No. 9 Illinois (18-3, 9-1) gets a chance to even its score with No. 5 Nebraska (20-1, 9-1) on Sunday afternoon after losing a heartbreaker at home on a Nebraska game-winning 3-pointer on Dec. 13. Since the Illini’s loss to the Cornhuskers, they are on a 10-game winning streak, which is the program’s longest winning streak since the 2012-13 season. Although Nebraska suffered its first loss of the season to No. 3 Michigan (20-1, 10-1) earlier this week, Illinois still needs to be on its A-game going into the matchup. This is not only an opportunity for the Illini to get revenge on the Cornhuskers, but to pick up a second straight road win over an AP top-10 team.
“I think we’ve gotten better at understanding who we are and what we want to be really put simply,” said head coach Brad Underwood about what changed about Illinois since the Nebraska loss. “What opportunities we want to give up on the defensive end and live with … I think the other piece is we’ve got better role identification than we had at that point … It was a team that was searching then and I think we found some answers.”
Better overall defensive performance
What hurt the Illini more than anything in its first matchup with the Cornhuskers was their inefficiencies on the defensive end. Both on the perimeter and in the paint, Nebraska wasn’t challenged in its offense, and Illinois didn’t force it into uncomfortable situations or highly contested shots. The Cornhuskers not only shot 51.6% from the field in December’s meeting, but they also shot an impressive 46.2% from 3-point range. Nebraska is a talented offensive team, but part of its efficiency was due to Illinois’ lack of defense.
“They got pretty much every shot they wanted,” Underwood said. “In every facet of the game, there was nothing we were very good at. We gave them layups. We gave them threes … Just a game, to their credit, they made all the shots, and we did not play bad from an offensive standpoint against them, but defensively we had no real positives in terms of scouting report.”
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Since the loss, Illinois hasn’t looked like the same team defensively. It is now making it difficult for teams to score by communicating with one another more than they did previously, and continuing to protect the rim with its bigs in the paint. It is also tracking down defensive rebounds at a higher rate and not giving up on those rebounds, even in physical situations. Even against top offenses in the country, such as No. 12 Purdue, Illinois hasn’t faltered in its defensive improvements. Now, it has the chance to test those improvements again in the rematch, this time though without senior guard Kylan Boswell.
“I think we’re more connected, especially on the defensive end,” said freshman guard Keaton Wagler. “We’ve had a lot of really good practices and really good games that have proven how good our defense can be, and we just continue to get better each day.”
More production from Illini front court
Outside of Nebraska’s senior forwards, Rienk Mast and Ugnius Jaruševičius, Nebraska doesn’t present a challenge for Illinois in terms of size. At 6-foot-11, Jaruševičius is the Cornhuskers’ tallest player, but he is a few inches shorter than Illini junior center Zvonimir Ivišić. However, in Illinois’ first go-around with Nebraska, its front court didn’t show up in a matchup where it had the tools necessary to overpower Nebraska.
Zvonimir, junior center Tomislav Ivišić and freshman forward David Mirković only combined for 14 points and three offensive rebounds in the previous meeting between the two teams. A big part of what makes the Illini offense so versatile and dangerous is having bigs that can hit threes, but the Illini front court only hit one against the Cornhuskers in December. Compared to Illinois’ perimeter stars, the front-court trio wasn’t checked in offensively, which put Illinois at a disadvantage, although the score remained close throughout the game.
The Illini will need Zvonimir, Tomislav and Mirković to play at the offensive level they have been playing at more recently this time around. Due to an illness, Mast didn’t play in Nebraska’s first loss of the season on Tuesday, but he is currently a game-time decision going into the matchup with Illinois.
If Mast does play, he most likely won’t be at 100% because of his time off, and Illinois’ front court needs to take advantage offensively. Even at less than 100%, though, Mast won’t make it easy on the Illini front court, and they need to be ready for the challenge this time, especially in Boswell’s absence.
In the December meeting, Boswell was Illinois’ leading scorer with 20 points on 5 for 9 shooting from the field and went 7 for 9 from the free throw line. Although Wagler and junior wing Andrej Stojaković are still available and backed up Boswell with 19 points each against the Cornhuskers, more offensive production from the front court will only give Illinois more of an advantage on Sunday.
Defensively, Illinois’ front-court trio was as locked in as it was offensively. While Nebraska junior guard Pryce Sandfort gave Illinois trouble in the first half, scoring 26 points in the first 20 minutes, the second half was all Mast, and it was greatly due to the lack of defensive effort from Illinois’ forwards and centers. They also let Mast grab four offensive boards, which gave Nebraska extra possessions that clearly made a difference in the game’s outcome.
For the Illini to come out on top this time, they can’t let Mast go to work on the offensive glass. Nebraska is a physical rebounding team with Mast and junior forward Berke Büyüktuncel each averaging six rebounds per game, and Illinois needs to match that intensity. Since the Nebraska loss, Illinois’ front-court trio hasn’t struggled on the rebounding front, combining for 17 rebounds in its most recent win over Washington, but it can’t let up on Sunday.
Finding Nebraska’s 3-point shooters in transition
As mentioned earlier, Sandfort’s hot start led to Illinois trailing early into its first matchup with Nebraska. At State Farm Center, Sandfort scored the Cornhuskers’ first 15 points of the contest, most of them coming from the 3-point line. Sandfort finished the first half going 6 for 8 from the 3-point line, finding his attempts both within Nebraska’s half-court offense and in transition. The junior ended up recording a career-high in points against the Illini, scoring 32 on 16 for 18 shooting from the field.
In transition is where Sandfort was the most dangerous in December, and that remains the same going into Sunday’s matchup. One of the reasons why Sandfort was able to get going from the jump last time was because his threes weren’t contested in transition. Illinois lost track of Sandfort in full-court situations, which gave him easy looks, and as a high-caliber 3-point shooter, he didn’t miss.
Since the win over Illinois, Sandfort hasn’t fallen off in his scoring, recording 20 or more points in Nebraska’s last five games. He also hasn’t decreased the number of 3-pointers he is taking, even on poorer shooting nights, which shows off his confidence. No matter if he is on fire or cold, Sandfort isn’t going to stop taking threes, and the Illini need to be ready to face that once again. Boswell was the one to slow down Sandfort last time around, but Stojaković and Wagler will have that task now.
“(Sandfort’s) going to score,” Underwood said. “He’s got the quickest release in college basketball and you’ve got to make his opportunities challenged. You can’t give him the easy ones.”
The Illini can’t just be on the lookout for Sandfort, though, in transition. When Sandfort started to cool off in the second half, it was senior guard Jamarques Lawrence who took over, including hitting the game-winning three. Lawrence finished with 14 points on 5 for 8 shooting alongside six assists. Another Cornhusker for Illinois to watch out for on the 3-point line is redshirt freshman guard Braden Frager, who had a quiet night in December’s game, but is now averaging 12.2 points per game off the bench and shooting 37.3% from three. Nebraska may have shot only 34.4% from three in its loss to Michigan, but 3-point shooting is still its main offense and a key to its success.
“They’re very good in transition,” Underwood said. “Their first six seconds. Lawrence does an elite job of finding those guys kind of trailing for threes. He got two of them against us. Rienk got one or two. It’s not a game you necessarily run back to the paint and protect. You better stop at the logo.”
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