I got on the elevator down by the media entrance and this family wearing Illini gear were talking to this British couple. Their conversation was already well underway by the time I got on the elevator, so I only caught the tail end of this sentence, but the family was asking something like "did anyone in your family go to Illinois?" and the British couple said "no, we just love basketball" (I couldn't tell if they said Illini basketball or college basketball. And then they talked about how they flew all the way here just to watch this game.

The conversation turned to where they were from in England (up by Newcastle hi Josh) and then DING the doors open and I get out. I was processing all of this in my head - "maybe they said they became Illini fans watching college basketball from over there?" - and so I tried to get back on and ask them some questions. The elevator attendant told me "sorry, media has to get off here and can't go up any further." The doors closed and, despite my efforts to try to locate the British couple in Madison Square Garden at the half, I never found them so I could ask them that question.

But it sent my brain (once again) thinking about Carmen's statement: We Travel. Everyone talked about our crowds in Vegas. Once fans were allowed back at the 2021 Big Ten Tournament, Lucas Oil Stadium was 90% Illini and maybe 10% Iowa or Ohio State. And we showed it again tonight in Madison Square Garden. In fact, let me make a bold statement:

If Illini fans traveled like Iowa fans travel, we would have lost this game.

I stuck around until halftime of the Iowa-Duke game. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Illinois fans during the Illinois-Texas game outnumbered Iowa fans at the Duke-Iowa game 10 to 1. Walk the concourses, look at the shirts - hell, just listen when a basket is scored; Illini basketball fans out-travel Iowa basketball fans 10 to 1.

And that made a MASSIVE difference tonight. We were down ten with 8:30 to play, down six with 3:00 to play, and down five with one minute to play... and we forced overtime. The crowd energy felt like one of the recent Braggin' Rights games where Illinois would out-draw Missouri 5:1. Home court advantage comes from two things: shooting background and noise, and the Travelin' Illini provided the noise.

I mean, just watch this clip from the Big Ten Network's Alex Roux.

Hmmm... the tweet won't embed. Let me go capture the video and embed it here.

That's in overtime after Terrence Shannon's and-one, so yes, that's one of the loudest moments of the game. But look up at that upper deck and all that Illini orange. Look across the arena. Illini fans, once again, showed out in huge numbers and turned a neutral site into a semi-home site. Right when the team needed energy to make that comeback, they fed off that crowd.

(I should note that Duke had a lot of fans there as well. But that's kinda not the same thing. I'm assuming the majority of the Duke fans are from New York City and have "been a fan forever" because "their brother in law went there for law school" and "their step-dad was a fan so they became a fan." No, you picked Duke because they won a lot and you wanted to cheer for a team that wins. It's fine. Just don't pretend you ever invested in anything.)

Back on track: I really think that you did this. The thousands of Illini fans in attendance were the difference. This game required a comeback from down 10 with eight minutes to go, and as soon as the comeback began, the crowd gave 100% comeback energy. Everyone saw it play out. Texas was tentative, Illinois cut it to 7, then 5, then 3, and the crowd was going crazy. A Texas comeback wouldn't have sounded like that. An Iowa comeback wouldn't have sounded like that. This was simply our traveling fanbase providing just enough energy to push the team to overtime while Texas wilted in all the noise.

And then Terrence Shannon Jr. said "I've got it from here". The overtime box score:

Down goes #2.

You might think I'm trying to be cute, but I'm being serious here. You did this. The energy in those final eight minutes of regulation felt like an Illini home game. Texas took the lead with 16:27 left in regulation and they held it all the way until the two Jayden Epps free throws with eight seconds left. Without that crowd energy - without the home game feel of the final eight minutes - I don't think we climb all the way back to tie the game. I think Texas would have played a little better and Illinois would have played a little worse and Texas would have won in regulation.

But this was Champaign East, so we won. Illini fans traveled from all over and provided the necessary comeback atmosphere.

Including maybe London?

+ We'll get to Jayden Epps in a bit, but first, Sencire Harris, man. What an incredible spark plug off the bench.

This is the #2 team in the country and there he was jumping over everyone for two incredible blocks. Care to guess who led the team in plus-minus? No, not Epps. Not Mayer either. Here's the full list:

Harris +13
Epps +11
Melendez +10
Hawkins +9
Mayer +8
Clark -2
Dainja -3
Shannon -5
Rodgers -6

Harris was +13 in only 18 minutes. Really, really impressive for a freshman.

+ SPEAKING OF IMPRESSIVE FRESHMEN, who else thought about Kiwane Garris when Jayden Epps was standing on the line? December of your freshman year and you're standing at the line with the world watching. Except this time, Norm Stewart wasn't past half-court screaming "miss it, miss it" at a freshman.

It wasn't just the two free throws, though. Perhaps the most impressive moment of the night was the smackdown of Texas' comeback attempt in overtime. After that and-one shown above, we had a 77-70 lead with 2:16 to go and it felt like the game was over. But then Brock Cunningham hit a three, Terrence Shannon had his shot blocked, and then Coleman Hawkins fouled Marcus Carr while he was shooting a three. So that 77-70 lead was suddenly 77-76 only 45 seconds later.

What do we do? We go to the true freshman Epps who got to the rim, made the layup, and pushed the lead back to three. Then RJ blocked a Texas shot, they got the rebound and missed a three, and RJ was fouled grabbing that rebound. Two made free throws and now it's back to a five point game with 45 seconds left.

So if you're scoring at home...

2:02 - Texas hits a three to cut it to 77-73
1:28 - Texas hits three three throws to cut it to 77-76
1:06 - Epps scores to push it back to 79-76
0:45 - RJ is fouled after grabbing a rebound, hits both, and it's 81-76

Up 7, up 4, then up 1 but we right the ship and go up 3 and then 5. Comeback attempt thwarted, Illini win.

+ I haven't even mentioned Matthew Mayer yet. 21 points on 8-10 shooting, 5-5 from three. There was all this talk from the coaches of "the threes will start falling soon for him", and tonight was the night. We got to see what the coaches envisioned when they brought him in. Length to be a pest on defense and length to shoot over dudes beyond the arc.

I mean, this was some crazy Texas synergy, right? A transfer from Texas Tech and a transfer from Baylor take down the Longhorns (coached by Chris Beard, the transfer portal king). We go into their state, find two guys to immediately plug and play, and then travel all the way to Madison Square Garden to beat them. Mayer pushes us to a halftime lead, Shannon takes over in overtime, and we beat #2.

+ I'll close with this. And I'm not sure I'll say this right but I have to try.

I wasn't as in awe of Madison Square Garden as I thought I'd be. That's not in any way "meh - unimpressive". I'm not going for "I don't think {actress} is all that attractive" here. Walking down 8th Avenue towards MSG, it's every bit as WOW as you would expect.

But inside, when the game was going on, I lost track of where I was. I could still see the famous ceiling, but I kinda got lost in the crowd and the game. The "wow, it's really cool I got to do that" at this moment is 94% "got to see Illinois beat #2" and 6% "got to see a game at Madison Square Garden."

Like, the crazy-impressive Illinois crowd made even MSG fade into the background. I got lost in the comeback like I was at a home game. The thought of the Illini playing a home game at MSG is preposterous, of course, but during that overtime, I felt like I was at the State Farm Center. You could just feel the "they're actually going to do this" in the air. I totally forgot about MSG.

So thanks, Illini fans. You did this. And I got to watch.