Almost two months after falling in its Big Ten opener at Northwestern (12-8, 3-6), No. 17 Illinois (14-6, 6-4) got back at its in-state rivals, beating the Wildcats 83-74 in Champaign on Sunday. It was a one-sided affair from the opening tip, even without sophomore center Tomislav Ivišić, who was out with mono.
Early Illini energy
The Illini came out with a lot of energy and effort. Freshman guard Kasparas Jakučionis got a steal on the opening play, and multiple Illini immediately dove on the floor to secure possession of the ball.
“Statement,” said freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr. “That was a statement. Let them know we’re playing hard from the jump.”
Throughout the rest of the half, there were multiple other instances where various Illinois players would dive on the floor and put their bodies on the line, a much-needed change from their seemingly low-energy loss to Maryland (16-5, 6-4) on Thursday.
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“Played with an edge,” said head coach Brad Underwood.
A rim-rattling slam from Johnson, graduate student forward Ben Humrichous knocking down three three-pointers and a lot of hustle plays from the team as a whole riled up the State Farm Center crowd. It was loud, possibly the most energy the student section has had all year outside of the Illini’s game against No. 1 Tennessee (17-3).
Johnson locks down Martinelli in first half
Johnson locked down Northwestern junior forward Nick Martinelli in the opening 20 minutes. Martinelli, who was averaging 19.9 points coming into this game, played 19 first-half minutes but only scored six points on poor 2-11 shooting. His only two buckets were three-pointers; Johnson had three blocks, holding Martinelli scoreless inside the arc.
“I thought Morez Johnson was absolutely fantastic,” Underwood said. “We were going to give Martinelli some threes. We were worried about him in the paint, and I thought Morez did a really good job at trying to negate some of his looks.”
After Martinelli attacked Humrichous’ defense in the teams’ first game this season, the matchup switch was a smart move by Underwood, who previously admitted that he should have played Johnson more when the squads faced off in Evanston.
Illini dominate on the boards
After losing the rebound battle to Maryland and a lack of energy on the offensive glass being an emphasis after their loss to Northwestern in December, the Illini made a giant step in the right direction.
Illinois outrebounded Northwestern 50-27, even without the 7-foot-1 Ivišić in the lineup. The team also grabbed way more offensive rebounds, snatching 21 to the Wildcats’ nine. Seven different Illini registered an offensive rebound, and it was apparent that they had internalized the importance of doing so in this game.
“(The team) heard it all week that we got 12% of our misses back (on Dec. 6 at Northwestern),” Underwood said. “That was an early December game. We were still implementing and getting guys to understand the importance of rebounding the basketball. I think we were better today doing that. Again, it’s a tribute to our guys because they heard ‘12%’ a lot over the last few days.”
Balanced offensive performance
Five Illini scored in double figures against the Wildcats, giving the offense a much-needed boost from the last game.
After shooting 1-9 from three in December against Northwestern, Humrichous got his revenge game in Champaign. The sharpshooter went 4-9 from long range, scoring 14 points. Sophomore wing Jake Davis was also stellar from deep off the bench, knocking down three of his six triples en route to 11 points.
In only his second career start, Johnson scored 15 points on an efficient 5-8 shooting. He was one rebound short of a double-double. Junior guard Kylan Boswell also had one of his more efficient games offensively, scoring 17 points on 4-8 shooting from the field and 9-10 from the free-throw line.
Jakučionis flirted with a triple-double, scoring 11 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out seven assists. The future NBA lottery pick had a quiet first half but really showed up in the last 20 minutes, scoring nine of his 11 points in the second half on 4-7 shooting.
Too little, too late from the Wildcats
The Wildcats cut the Illini lead down to eight with 46 seconds remaining, but being down 22 at halftime was too hard of an obstacle to overcome. Northwestern fouled Illinois a few times, sending Boswell to the free-throw line twice in the last minute, and he knocked down 3-4.
A late turnover with 18.5 seconds left sealed the deal, and the Illini emerged victorious. The nine-point win was not as close as the final score made it look, but it was much needed for the Illini to break a two-game losing streak.
“Good bounce back, and nice to get back on the track to the right direction,” Underwood said.
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