Lorenzo Harris sat on the Chicago bench with a towel draped over his head.
After Quandre Thornton blasted him to nothingness with that poster, the Cougars' head coach had no choice but to send his stifled ace to the end of the bench. It was a decision that's been a long time coming.
He tried to give his sophomore lead man time to recover on his own, as he always did, but the amount of frustration this Illinois team gave Lorenzo went beyond his expectations.
Now, in the second half, Lorenzo's defeated mug remained. He had no choice but to let him stay on the bench.
It doesn't matter if his team was being overrun skillwise by their opponents, because that was how it was supposed to go anyway.
On the other side, Coach Roughan was liking the fight he's seeing from their opponents more.
Without Lorenzo Harris, this team is a team.
Sure, they don't have a standout playmaker, nor a surefire first option that they could rely on in high pressure situations, but… they were a functional five man team.
They had morphed into a more cohesive unit, a stronger team than the sum of its parts.
To him, and his Illinois team, an opponent playing better than their skill sets should allow as a team was more interesting to beat than a one man army spiraling his entire team down the abyss with him.
Lorenzo might've had 16 points early on, but it cost them more than just team harmony.
Their offense devolved into some kind of a bootleg version of the early 2000s hero ball era. No one's moving, a lot of isolation, and the offense is littered with low percentage tough shots.
It was ugly beyond belief.
Now, the passing is better, so the quality of their shots taken has been rising, although it's still not much. Thanks to the Illinois' defense shifting to their usual gear.
Khalil wasn't bored anymore, unlike in the first half, where he's literally playing offense only, and those rare defensive moments where he's needed.
Lamont realized how much of a detriment his brother Lorenzo is on offense. Sure, a playmaker, and unquestioned first option like him is indispensable in crunch time or when the team needed buckets, but his throwback, individualistic approach didn't fit the small school mantra for many of their games.
Chicago State last year played at one of the slowest paces in all of NCAA Division I. However, their approach didn't net them an at least an above average field goal percentage. Instead, they are among the worst, and most inefficient offenses in the country.
Although they have one of the country's best scorers, they rely too much on him to do it all on offense.
Lorenzo's playstyle is nothing but a detriment to Chicago State's game.
'Watch how your team works their magic when you're on the pine, Lorenzo.' Lamont had already released all his grievances to his brother. Whatever bullshit comes next, is already beyond him. What he wanted to see now was some willingness on his brother's part to learn how detrimental his selfish presence was to his own team.
The Cougars' found a wide open man in the corner, who drilled it easily despite a late challenge from Dwayne Evans.
That was just the team's seventh assist of the night, a ridiculously low haul.
However, the lead remained at 25, at 67-42.
Well, the Illinois cheerleaders are already in the party mood, singing and dancing victorious songs.
There was no way Illinois would be beaten at this point.
Lamont Harris had become the centerpiece of today's game, performing beyond expectations on both ends of the floor.
Right now? Lamont hasn't missed a single shot from the field yet. He also played excellent defense against the Chi State's main cannon.
His performance may have had the asterisk of a weaker opponent, but his contributions tonight couldn't be denied.
For the average Illinois fan, this might be one of the best performances of Lamont Harris in an Illinois uniform. And he's not done yet.
There's still a lot of basketball to be played.
Lamont stood at the right corner, and on an average day, would wait for the play to come to him. However, today is not that kind of day. This is a day where everything is possible for Lamont.
It was then that a screen from Legend took him by surprise.
Lamont quickly moved left and ran straight to the wing, and urgently a pass from Ryan arrived at his hands. Lamont breathed a deep one, and squared his shoulders, before unleashing a shot to beat all shots.
It was an almost effortless splash.
Lamont was understandably pumped. He knew his cheeky teammates made that play for him.
Even his estranged father's eyes were glowing.
Within the next few possessions, both teams have found their shooting boots. The more free flowing Cougars offense had gained more success than anyone expected.
Now that it's pretty much considered garbage time, defense had become optional, and the tense, competitive atmosphere had diminished somewhat.
The visiting side started enjoying the game regardless of the deficit, and smiles were aplenty on both sides.
There are only two people who remain unhappy. Lorenzo Harris, and Jaylen Mitchell.
The former because his team had given up, but mostly due to the fact that his team's performance had improved significantly with him on the bench. The latter, because any stats from here on out would be pretty much useless now.
Illinois' home arena was rocking. On days like these where they were dominating an in-state rival, no matter how much weaker they are on paper, it's enough for them to brag about. However, this time, the fans had also been applauding Chicago State's much better second half play.
It was like they just found out that they could play this way.
During the last five minutes of the game, Tremaine Mills was once again sent in.
He hasn't had the impact he wanted to have in this game. A singular triple, a couple of assists, and a steal, in limited minutes. However, he still has five minutes to prove himself.
It was 108-75, when he came in, and in just a minute, the lead had ballooned to 41, at 116-75.
How did Tremaine do it?
Well… right when he came in, he received the inbounds pass from Deshaun, and straight away fired an unsuspecting triple.
On the next play, he stole the ball right as the Cougars' backup guard crossed the halfcourt line, before sprinting away and laying it in.
On their next possession, Tremaine didn't actually lead the possession. Instead, it was Caleb Wilson.
However, in this particular play, several crisscrossing screens were set, and after another bruising Quandre Thornton screen, Tremaine found himself with an open lane at the left.
Tre thought it was an easy layup, but a defender came in late behind him and almost dragged him to the ground. Luckily, he'd already floated it to the basket. He then casually buried the resulting free throw.
***
Extras:
Walking to the dugout, Lamont and Caleb were laughing merrily.
Lamont for instance, was satisfied with how he and his team performed tonight. 26 points on 10 shots? It was insane. Plus several defensive stops, and a wonderful work rate throughout?
Right as they were about to reach their locker room however, Lamont saw a middle aged man that looked eerily like him.
He froze.
Caleb saw the similarity and connected the dots. "Are you alright?"
"No. But I have to face this piece of shit sooner rather than later."
"Okay, I'll head on first." Caleb gave a nod and walked off.
Landry smiled at his eldest son, for the first time in several years. To be honest, he doesn't know what he wanted to accomplish by doing this. However, with his son going straight at him, he has no time to think about it.
"You were fantastic today, Lamont." He kept the tone of his voice neutral.
"I know." Lamont was facing his father more than a meter away.
"I'm glad that you've found somewhere you truly belonged." Landry coughed several times in quick succession.
"You should go home, old man. Lorenzo needs a shoulder to vent on the most right now." Lamont was about to walk away.
"Son, you're always welcome to come over…"
"Come over? What for?" Lamont almost flipped out.
"Your old seat will be waiting for you on Thanksgiving."
"You haven't done anything to make me wanna go there." Lamont was vicious. He rounded the corner and left his father there, stunned.
"I apologize for everything, son."
But before he entered the locker room, he stood there, and punched the wall. He actually heard what his father's last words were.
Why are you doing this to me now that I've resolved myself to not bother with you anymore!