The regular season is winding down quickly as No. 8 Illinois (20-5, 11-3) is back at State Farm Center and searching for another chance to bounce back on Sunday afternoon against Indiana (17-8, 8-6), another historic Big Ten rival. While the Illini are in the midst of a two-game losing streak, the Hooisers have stayed winning as of late, including an overtime win over Wisconsin (17-7, 9-4) on Feb. 7. The outcome of this matchup could not only be a determinant of Illinois’ finish in the Big Ten this season, but also its future seed in the NCAA tournament picture.
Despite a 34-point outing from freshman guard Keaton Wagler against the Badgers, the Illini struggled in their most recent loss on every other front except shooting percentages, especially without senior guard Kylan Boswell and junior wing Andrej Stojaković. Both members of Illinois’ starting backcourt will be a game-time decision for Sunday’s game, according to head coach Brad Underwood.
“We sure don’t want to put (Boswell) out there not somewhat close to healthy and 100%,” Underwood said. “Andrej has been dealing with a high ankle sprain, a decent amount of pain and soreness. We’ll see what his status is.”
The six-man rotation Underwood went with couldn’t figure out how to control the game in overtime, and it cost the Illini a crucial Big Ten win. Snapping the losing streak is clearly a priority for Illinois on Sunday.
Must-win situation
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With five games left in the regular season, the race to stay among the top teams in the Big Ten only becomes more competitive from here. Illinois still sits right behind No. 3 Michigan on the leaderboard, despite being on a two-game losing streak. However, only two losses separate the Illini from the No. 6 spot, which the Iowa Hawkeyes currently hold. Three teams, all tied for No. 3 in the conference, a spot below Illinois, are also all ranked in the AP top-25 and have three losses each.
Going into this matchup with Indiana, Illinois clearly doesn’t have much room for error. A lot is on the line for the Illini going into the next few weeks, with the Big Ten tournament and NCAA tournament seeding on the horizon. Defeating the Hoosiers at home is the first step to getting back on the winning track and building confidence back up.
If the Illini don’t come out of Sunday’s game with a victory, it will be their third straight loss, and their second-straight to an unranked opponent. A loss would also force them to go on a long road trip to the west coast with not much momentum in their direction. Illinois will also face two hungry teams in USC and UCLA next week that are eager to move up in the Big Ten rankings. Focusing on the little things it takes to win basketball games and locking down on the defensive end once again against the Hoosiers should put the Illini in a good position to break their skid of losing games, if they can step up to the plate.
“These little things, if you clean them up, it’s the difference between a national championship and a round of 32,” said junior forward Jake Davis. “I agree with (Underwood’s) emphasis on all these little details because it’ll make the biggest difference in the long run.”
Hoosiers’ new look roster, new offensive philosophy
To find its groove again, though, Illinois will have to face an Indiana team that is the opposite of the one it was last season. After previous head coach Mike Woodson stepped down as head of the program in early 2025, the Hoosiers hired Darian DeVries, who coached at Drake and West Virginia, and he has started from scratch with both his roster and rebuilding who the Hoosiers are offensively.
Indiana’s roster was a clean slate after the 2024-25 season. Not a single scholarship player stayed on the roster, with all electing to enter the transfer portal. This left DeVries with free rein, and his first stop to reshaping the roster was, of course, picking up players out of the portal. DeVries added his son from the Mountaineers, redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries, upon his arrival, giving the team a versatile scorer who is now averaging 13.8 points per game for the Hoosiers.
DeVries also needed a wide array of guards who could fulfill the roles necessary to have a competitive backcourt in the Big Ten. Indiana was in luck because it picked up a star out of the transfer portal from Sam Houston. Senior guard Lamar Wilkerson has dominated the Big Ten during this conference season, sitting at No. 2 in the conference in scoring with 21.2 points per game. Wilkerson is a threat from wherever he is on the floor, whether that is from 3-point territory or driving the lane to draw fouls.
Other notable guards that DeVries added to his roster were redshirt senior guard Tayton Conerway from Troy and junior guard Nick Dorn from Elon. While Dorn is a sharpshooter from 3-point range, shooting 39.8% from beyond the arc, Conerway is known for his ability to use his quickness to get himself to the rim. Both guards provide Wilkerson with a supporting cast on the perimeter that is reliable on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball to supplement his high-level scoring.
Once he revamped the entirety of his roster, DeVries also changed Indiana’s offensive philosophy from how it was last season. When Woodson was at the helm, the Hoosiers relied on their post-play and strength down low to carry the offensive load. That is certainly not the case this year. DeVries has turned Indiana into a 3-and-D type of team since his arrival. The Hoosiers shoot a plethora of threes, similar to the Illini, and use their athletic perimeter guards in Wilkerson and Conerway to rattle opponents by getting steals in passing lanes.
“They’re electric in transition,” Underwood said. “They’re a team that’ll make you pay if you make a mistake and they can score in a lot of ways.”
Applying pressure on the 3-point line and taking care of the ball on the offensive end will be key for Illinois come Sunday. Indiana shoots a solid 35.1% from 3-point range, so Illinois needs to be ready for not only plenty of attempts to go in if it doesn’t contest, but also long rebounds to come off on the misses. This is where the Illini’s defensive rebounding needs to show improvement. With the obvious size advantage Illinois has on Indiana, it shouldn’t have a problem crashing the defensive glass, but its effort there needs to be at the forefront of its priority list still.
Hosting No. 2 scorer in Big Ten
Illinois isn’t unfamiliar with top Big Ten scorers visiting State Farm Center, as it hosted Northwestern senior forward Nick Martinelli last week and Wisconsin senior guard Nick Boyd on Tuesday night. Martinelli and Boyd’s performances were night and day when playing the Illini, though. Illinois held Martinelli to just four points in its 40-point obliteration of Northwestern, while it allowed Boyd to go off for 25 points on 10 for 19 from the field in its overtime loss to Wisconsin. Sunday afternoon gives the Illini an opportunity to redeem itself on the defensive end.
As mentioned earlier, Illinois can’t lose track of Wilkerson on Sunday. The star guard is coming off a 41-point performance in Indiana’s win over Oregon, shooting 13 for 20 from the field, including six threes. Wilkerson not only can light it up from three, as he shoots 38.7% from beyond the arc, but he also knows how to draw fouls in the lane, as he went 9 for 11 in the Hoosiers’ most recent game. Even if Wilkerson starts to slow down, he has the ability to explode for scoring runs at any point in the game.
“In their last game, (Wilkerson) goes 14, 15 minutes, doesn’t have a basket, and then all of (a) sudden, he’s got 10 in a row,” Underwood said. “You got to make his touches hard and make his shots contested.”
If the Illini can’t defend without fouling, it’s going to be a long night at the free-throw line for Wilkerson. Shutting down Wilkerson may be difficult, but limiting him behind a team defensive effort is doable. As Stojaković and Boswell have game-time decision status against Indiana, Illinois will have to use players like freshman forward David Mirković and graduate student forward Ben Humrichous to defend the perimeter once again.
@evy_york2
