No. 9 Illinois (17-3, 8-1) returns home on Thursday night for a matchup with Washington (11-9, 3-6). The Illini have won nine straight games, and will search for their 10th in front of their home crowd. Although Washington is an unranked opponent in between high profile games against top-5 opponents, Illinois cannot afford to take its foot off the gas pedal.
“Washington’s a really good basketball team,” said Illini head coach Brad Underwood. “Sure, was Purdue a high level game? It was a high level college basketball game with tremendous emotion, but the reality is that you have to get back up and get ready again. That’s the reality of this league and the beauty of this league: you can’t slip or you get beat.”
Projected lottery picks face off
Illinois’ own freshman guard Keaton Wagler has been a unicorn this season, having gone from an unheralded prospect to arguably the best player on one of the best teams in the nation. Wagler is averaging 17.5 points while shooting 43.5% from three, and he just dropped a historic 46 points on Saturday at Purdue. Wagler has played himself into being a lottery pick come June, and on Thursday, he’ll have a chance to take on another young player projected in his same draft range.
Washington freshman forward Hannes Steinbach is also putting up 17.5 points per game. Although he just had a rough shooting night against Oregon (3 for 16), Steinbach has been an efficient scorer the rest for the season. He is shooting 52.4% from the field and recently hit 7 of 12 against No. 5 Nebraska.
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“(The Huskies) have one of the best bigs in the country,” Underwood said. “Steinbach’s a problem.”
Steinbach uses his 6-foot-11 frame and great touch to score around the rim in a smooth way. While he has shown a want to step out and shoot 3-pointers once or twice a game, it’s not yet a consistent part of his arsenal that warrants a large amount of focus from Illinois. Inside though, he will pose a major challenge for Illinois’ big men with his blend of skill and size.
Wagler and Steinbach have respectively won four and two Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards this season. Both are in contention for Big Ten Freshman of the Year, although Wagler is starting to pull ahead in that race after winning Big Ten Player of the Week. Either way, Champaign on Thursday will be must-see TV, as the future of the NBA faces off in a collegiate environment.
Keeping Washington off the glass
Steinbach is not only a great scorer, but a terrific rebounder. The German is grabbing 11.2 boards per game, but what stands out is his aptitude on the offensive glass. The freshman is grabbing 4.2 offensive rebounds per game, good for seventh-best in college hoops.
Steinbach is not the only rebounding threat Washington has. He is supplemented by his partner in the frontcourt: graduate student center Franck Kepnang. Kepnang snags seven rebounds per game, and 2.9 of those are offensive boards.
“Very elite offensive rebounding team,” Underwood said. “Steinbach is elite. With Franck in the game–he’s second I think–they’re a team that can really really hurt you on that with physicality.”
The Illinois frontcourt will have its work cut out for itself. Junior center Tomislav Ivišić showed at Purdue, especially in the first half, that he can track down offensive boards, and he will need to bring that energy on Thursday night. His twin brother, junior center Zvonimir Ivišić, has also shown flashes of offensive rebounding prowess, but has not been consistent throughout the season. If there is any game to show up on the glass, Washington will be the one.
“They’re very very good on the offensive glass,” Underwood said. “We’ve got to make sure we do kind of the same mentality we had in the Purdue game. Trying to keep their two bigs off the glass and out of opportunities.”
Other Huskies to watch
The Huskies will be without senior guard Desmond Claude, who dropped 31 points in an upset win over the Illini last season when he was a member of the USC Trojans. Claude has stepped away from all basketball activities to prioritize full recovery from lingering and new injuries. Even without Claude, Washington has a few other players that Illinois will be focusing on.
Sophomore guard Zoom Diallo is Washington’s second leading scorer, and he’s made a leap offensively. After shooting just 36 threes last season and only making six (18.2%), Diallo has already shot the trey ball 46 times this season. He’s made 32.6% of those this season, adding to his midrange game. He’s not the same player that Illinois saw last year in Seattle.
“Diallo is a much improved player from one year to the next,” Underwood said. “He’s having quite a nice year.”
Another intriguing player to keep an eye on is sixth-year forward Jacob Ognacevic, who has only played four games after recently returning to the court from a preseason injury. Ognacevic, in limited run, has shot 7 for 12 from three in those games, and six of his seven rebounds have been on the offensive end.
Ognacevic was the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year at Lipscomb last season and averaged 20 points on 40.2% shooting from three. He also grabbed eight rebounds per game (1.8 offensive). Although he only has a small sample size of games in a Washington uniform, his early outings and previous track record as a shooter and rebounder should be on Illinois’ radar.
Illini injury updates
Senior guard Kylan Boswell is still out with a fractured right hand, but he underwent surgery last week to have a pin and plate put in. Redshirt junior guard Ty Rodgers also remains out while he recovers from knee surgery. He also sustained a groin injury recently, but seems to be past that because he practiced this week. However, there is still no timetable for his return.
“He participated in practice (Tuesday) for the first time coming back from his groin,” Underwood said. “Did some activity. We’re still kind of in a wait and see pattern with Ty’s injury, but it was very nice to see him back on the court. He does add a lot.”
Over the weekend, redshirt freshman forward Jason Jakstys shared with The Daily Illini that he had a blood clot in his left shoulder, which is what kept him out against Purdue. Underwood made his first public comments on the health issue Wednesday, but besides confirming that Jakstys had seen a doctor, he had no new updates to share. Jakstys will remained sidelined for the time being.
“As they continue to work on results, we’ll continue to monitor that situation,” Underwood said.
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