In the midst of a four-game losing streak, Jolette Law knows exactly what it will take for the struggling Illini women to rebound against No. 19 Virginia at the Assembly Hall on Thursday.

The ACC/Big Ten Challenge game will test a young Illinois core that is still experiencing early season growing pains.

“I want to stop (Virginia) in transition and control the boards,” Law said. “We are going to have to limit them to one shot opportunity. Also on the offensive end, we’ve started to play a lot of individual basketball, a lot of one-on-one when Jenna (Smith) is out of the game. But now I think we’ve learned from that and recommitted ourselves to play like a team.”

Senior Chelsea Gordon said this season has been a learning experience for an Illinois team loaded with underclassmen. After a 3-4 start, Gordon said there is still better basketball to be played.

“We still need to figure some things out, but I think we’ve turned the corner,” Gordon said. “I’m not going to say we needed to lose those games because we didn’t, but they’ve helped us see that maybe we need to listen to the coaches more. I think it opened our eyes, and hopefully we will get our act together and get a win.”

The team needs to dictate on the defensive side of the basketball. This requires communication and a concentrated team effort to get to the right spots and slide over for help.

On offense, the Illini are focusing on getting to the basket instead of forcing up shots. In their four losses this season, they have shot an abysmal 37 percent.

Gordon said pressure might be a factor for the freshmen who, because of a roster that is only 10 players deep, are already playing heavy minutes.

“The freshmen have a lot of pressure put on them,” Gordon said. “So far they’ve been doing a great job, but unfortunately we have to ask for more because we’re not deep. They don’t have the luxury of slowly growing up and bumping their head. They just have to get it and go.”

The veterans on the team have taken it upon themselves to keep the young players confident even after some shaky basketball at last week’s Cancun Carribean Challenge. Junior Jenna Smith said that even when the team is losing, it’s important to come together and stay positive.

“Whenever you lose a game, you know there’s another one coming up, so we just have to be able to bounce back,” Smith said. “(The freshmen) get down on themselves sometimes, obviously, but we just have to remind them about the next game.”

With Gordon making her way back from an ankle injury she suffered against Missouri on Nov. 19, the team will get its defensive stopper back on the floor just in time to try and slow down the Cavaliers’ All-American guard Monica Wright. Wright is averaging 21.4 points per contest.

But Gordon sees Thursday as less about how good Virginia is and more about what Illinois basketball has to offer.

“Thursday is a great day to show everyone what we can do because up until this point I don’t think we have,” Gordon said. “We’ve shown glimpses of greatness, but not a whole game. I want us to do the little things like boxing out, rebounding and talking. We need to be aggressive and play like a team.”