In a highly anticipated game between the top two teams in the Big Ten, No. 10 Illinois (22-7, 13-5) was outplayed by No. 3 Michigan (27-2, 17-1) in all aspects of the matchup, leading to a 70-84 loss and dropping its fifth Big Ten game. The Illini’s lack of toughness and grit for the complete 40 minutes was the difference maker that allowed the Wolverines’ front court to take over, especially former Illini sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. In his return to State Farm Center, Johnson led Michigan with a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double.
Johnson’s domination was only part of what led to Illinois’ loss, though. Although freshman guard Keaton Wagler still scored 23 points on 7 for 17 shooting from the field, carrying the Illini in the second half, it didn’t matter in the final result. Ultimately, Illinois didn’t compete with Michigan on either end of the floor and failed to play with the fight it takes to win top-10 games in the Big Ten.
“This group wants to win,” said head coach Brad Underwood. “They care a lot and so, that’s not going to be a problem. But, the lesson was learned and you know, (Michigan) took the belt off and beat our behinds with it.”
Evenly matched first half
The first 20 minutes of the game were a back-and-forth physical battle between Illinois and Michigan. From the tip, the Wolverines didn’t give the Illini much space to work in one-on-one situations offensively as they picked up whoever the Illini’s ball handler was full court each possession and defended even the Illini’s big men tightly on the perimeter.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
While playing against Michigan’s defensive scheme was an adjustment at first, as it caused more turnovers for Illinois than usual, with seven in the first half, the team adapted to the physicality. Particularly, senior guard Kylan Boswell and freshman forward David Mirković were the ones to challenge the Wolverines’ defense with their efficient play and ability to adapt to what the opposing defense showed them.
Since Michigan was worried about Illinois’ ability to erupt from 3-point range early on, Boswell did his offensive work by getting downhill to the basket. Boswell’s quick first step was difficult for the Wolverines to defend in the half-court, and he got right by them to finish in the paint, recording 11 first-half points on 5 for 9 from the field. Mirković found success scoring off the ball, as Johnson applied plenty of pressure on him. Whether it was knocking down a three when the ball swung to him or tipping in a teammate’s missed shot, Mirković showed up offensively early. The freshman shot an efficient 3 for 5 from the field for 7 first-half points.
Neither Illinois nor Michigan shot the ball from 3-point territory to the best of their abilities in the first half, as Illinois shot 21.4% while Michigan shot 25%. So, both sides dominated the first half in the paint, and thanks to Boswell and Mirković, the Illini didn’t fall behind the Wolverines’ frontline that dominates around the rim on a nightly basis.
Michigan’s leading scorer, senior forward Yaxel Lendeborg, had a calm scoring first half, with only 5 points on 2 for 6 shooting and 0 for 3 from the 3-point line. Limiting his scoring production, along with junior forward Aday Mara’s, who only scored 4 first-half points, put the Illini neck and neck with the Wolverines for the first 20 minutes. Illinois and Michigan also sat at seven offensive rebounds and 10 defensive rebounds each in the first half, with neither side overpowering the other. However, if the Illini hadn’t given up those seven early offensive rebounds, they could’ve decreased the Wolverines’ second-chance point opportunities and kept the score even closer.
Not so warm welcome doesn’t faze Johnson Jr.
In his first game back in Champaign since he left Illinois and transferred to Michigan at the end of last season, Johnson played as if he wasn’t bothered by the consistent “boos” from the Orange Krush every time he touched the ball. In Michigan’s first possession of the game, Johnson backed down Mirkovic and drew a foul on the freshman by forcing his physicality onto him. With that play, Johnson set the tone for how the night was going to go for anyone defending him and didn’t let up.
In the first half especially, Johnson ran the show for Michigan with his scoring, rebounding and defensive effort. Although almost all of his points came from around the rim, Johnson scored them in multiple ways. He was an avid offensive rebounder, with four in the first half, he found scoring opportunities out of them. Johnson’s ability to get to the free-throw line gave Michigan an edge in the first half, as he went 4 for 6 and shot more free throws individually than Illinois did as a team.
Johnson also scored some of his points running the floor in transition and in traditional post-ups down low. By the end of the first half, Johnson was the Wolverines’ leading scorer with 13 points on 4 for 8 shooting and also grabbed five first-half rebounds. On the other end of the floor, Johnson didn’t back down from defending on the perimeter against Mirković and was a challenge for the freshman to score against by trying to back him down. While Michigan didn’t pull away by a lot in the first half due to Johnson’s play, he still gave Illinois a problem with his strength and physical style of play on both ends, and Underwood noticed.
“I thought that the first half everything was in the three-foot radius of the rim and Morez owned it,” Underwood said. “Morez got every ball and the physicality, the hit. We all know Morez, first play of the game, just let me see how hard I can go hit Mirk and just launched him and that physicality has got to be matched back.”
