Kennesaw State men’s basketball falls at Illinois

Release from Kennesaw State Athletics:

The Kennesaw State men’s basketball team lost to Illinois on Saturday, December 27 93-45.

“That was a big boy vs. little boy and we took our medicine,” head coach Jimmy Lallathin said. “Obviously, the size advantage was huge. I didn’t like our attention to detail early. Our whole thing is we have to make shots as we get healthier and healthier. We took some things in the second half that we can build on. From this point on, we have guys on the other half court line that look like us. I liked some of our offensive possessions in the second half when we made some shots. I thought Damien Wilson was solid for us having a double-double here and he’ll be a big factor for us going to Tennessee State on Wednesday and then getting in our conference play. We just have to continue to build and continue to take steps forward.”

Wilson collected his first double-double as an Owl with 10 points and 11 rebounds. He also had three assists and one block.

Nick Masterson got the Owls going on the offensive end hitting two three pointers quickly after he checked into the game early in the first half.

Nigel Pruitt hit a three with 9:04 left in the first half to cut the Fighting Illini’s lead to 24-15. From there, Illinois stepped up their defense and held the Owls scoreless for a little over six minutes and extended their lead to 49-15. Wilson ended the drought with his lone three pointer of the contest.

In the second half, Wilson continued to bring energy to the floor and helped the Owls outscore the Fighting Illini in the final ten minutes of the game 15-13.

In that final ten minutes, there was an 11-2 run sparked by one of Wilson’s six offensive rebounds. Yonel Brown with four points along with Wilson having three points were the catalyst in that run.