CHAMPAIGN -- Destiny Jackson cracked a smile after contorting her 5-foot-6 frame past Haven Ford, releasing a smooth reverse layup that banked high off the glass and then seeing the basketball go through the net.
The Illinois freshman point guard's eventual three-point play late in the second quarter against Murray State would portend a sublime performance from the Chicago native and former Whitney Young standout.
Jackson finished with a career-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting to go with four rebounds and five assists, helping propel the Illini to an 84-64 victory against the Racers on Tuesday with 14,361 fans, mostly elementary-school students from area schools, on hand at State Farm Center to witness on Field Trip Day. It was the third-largest crowd in program history and exactly the type of performance Illinois coach Shauna Green envisioned when Jackson signed with the Illini.
"Leading up to this moment, I was just doing whatever it needed to be for the team," Jackson said. "I always kept the mindset that offense was going to come. I had a talk with Coach Green."
The message? If Jackson sees an opening, take it. Be a basketball player worthy of all the praise and accolades heaped on Jackson before she arrived at Illinois.
"It just felt great to execute that," Jackson said."
Jackson again whipped the crowd into a frenzy during the third quarter after receiving a handoff from Berry Wallace near the wing. The Illini guard didn't even take a dribble after Murray State's Jada Cook played off her, with Jackson draining a late-in-the-shot-clock three-pointer over Cook's outstretched left arm.
That three-pointer saw Illinois (3-1) reach 67 points against the Racers (2-2), with that 6-7 number a viral social-media meme that has taken over TikTok and Instagram lately.
Whatever it takes to make the kids happy.
"I didn't know the three was going to be for 6-7, but we have been talking about it for a long time," Jackson said. "The time when I took the pass from Berry I saw there was three seconds (on the shot clock), and I was like, 'OK, I'm going to just shoot it.' And it happened to be 6-7. I still didn't know until I came to the bench. I wish I did, because I would have celebrated. Because I've been saying it all day."
Sitting next to the 19-year-old Jackson, Green laughed.
"I wish I could say I thought it through that much by calling a three," the Illini fcoach said. "I called 'flip' for Berry not even knowing that. I should take credit for that, but I did not think that."
That an individual meeting Green had with Jackson on Monday led to her best game in an Illinois uniform didn't come as a surprise to the Illini coach.
Jackson has embraced the tough love Green shows.
How much Green has challenged her.
But also the trust that Green has placed in Jackson's hands to run a new-look Illinois team.
That Jackson has been seemingly so coachable has only earned more respect from Green.
"It's cool that she ended up coming out and scoring 18," Green said. The previous high-scoring mark for Jackson was the eight points scored against Illinois State on Nov. 9 in a 75-65 victory at State Farm Center.
"We talked about (on Monday) opportunities that she can look to score more and how I just love her approach so far. That a lot of people, especially freshman and a point guard that are used to scoring, are going to come and take a lot of shots and force things," the Illinois coach continued. "She has not done that at all.
"She has a smile on her face, and I'm hard on her. She takes it. She comes in, and we'll watch film. She's constantly watching film. She just has a really good feel for when to take shots. The sky's the limit for her. She has not even reached where she's going to be, and it's exciting. And yes, sometimes, she does some things and you're like, 'You can't coach that. You can't teach that.' It's just who she is."
That positive attitude Jackson exudes showed through on Tuesday.
It was an important moment for the former five-star guard in the Class of 2025, dnd for a young Illini team still trying to find its way during the early portion of this season.
Coming off a first loss -- and a long flight back from the Pacific Northwest after a 64-59 defeat at Oregon State this past Friday night -- made an 11 a.m. tip on Tuesday against a quality Murray State team feel like an important game for Illinois.
And, like Jackson, the Illini embraced the unique atmosphere of Field Trip Day.
Wallace, the Big Ten's top scorer entering Tuesday, supplied 22 points and eight rebounds, while Cearah Parchment -- another one of the Illini's key freshman -- ended up with a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.
All part of an important step forward for Illinois ahead of a 1 p.m. showdown against Florida State (3-2) on Sunday in Tallahassee, Fla.
"This is a business, right, and now it's a totally different business," Green said. "The pressure that all of our kids are under, it's real. Things have changed, and it's a lot on these guys. I'm always constantly talking to them about having fun. It's still a game. At the end of the day, you should have a joy and a passion and a love to play this game, and if you can't get up to play in front of almost 15,000 people on your home court, then you shouldn't be playing college basketball.
"I thought our kids were really excited about it. I thought they came out and used that energy to fuel us. It is so important and literally usually when we break every huddle before we start a game, the last time I say to my team is 'Have fun.' You can't lose that in all of this ... and get back to the joy you had as a young kid of playing for the love of it. We want to remember that always."