Nov. 26 -- CHAMPAIGN -- Kasparas Jakucionis turned on Little Rock guard Christian Hughes immediately after beating him off the dribble for a layup near the end of the first half of Monday night's game at State Farm Center.
Jakucionis flexed on Hughes while hitting him with an emphatic bit of trash talk.
The immediate result? The first technical foul of the Illinois freshman's college career.
Jakucionis threw up his hands in disbelief after he was whistled for the technical. The reaction from his teammates was different.
Tre White and Kylan Boswell were all smiles on the Illinois bench as they dapped up Jakucionis once he ran to the sideline. And the freshman guard returned to a huddle that couldn't help but laugh as Jakucionis discussed the call with official Brian Dorsey.
That reaction to Jakucionis' technical was mostly because the action that preceded it was so out of character. The emotion that flared from the 6-foot-6 Lithuanian after he scored on Hughes was, let's say, atypical.
"It will not happen again, but that was to hype the team up," Jakucionis said, while acknowledging he felt a sense of pride from his teammates and coaches for the technical.
"I've never seen him get that hype before," fellow freshman Will Riley added. "He's a very tough guy, for sure, but he's a very nice guy as well. He doesn't talk too much trash."
Even Brad Underwood couldn't help but shrug off the technical foul. The Illinois coach said he wanted to hug Jakucionis after it was called.
"We're not encouraging those things, but one of the guys said he's officially earned some street cred now," Underwood said. "He's very stoic. He doesn't say much -- doesn't get too emotional. I understand why they have to call it and do all that ... but glad to see he's got that in him."
Jakucionis hitting Hughes with a crossover the Little Rock sophomore couldn't handle for an easy finish at the rim was part of a 21-point effort for the Vilnius, Lithuania, native in Illinois' 92-34 victory Monday night at State Farm Center. A new career high now that he's found a better balance between facilitating and scoring.
Jakucionis really flashed that dual threat ability last week in Birmingham, Ala., with 15 points and six assists in Illinois' loss to then No. 8 Alabama. He was simply more assertive as a scorer while still setting up his teammates for success.
Monday night was a continuation of that effort.
"The first few games he just kind of took what the defense gave us," Underwood said. While Jakucionis averaged nine points in his first three games, he took just 10 total shots and wound up scoring most of his points at the free throw line.
"It was hard hedges and just getting the ball out of your hands," Underwood continued about how Jakucionis had to play against Eastern Illinois, SIU Edwardsville and Oakland. "He kind of lost a rhythm of scoring. He was taking so few attempts it kind of threw him off. He didn't find his rhythm for a minute. He's gotten that back in practice."
Jakucionis scored his game-high 21 points Monday against Little Rock on 5 of 9 shooting, which included knocking down 3 of 4 three-pointers. He was also a perfect 8 of 8 at the free throw line.
Jakucionis was joined in double figures by Tomislav Ivisic (16 points and 11 rebounds), Tre White (16 points and eight rebounds) and Riley (13 points).
Riley, Ivisic and Jakucionis -- all newcomers, all in their first season of college basketball -- are Illinois' top three scorers this season. They're also not your every day freshmen. Or NCAA-mandated sophomore in Ivisic's case.
Not that they view themselves as freshmen.
"It doesn't really matter if you're a freshman or not," Riley said. "If you're good enough, you're going to play. That's the thing I love about coach. If you're good enough, he's going to play you no matter what."
"Basketball is basketball," Jakucionis added. "I also played against men in Europe, so the physicality was even better there. I'm just trying to improve every day. That's it."
Underwood likes that level of confidence from his young stars. That even though they are freshmen -- and will run into some challenges only fresh-to-the-college game players have to handle -- it's good they don't consider themselves freshmen.
"They've very seasoned," Underwood said. "They've all played a lot of elite-level basketball. They've done it on world stages. That's comforting. They've all done it against really quality players. There's no intimidation. That part of it, I think they're all pretty comfortable with. The knowledge and understanding of the college game, there's still some growth there."