Although it took some time to pull away, No. 14 Illinois (4-0) defeated Colgate (1-3) 84-65 behind a record-setting night from freshman forward David Mirković. The Raiders’ physical perimeter defense challenged the Illini early, but they eventually found their footing in the second half to remain undefeated.
Raiders’ suffocating defense
Illinois is no stranger to facing physicality on the defensive end, especially coming off playing a solid rebounding team in Texas Tech. However, Colgate applied pressure on the perimeter that Illinois struggled to find an offensive rhythm against early. The Raiders forced the Illini into five turnovers in the first half, scoring nine points off of them.
The Raiders kept the Illini on their heels for most of the first 20 minutes, going on multiple runs where the Illini remained scoreless. 12 minutes into the game, Colgate went on a 7-0 run for about three minutes, cutting the Illinois lead down to one. Graduate student forward Ben Humrichous finally ended the run with a three off a Mirković offensive rebound.
Much of Illinois’ offense is predicated on its ability to drive the basket and make plays from within the paint. The Raiders made this difficult for the Illini to execute. Colgate’s physicality against Illinois’ drivers led to sloppy turnovers and kept the game extremely close in the half, even tying the score at 28-28 with four minutes remaining.
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“We just stood and we didn’t cut,” said head coach Brad Underwood. “We were really flat. Give (Colgate) credit, but we went from a team who never rotated and you survived in isolations to a team now who’s in the gaps and racking it at every possibility. We didn’t make those adjustments great.”
Second chances
As the Illini were struggling to find clean offensive possessions in the first half, what kept them in the game was offensive rebounding. Illinois started out the half strong on the glass, grabbing seven offensive rebounds eight minutes into the game. Even with the physicality of the Raiders’ defense, the Illini’s size advantage benefited them on the boards.
“You can’t worry about percentages all the time,” Underwood said. “I think there’s a lot of other ways to score it. Free throw line, offensive rebounding … That’s what we’re trying to prepare for here is when it’s not very pretty.”
Freshman guard Keaton Wagler’s rebounding abilities stood out once again after a strong showing of five offensive rebounds in the victory over Texas Tech. In Friday’s contest, the freshman secured six rebounds total with three on the offensive end, proving his growing consistency in this area. Since the start of the season, Wagler has continued to use his toughness to find ways to help the Illini succeed.
“People don’t look at me as someone who’s going to try to look for contact, but I play stronger than I look and I think that’s a really good thing in my game,” Wagler said.
Not only did Illinois secure offensive rebounds, but it also converted its second chances. Through the first 20 minutes of play, the Illini scored 13 second-chance points on their 13 offensive rebounds. Those second-chance scoring opportunities came in various ways for Illinois such as going to the free-throw line or converting on kick-out threes. Wagler played a large role in that, converting from the free throw line well once again, going 9-11.
“(Wagler’s) learning a new system, a new team, and he’s just handling it with great poise,” Underwood said.
Mirković sets records
After struggling against Texas Tech, freshman forward David Mirković bounced back in a big way. Mirković set the freshman record for most rebounds in a game with 21 and became the first Illini since Nick Weatherspoon in 1972 (37 points, 22 rebounds) to have a 20-20 game.
“I was really sped up with my decisions in practices or games before that I made well,” Mirković said of his play against Texas Tech. “(The coaching staff) just talked to me about it. I was thinking about it, working on it.”
The freshman rebounded much better in Friday’s contest than he did Tuesday. In seven minutes to start the game, he had as many rebounds as he did at the end of Tuesday’s matchup. While the freshman did have a size advantage over most of the Raiders, his effort to get on the boards was still rejuvenated from the moment he stepped on the floor.
“I challenged him pretty good this week in practice, and he’s better than that,” Underwood said. “He’s a young man that strives for greatness. He doesn’t settle.”
Colgate kept the score close in the first half, but Mirković’s second-half play allowed Illinois to pull away, leading by as many as 24 points. The Raiders had no answer for Mirković as he did everything for the Illini offensively, scoring 27 points in versatile ways.
He used Colgate’s physicality to his own advantage, getting to the free-throw line at a high rate and knocking down all eight of his attempts, another difference from his play from Tuesday. Mirković also hit a couple more threes than he did earlier in the week, shooting 3-7 from long range. Seeing improvement in his percentage should give Mirković an extra boost of confidence before facing No. 8 Alabama in five days.
Veteran shooting struggles
In comparison to their strong offensive performances that propelled Illinois past Texas Tech, junior guard Andrej Stojaković and senior guard Kylan Boswell weren’t as efficient. Stojaković shot 3-11 from the field for nine points, and Boswell had 11 points on 5-16 shooting. The pair were also each 1-6 from three-point range.
With the tough perimeter defense from Colgate, the veterans were challenged and at times taken out of their offensive strengths, mainly playmaking through attacking the paint. Luckily, others stepped up to get the job done Friday. Boswell and Stojaković have time to learn from this matchup, improve upon it and be ready to perform against another top 15 opponent next week.
“I think we understand that not every game is perfect,” Underwood said. “I think it’s a challenge to learn from, how much emotion plays in the game.”
@evy_york2
