Eight days until Illinois heads to Cincinnati. Next Saturday, we finally get to watch this group play somebody else.
Yesterday took us to Mackey for nine threes. Today, eight sends us a little farther west, then into an NBA box score that still takes a minute to believe. We’ll finish back in St. Louis, where Missouri had a pretty miserable night last December.
Remember Some Guys!
Kevin Turner and eight threes at Pauley
Before the record had a whole list of names attached to it, Kevin Turner went to UCLA and made eight.
On December 30, 1997, Turner scored 32 points and set the Illinois single-game record with eight three-pointers at Pauley Pavilion. The Illini lost 74–69 to the ninth-ranked Bruins, but Turner gave them a real chance to steal it.
Illinois had been down seventeen early in the second half. By the time Turner hit his eighth three, the Illini were ahead 66–63 with 4:39 remaining.
Awvee Storey helped bring them back, too. All eleven of his points came in the final 8:42. Turner supplied the shooting, and the freshman gave Illinois another way to keep the comeback moving.
Turner’s last basket put Illinois ahead 69–68 with 2:25 left. UCLA finished it from there, and his late attempt from three didn’t go down.
That part still stinks. Eight threes on the road against a top-ten team ought to come with a happier final paragraph.
But this is where that Illinois record started. Before Dee, before Brandon Paul, before the other guys who joined him at eight, Turner put the number on the board in one of college basketball’s most recognizable buildings.
Quite a place to make yourself a problem.
No 8 had fifty seven for New Jersey
Deron Williams gives us an eight on the jersey and another one on the scoreboard at halftime.
On March 4, 2012, his New Jersey Nets trailed Charlotte 53–45 at the break. Deron had seventeen points already. Then he scored forty more.
Forty in the second half. Fifty-seven for the game, in a 104–101 Nets win.
He wore No. 8 that night, and the official box score is worth spending a little time with. Sixteen made field goals. Four threes. Twenty-one free throws in twenty-one attempts.
He made more free throws than the rest of the Nets combined, and New Jersey won by three. There wasn’t much room to leave any of those at the line.
Deron also finished with seven assists and six rebounds. Even with fifty-seven points, there was still some passing to do.
It was a Nets franchise scoring record at the time. And it came in fewer than thirty-eight minutes on the floor.
We’ve spent plenty of this countdown with that Illinois backcourt. Here’s a good reminder that the fun of following those guys kept going after Champaign. No. 8 spent this particular Sunday giving Charlotte far more Deron Williams than it wanted.
Eight blocks and a whole lot of Braggin Rights
For the last eight, let’s get back to a game with orange in the stands and Missouri on the other side.
Illinois beat the Tigers 91–48 on December 22, 2025. Forty-three points was the largest margin in the history of the series. There are plenty of numbers to enjoy from that one, but today’s is the eight blocked shots.
Zvonimir Ivisic had three of them to go with eight points and eleven rebounds off the bench. There’s another eight for us, with a pretty useful night of work attached to it.
Missouri shot 16-for-56. Illinois won the rebounding battle 43–24 and had fifteen offensive boards. The Tigers weren’t getting much to fall, and the Illini kept giving themselves another possession at the other end.
That’s how you make a rivalry game feel very long for the other fan base.
Illinois was already up 41–25 at halftime, then won the second half 50–23. No late scare. No last possession to survive. Just another half of making Missouri deal with it.
The fifteen made threes were plenty fun. Eight blocks belong in the memory of that night, too.
The first exhibition is Saturday, October 17, at Cincinnati. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. Central.
Eight days. Let’s go, Illini!!