2-for-5 on free-throw attempts. Illinois shot 13-for-22 from the free-throw line. Keitenn Bristow had 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench to help boost Alabama. It didn’t help Illinois that Boswell was playing late with his fourth foul. “My main focus was to try my best not to foul them, especially because they knew I was in foul trouble and he was being extremely more aggressive at that point too,” Boswell said. “It was definitely frustrating not being able to be as physical as I would like to be in those situations to possibly help my team get a stop.” Wednesday night was a rare opportunity for the Illini to build up the buzz among their Chicago fan base about an Illini team that looked promising over a 4-0 start, including a win against No. 15 Texas Tech. It was Illinois’ first regular-season game at the United Center since 2018 and its first non-conference game since 2017. The Illini have played three games at the venue since then in the Big Ten tournament. Underwood talked before and after the game about how upset he was the last time the Illini played a regular-season game at the United Center in his second season helming the program. Illinois lost by 10 to Ohio State in front of a crowd of 5, 285. Wednesday, then, showed how far his program has come. “To this day, it’s the most pissed off I’ve ever been as the Illinois basketball coach,” Underwood said. “That was me. I scheduled a Big Ten game in this building in front of no one and we got beat. To me, that’s one thing that upset me more than anything. To look up there and see 18, 000 in orange (tonight), I mean, my gosh.” But the Illini still have a ways to go to reach their full potential this season. Photos: No. 11 Alabama defeats No. 8 Illinois 90-86 at the United Center Wednesday was the first time the Illini were playing with a near-complete squad, with 7-foot-1 center Tomislav Ivišić (knee) and point guard Mihailo Petrović (hamstring) returning from injury. There clearly is still more chemistry to build among the group. Underwood said he wants to get the minutes of Boswell and Keaton Wagler down and Ivišić’s playing time up as he regains his conditioning. “We’ve got to get Tomi into that active, 25-30 minutes a game mindset,” Underwood said. “We need his intellect. We need his shooting, his passing, we need that. I don’t know when that is. We can’t push the button and say you’re in great shape. He’s got to play through some of that.” Illinois led 42-41 at halftime but was cold to start the second half, shooting 2-for-13, including 0-for-5 from 3-point range, in the first five minutes. Boswell had all eight of Illinois’ second-half points until Ivišić’s 3-pointer with 10: 52 to play. At one point, Illinois freshman forward David Mirković bit his jersey in frustration when an easy layup off a feed from Ivišić didn’t fall in. The drought helped Alabama lead by as many as nine points in the second half. But Stojaković and Boswell got aggressive with driving, and the Illini climbed back in the game. Boswell had 20 of his 22 points in the second half, and Underwood said the Illini need to make sure they get him going earlier. “I thought we had pretty good shots. It’s make ’em,” Underwood said. “The good thing is we got fouled. The bad thing is we got fouled. We got the quality shots we wanted. We did what we wanted. We put foul pressure on them. “We’ve got to finish them. We’ve got to be tough enough to take a hit and finish them, and I guess we’ll continue to get better at that, but the difference between this game and the Tech game was the free-throw line and the live-ball turnovers. But maybe they deserve a little credit too.” Alabama coach Nate Oats was complimentary of the Illini, saying he thinks they could be in national championship contention in a few months, given their talented mix of big men and guards. Said Underwood: “I hope to see them in the Final Four.”.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/20/illinois-fighting-illini-alabama-crimson-tide-basketball-united-center/
No. 11 Alabama outlasts No. 8 Illinois 90-86 at the United Center: ‘I hope to see them in the Final Four’
