No. 7 seed Illinois (20-11, 12-8) begins its Big Ten tournament journey today. It only skipped the opening round this season and will take on No. 15 seed Iowa (17-15, 7-13), which it just handled a couple of weeks ago.
Confidence
Despite Illinois not earning a double bye in this year’s Big Ten tournament, it still enters with a bit of swagger. Head coach Brad Underwood’s squad has won three consecutive games and also enters Indianapolis as the reigning champions.
The return of freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr. only instills more faith in the roster’s return to health. The Illini were 11-3 when freshman forward Kasparas Jakučionis missed time due to an injury. A long stretch of injuries and freak illnesses ensued, but since the team fully returned to practice following a forgettable trip to New York, they are 3-0.
“I think we had to get punched,” Underwood said. “We got smacked pretty good, so they bounce back. And I think when you can get that when you can bounce back off the mat, that’s who we want everybody in our program to be.”
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A 14-3 record surrounding the rough patch with missed practices and games gives reason for confidence heading into the postseason, but there’s even more.
Illinois is now 17-2 when shooting above 27% from three in ballgames. The Illini also holds an understandable 3-9 record to their name in games where they shoot below that threshold. However, the fact that there are 12 games at that poor level of shooting or worse is, to be honest, egregious.
But now, with everyone in practice and healthy, there is good news. The offense has looked pretty great for most of the last three outings. It’s not just because shots are falling, but it’s about why they are falling. Two big veteran leaders — junior guards Tre White and Kylan Boswell — have stepped up in the locker room and on the court and are leading the Illini by example.
“I’m going to go back to Kylan and Tre, it was them talking during timeouts,” Underwood said. “It was handling situations. It was not putting your head down. It was encouragement, it was togetherness, and all of those things sound really cliche, but it’s the truth.”
Both transfers have been fantastic lately in leadership roles and smoothing out the offense. Whether it’s an aggressive drive from Boswell or a quick cut to draw the defense from White, each has played a major role in the return to form. The juniors have the most experience on the roster in major conference tournaments as well, so the Illini will continue to rely on them over the next week.
The matchup
The Iowa offense took a hit after its 61-point effort in Champaign on Feb. 25. It still brings the No. 17 scoring offense in the country to Indianapolis, putting 82.3 points per game on the board. The Hawkeyes scored 77 in their first game of the tournament, and while their record may not reflect quality all-around play, they can still make shots at a competitive enough rate that this isn’t a game to glance over.
On the other side, the Illini have only won their opening conference tournament game once in the last three years, bowing out early in 2022 and 2023. Now, the two years surrounding the back-to-back early exits (2021 and 2024), the Illini won the entire thing. So, I guess today’s game holds more weight than some may believe.
Despite some good opponents in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes are just one of a couple of Big Ten teams that have really struggled against Underwood. The Illini have won eight of the last nine in the series and look to improve that this evening.
@benfader7