Wagler with second-half takeover, gets no help
At halftime, the Illini only trailed the Wolverines by seven, despite a low-scoring half from Wagler, who had only 6 points on 2-for-6 shooting from the field. As Lendeborg was the primary defender on Wagler in the matchup, picking him up for 94 feet on each possession, he struggled to take care of the ball with four turnovers and couldn’t create shots for himself with the same ease he does normally.
However, Wagler started to figure out how to be successful offensively against Lendeborg in the second half and settled into the game more than he did early on. As he started to handle the defensive pressure better when attacking the basket, Wagler finished at the rim and in the paint at a higher rate than he did in the first half and got himself to the free-throw line. He also knocked down a couple of triples. Of Wagler’s total 23 points, he scored 17 of them in the second half on 5 for 11 shooting from the field.
“(Lendeborg) was picking me up 94 feet,” Wagler said. “Being physical. Getting through ball screens. Just pressuring me the whole time. Making it hard. He’s a really great player and he did a good job.”
The issue for the Illini, though, was that the offensive production started and ended with Wagler. After a solid first half offensively from Boswell and Mirković, the pair couldn’t get back into their scoring rhythms from the first half coming out of the locker room at halftime. Part of this was due to Michigan’s defensive adjustments. As Boswell was difficult to guard getting downhill early on, the Wolverines started to go under ball screens and let him shoot threes instead of going to the rim. To their luck, Boswell went 1 for 3 from 3-point range in the second half.
“I’m just so frustrated in myself and disappointed in how I played tonight,” Boswell said. I feel like I let us down tonight. I can’t afford that type of stuff for this team. These guys, they lean on me. I lean on them.”
One of the strengths of Illinois’ offense is hunting out mismatches and using its size to its advantage in those situations. However, Michigan didn’t make it easy for Illinois to do this because it had just as much, if not more, size on its side. This is what caused Mirković to play a slower second half. Even with this, the Illini can’t secure a win against a top-10 team without using all their offensive firepower at their disposal, both at the rim and on the perimeter.
“That’s why they’re good,” Underwood said about Illinois struggling to exploit mismatches. “ … Credit to their personnel. It’s really good and we got some mismatches based on some of their substitutions, but for the most part probably as many challenges as we’ve had exploiting mismatches.”
Illini can’t withstand Wolverines’ front court late
While Johnson was the Wolverines’ leading scorer in the first half, the other two members of their front court took over in the second half to lead the charge that allowed the Wolverines to pull further ahead of the Illini during the last 10 minutes of the game. At around the 10-minute mark in the second half, Michigan went on a 16-2 run, and Illinois couldn’t come back from that. Lendeborg and Mara were extremely efficient in the paint in the second half, with only two combined misses between the two of them. Mara, in particular, was an active presence in the paint, but Illinois’ defense allowed him to catch easy lobs for multiple dunks.
“The second half, it was just an Aday dunkfest,” Underwood said. “Our whole mindset is protect the logo and don’t give up layups … Just a lot of breakdowns on that side … That was abysmal.”
Mara scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half, all of his points in the paint that the Illini failed to limit him from, even with their two 7-footers in the game to defend and rebound. Lendeborg also dominated the paint, similar to Mara, but he also showed off his ability to step out and shoot threes, as he went 2 for 3 from deep in the second half. Lendeborg scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half. The overall 2-point efficiency from Michigan that Illinois couldn’t seem to defend was a key factor in extending its lead into the second half. The Wolverines improved their shooting percentages from the first half, shooting 52.5% from the field, including 36.4% from three.
The Illini also allowed the Wolverines’ front court to dominate them on the glass purely due to an extra desire to fight harder and compete for those rebounds. In a game where he needed to be an active rebounder, junior center Tomislav Ivišić only grabbed four, while his twin brother, center Zvonimir Ivišić, didn’t record a single rebound. For Illinois to compete in matchups with top teams, especially in March, the twin 7-footers can’t be no-shows on the rebounding side.
“They’re both very talented offensive guys and give us that stuff, but we got to have consistent rebounding, consistent post defense,” Underwood said.
Illinois has experienced lapses on the defensive end before this season, and those games where the defensive intensity didn’t match the offensive one usually ended in losses. Increasing the amount of toughness and grit that the Illini play with on the defensive end is crucial to getting back on the right track ahead of two final regular-season games, the Big Ten Tournament, and eventually, the NCAA tournament.
“We’ve got to get back to the post-Nebraska mindset on the defensive end,” Underwood said. “Just getting gritty, nasty, our basics. We’ve done a little too much on that end in my opinion. I got to get that rectified.”
@evy_york2
