Illinois held a ten point lead with five minutes remaining in the game. Their lead had ballooned to as high as 17, courtesy of the blistering 22 point solo run by Jaylen Mitchell at the start of the half to make the score 77-60.
Since then, Jaylen had run out of gas.
After the five minute blitz, the newly branded death lineup was subbed out, and the finishers came in.
North Carolina fared better once the Illinois lineup had changed. However, it was not by much.
Illinois held them far enough out of their grasp for the rest of the half, resting Mitchell, and Khalil, while maintaining the double digit lead throughout.
Heck, the fans are already overjoyed that their team managed to hold such a huge lead, and hold them off for so long!
The dominance Jaylen Mitchell revealed to everyone was an eye opener, and a beautiful sign of things that could come this season. Fourth year junior Khalil Ogwuzeni and fourth year senior Legend Stone Jr. complemented their rookie's breakout performance wonderfully with double doubles of their own.
To many of the fans, everything was nostalgic.
Two years ago, their breakout rookie was Taichi Kawashima.
This year, it would be Jaylen Mitchell.
Illinois and North Carolina both had their entire starting lineups out for the last five minutes of the game.
As one of the preseason top 25 teams, UNC would do whatever it takes to snatch the victory from the jaws of defeat. Their opponents aren't unbeatable, as evidenced by their halftime lead, but they have the hot hand. So they have to work doubly hard to claw back into the game.
They have to start immediately though, and put their act together if they want to have a chance.
Because Jaylen Mitchell, refreshed and ready to go at it again, will pressure them until the clock expires.
A 1-3-1 zone defense welcomed Jaylen Mitchell and the rest of the Illinois five in the half court set. The Heels were pretty keen to find out if this switch would be effective against an explosive playmaker like Jaylen.
Guarding Jaylen was Trent Powell, who had noticeably gone quieter while his opposite number exploded. He scored 24 in the first half, but only had 4 free throws in the second half.
Outgunned and outshone, he was determined to tip the scales back into his favor during these last five minutes.
But he can't even force Jaylen Mitchell to the sides.
One of the basic tenets of a 1-3-1 zone was forcing the ball handler to one side.
Whatever he's doing, his feet movements, his on-ball harassment… It was never enough. So he slowly angled himself to where Jaylen's eyes were moving toward.
From this alone, a knowledgeable fan would realize that Trent was a fantastic on-ball defender in his own right.
His scheme failing wasn't an indictment of him, but more of an appreciation of Jaylen's composure and concentration.
"These two are ridiculously talented." Tremaine Mills uttered to himself behind the Illini bench. "Their futures are earth shattering."
"I would've cracked already if it was me, damn." Taichi sighed in admiration at the stands.
Jaylen ignored the defenders' prying eyes and attacked, from the right. He knew that dribble penetrations are a good way to collapse a 1-3-1 zone. However he needed something more substantial than that.
He needed to make the zone defenders make quick twitch decisions, and fail.
All of a sudden, Jaylen saw Legend waiting at the left high post, already attracting the middle player to him, giving him a quick collapse if the wing defender didn't attempt to double him.
It would make matters worse, if the man on the corner, Lamont Harris, were to move as well.
Now, thanks to that, there's one player left without any cover.
But Jaylen Mitchell penetrated further down the lane.
The middle defender, the center, swerved and left Legend to challenge Jaylen up top.
He noticed that the simple movement broke their zone down, because of them chasing the players and not letting the formation do the work for them.
However, he hadn't even reached Jaylen before he saw the ball up in the air.
"Fuck!"
"This guy is crazy." Tremaine saw what unfolded in the sidelines, and immediately made a remark.
Legend was surprisingly the one at the end of it. It was not a shot, but rather a lob pass. No one knew how it was executed that beautifully, but it appeared as if Jaylen was just trying to bait the middle of the 1-3-1 after all.
Of course, the zone was already busted even before that. But Jaylen knew the value of being able to do something unexpected in basketball.
Legend does too.
Khalil was on the far left corner the entire time, and watched as the play unfolded. He was beaming.
Even if the lead had extended back to 12, North Carolina was not about ready to roll over. They will claw back tooth and nail.
The one thing that North Carolina consistently had going for them today was their three point shooting. Their shooting acumen was the team's greatest strength, and something they've relied on for years now.
Five out, zero in.
That's how the Tar Heels play their usual brand of basketball. It was not some sort of magical formula, because it had been popularized by Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr's Golden State Warriors in the 2010s, and had changed the way the game of basketball was played throughout the world.
It almost rendered traditional, bruising centers obsolete, at least until the resurgence of conventional big men in the 2020s.
Now, being a member of the team Michael Jordan built meant being able to shoot threes at a convincing rate. Every single one of the North Carolina men's basketball team could bomb away from deep in ridiculous frequency.
Most of the time, they either live and die with it.
When the threes are falling, they would win the game nine out of ten times. But when they're not… it's a death penalty.
Except this game. The Heels have buried 20 of their 30 three ball attempts, a scorching hot frequency whenever you look at it. But, look at their deficit.
It had stood at 12 for the last minute and a half.
Three minutes remained, and they made no headway on their comeback bid.
The Illini defense had buckled up, and they were intent on slowing the game down to a snail's pace.
Jaylen had Trent's number on the sidelines, not allowing him to move to the center.
Instead, the UNC offense just confidently chucked a triple with an inch of daylight.
Splash.
They did it next time too, right in the face of Ryan Brown.
Another splash.
"Are they just gonna chuck threes from that far out until they take the lead?" Tremaine said in alarm.
"It's working, so I doubt they will stop." Caleb said from the bench in front of him.
The lead was down to 6, after two quick possessions.
Timeout!
Once the third, or should I say twenty third, three was buried, Coach Mike Roughan suddenly found himself in a tight spot. The Tar Heels were living by the three.
104-101 was the score, and the home fans inside their arena were recovering their voices. Once they thought the game was wrapped up, however, their opponents found a lazy way to come back.
"Defend them from anywhere." Coach Roughan looked at his boys and furrowed his brows. "Do you want to win?"
"Yes!"
"Of course!"
"No way we don't wanna win!"
"Is that even a question?"
"Yes, sir!"
Coach Roughan drew his hand across his throat, in a kill gesture. The Illini knew what they needed to do once their combative coach signals that out.
Finish them!
***
Extras:
A week ago.
The talent scouts left the Illini practice facility abuzz. None of them thought that there would be a welcome surprise waiting for them during their visit.
There was not much that happened after that 3v3. It was instead the usual technical, and shooting drills waiting for them.
But even in these small, boring exercises, that small, and spry guard named Tremaine Mills stood out. It was as if he was an exalted figure.
They started the day only wanting to scout the rotation members, but they came away with a nugget of priceless information.
All of them would watch his career with great interest.