Coming off a long break after a loss in its Big Ten home opener, No. 18 Illinois (8-3, 1-1) heads down to St. Louis, Mo., to face Missouri (10-2) in the McBride Homes Braggin’ Rights game. The Illini are searching for their third consecutive victory in the historic rivalry to get back on a winning streak before their final non-conference game.
“It’s a team we’ve got to beat,” said senior guard Kylan Boswell. “That’s a big, big thing for Illinois and Mizzou, but we know how the arena’s going to be. The young ones don’t know what the environment’s going to be like, but it’ll be fun for us to go out there and hopefully just do what we did last year.”
Bouncing back in practice
In between its loss to No. 15 Nebraska and playing Missouri, Illinois had nine days without another game. This gave the Illini time to hone in on small details that led to their first Big Ten loss and continue getting players back to 100% conditioning-wise. The fatigue was a large part of Illinois’ defensive breakdowns against Nebraska.
“I’m not trying to make an excuse,” said head coach Brad Underwood. “We’ve been playing guys into shape, and these long practices give us an opportunity to really work on that stuff.”
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The practices after playing UConn (12-1, 2-0) helped Illinois come out tougher and more cohesive against Tennessee (8-3, 0-0), fueling a much-needed victory. That same response is what the Illini need going into Braggin’ Rights so they can match the Tigers’ aggression on both ends of the floor.
“We’re responding even throughout games,” Boswell said. “I feel like with times we’ve gotten down or situations where it was tough for us, we responded well. I think we’re a team when we lose, we respond well … This week of practice has been great for us.”
As well as players getting back into better shape, the longer stretch of practice allowed Underwood and his coaching staff to refocus on fundamentals from the first few weeks of the season. With multiple Illini sitting out the beginning of the year, Underwood is now able to have his entire roster more on the same page moving forward.
“It’s reaffirming what we’re doing,” Underwood said. “We call it our ‘daily vitamins.’ Making sure we’re good at what we’re supposed to be good at.”
The longer stretch of practices has also been beneficial for players who weren’t at their best against Nebraska. Freshman forward David Mirković struggled to get himself going offensively in the loss, only scoring four points, and sat on the bench for most of the second half. Mirković’s lack of focus was a big factor in his performance. However, the week of practice was a reset.
“In times where (Mirković) needs it, you got to enforce that (focus),” Boswell said. “It starts right here in practice, and this week, he’s done a great job of continuously, every day, coming here and having the right mental effort.”
Lockdown defense
While the Illini are currently one of the most offensively efficient teams in the nation, their defense is what cost them a victory in their Big Ten home opener. Underwood isn’t worried about one opposing player taking over a game, but more so the Illini forgetting the basic defensive details that allow role players to get hot.
“One guy’s not going to beat you,” Underwood said. “It’s the fact that we’re giving up layups, the transition baskets and that we’re letting non-effective players beat us.”
Those defensive breakdowns can trace back to a lack of conditioning, but it takes mental toughness to overcome that. Every player on the Illini roster needs to focus on the defensive end against the Tigers’ efficient offense. Watching film has been important over the last week to work on those defensive inefficiencies.
“A lot of film got to be watched of us to get to see things that we need to work on, things that we can improve on,” Boswell said. “We had a big philosophy on going back to our principles this week, making sure our practices have been really hard.”
Tigers to watch out for
No matter who’s on either team, the matchup between Illinois and Missouri is a physical one. That is no different this year. For the Tigers, their offensive scheme relies heavily on playing in transition, getting downhill and going to the free-throw line.
“(Missouri) might be one of the more aggressive teams we played or intense teams we’ve played all year,” Boswell said. “They’re really talented.”
Senior guard/forward Mark Mitchell does a lot of that tough offensive work for Missouri. Mitchell is currently the Tigers’ leading scorer, averaging 18.2 points per game on 59.8% shooting from the field. He also lives at the free-throw line, as he’s taken 91 free-throw attempts through Missouri’s first 12 games. Defending Mitchell without fouling will be key for the Illini.
Illinois also has the chance to show its improvement in defending the 3-point line in this matchup. The Tigers are dangerous from 3-point range with multiple players who shoot higher percentages consistently. Graduate student guard/forward Jacob Crews is shooting an impressive 52.9% from three while averaging 14.8 points per game. Graduate student guard Jayden Stone and junior guard Anthony Robinson II are also shooting 41.7% and 34.2% from deep, respectively.
As always, rebounding on both ends of the floor needs to be a focus for the Illini. Missouri is active on the glass with its size in the paint, so Illinois’ front court will need to compete more than they did against Nebraska.
“The offensive rebounding thing has got to be a huge emphasis for us,” Underwood said. “Our front court has been below average in offensive rebounding, and we’ve got to get better in those areas.”
@evy_york2
