With football season over, all eyes turn to basketball as the Big Ten schedule picks back up. No. 22 Illinois (9-3) greets its new conference opponent, No. 9 Oregon (12-1), in its first January contest. A West Coast road trip is a fitting way to introduce Illinois to the new Big Ten.
Know the foe
The Ducks are led by a talented head coach, Dana Altman. The winningest coach in program history was 2013 National Jim Phelan Coach of the Year, three-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year and led Oregon to a Final Four in 2017.
This year’s roster is one of the deepest-scoring teams in the country. Six players average nine or more points per game, and any of them can lead the team in scoring on a given night.
Senior center Nate Bittle is the top scorer after missing most of last season. The 7-footer can shoot the rock but does most of his damage inside. A lot of the other scoring comes from a talented guard unit.
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Oregon obtained two five-star commits last season, which the team has surrounded with transfers and veterans. While sophomore guard Jackson Shelstad has regressed statistically from last year, he is still the team’s second-leading scorer and leads Oregon in assists. Shelstad is plenty capable of scoring a lot and will attract attention from opposing defenses.
Senior guards TJ Bamba and Keeshawn Barthelemy have also been at their best against top opponents. Bamba was engaged with Illinois in the portal a few seasons ago but ultimately landed at Villanova. He’s a physical guard who can shoot the three and might draw a matchup with Illinois junior guard Kylan Boswell.
Barthelemy, a 6-foot-1 guard, is more crafty. He’s been at Oregon for all three seasons, but 2024 has been his best year yet. The senior is shooting 47.2% from three and can catch fire quickly. Barthelemy scored 16 against No. 13 Texas A&M (11-2), 22 against No. 5 Alabama (11-2) and 18 against USC (9-4) in a hot three-game stretch. Illinois will have its hands full with all of the guards capable of scoring.
Common opponent
There is no such thing as the transitive property in basketball, but Illinois and Oregon do share an opponent this year. Both programs scheduled Alabama in the nonconference slate but had very different results.
The Illini had to face the Tide in their first Power 4 game of the season. A defense still working out some kinks surrendered 100 points, and it seemed like the Tide couldn’t miss at times. The Illini still managed 87 points and showed some fight, but a double-digit loss provided a reality check early in the year.
When Oregon faced Alabama a couple of games later, it was a back-and-forth competitive affair. The first half ended in a tie, and each team had multiple leads in the second. Oregon pulled through in the end, winning 83-81.
Oregon’s roster is older and was more physical at the time than Illinois’. However, as the season has continued, Illinois has blossomed into a different team that is much more prepared for the nation’s best.
Notes
It’s a late 9 p.m. tipoff in Eugene, Oregon, for the first of two West Coast matchups for Illinois. The game will be broadcast on FS1.
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