In the opening round of the NCAA tournament, No. 3 Illinois didn’t waste any time asserting itself as a force to be reckoned with in the South region by demolishing No. 14 Penn, 105-70. After losing in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament a little less than a week ago, there were questions surrounding the Illini’s ability to compete for a full 40 minutes in a win or go home scenario. Those questions were put to rest on Thursday night though, as Illinois played one of its most complete games since its 12-game winning streak earlier this season.
While everyone played a role in the victory, the star of the show was none other than freshman forward David Mirković, who started off his first NCAA tournament with a 29-point, 17-rebound double-double. Mirković brought the effort and fight that Illinois was missing in its most recent loss, and it was infectious to the rest of the team. Outside of Mirković, four other Illini scored in double figures while only two Quakers hit the double-digit mark.
“(Mirković’s energy) definitely feeds off on everyone,” said freshman guard Keaton Wagler. “When someone’s playing that hard, playing that well, it rubs off on people. They want to go out there and help him out. Coach Brad (Underwood) came in here at halftime and he said, ‘Mirk has 10 rebounds, seven offensive. We got to help him out.’”
No answer for a high energy Mirković
In his NCAA tournament debut, the lights were clearly not too bright for Mirković as his energy from the jump couldn’t be matched by Penn. Mirković wasn’t shy in using his size and physicality down low to his advantage, both in scoring and on the glass. In the first half alone, Mirković recorded his 8th double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The Illini struggled to find an offensive rhythm early on, but Mirković was the bright spot that kept them in the lead.
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“Tonight, just early seeing him get so many offensive rebounds, I was like ‘Okay, yeah, he’s going to have a lot of rebounds this game and a lot of points,’” Wagler said. “ … You can tell when he starts the game off like that, it’s going to be a really good game for him.”
As Penn’s frontline didn’t have the height to compete with Illinois in the paint, that’s where Mirković was able to do most of his work. Whether it was backing down defenders to score at the rim with ease or fighting for offensive rebounds, Mirković’s aggressive mentality was the type of energy boost the Illini needed to start the tournament on the right foot. The freshman also found his three-point shot once again, going 4 for 7 from beyond the arc to show off his versatility.
Mirković finished the game not only leading all scorers with 29 points, but also with 17 rebounds. With that, he set a new Illini record for most rebounds in an NCAA tournament game. The mark is a testament to Mirković’s ability to crash the glass night after night on both ends of the floor, keeping the Illini’s opponents from getting extra possessions and in turn, giving themselves more chances to score. For Illinois to continue its success in this tournament, rebounding must be a focal point. Mirković made that his priority on Thursday, and the Illini reaped the benefits.
“That’s what I do every day, even practices and on games,” Mirković said. “I just crash the board trying to bring that physicality, and I mean, balls on the offensive glass were just like magnets to me because I was crashing and I got a lot of easy points on the rim.”
Message to rebound heard loud and clear
In multiple of Illinois’ close losses this season, the outcome was decided by falling short of the standard it holds itself to on the glass. While the Illini usually start games off with an advantage in the rebounding battle, it’s down the stretch where they lose their edge. However on Thursday, Illinois began by dominating the boards and finished the matchup the same, outrebounding Penn 48 to 25.
With a poor first half shooting performance of 39% from the field, including 27.3% from three, rebounding is how the Illini kept their lead heading into halftime. In the first half alone, Illinois had a 28 to 14 rebounding advantage over Penn, with 14 of those 28 rebounds being offensive. Even when the shots aren’t falling, offensive rebounding is the cushion that the Illini use to give themselves more chances to score, and they did just that on Thursday. Illinois scored 16 second-chance points in the first half and finished the game with 29.
Mirković may have been the one to lead the charge on the boards, but it was the collective team effort that made all the difference. Wagler and junior center Tomislav Ivišić both grabbed seven rebounds each to back up Mirković while junior center Zvonimir Ivišić also tallied four rebounds, three defensive. Compared to the Illini, the Quakers scored 7 second-chance points and grabbed just seven offensive rebounds, a clear product of the Illini’s effort on the defensive glass, with some help from their size advantage too.
Locking up Penn’s offense
Not only was rebounding a point of emphasis for the Illini after their loss to the Wisconsin Badgers last week, but so was competing on the defensive end for a complete 40 minutes. That goal was accomplished on Thursday night as Illinois held a Penn team that is known for its three-point shooting to just 30% from deep and gave up double digit scoring numbers to only two players, with senior guard Michael Zanoni leading Penn with 20 points. The Illini also went back to their defensive principals of playing without fouling, committing only 10 fouls in the contest.
“We were all connected,” said senior guard Kylan Boswell. “I think we all guarded our matchups really well. There were certain moments in the game where we didn’t let guys get to certain tendencies that we know they liked.”
Going into the matchup, Illinois knew that limiting Penn junior forward TJ Power needed to be a focal point of its defense. In the Ivy League conference championship game, Power willed the Quakers to the title by erupting for a 44-point, 14-rebound double-double, alongside hitting seven threes.
Per usual, the assignment to defend Power, the Quaker’s leading scorer with senior guard Ethan Roberts out, went to Kylan Boswell. After playing a part in allowing Wisconsin senior guard Nick Boyd to score 39 points in the Big Ten quarterfinals, Boswell was ready to redeem himself. From the tip, Boswell was physical with Power and didn’t give him much room to get anything going for himself offensively. Boswell held Power to just six points on 2 for 8 shooting.
“I was extremely upset about Wisconsin,” Boswell said. “I want to just take that frustration, whatever emotions I felt from that game, I basically tried my full focus to just carry that into today. Watched a lot of film on (Power) again … Hats off to him tonight, and I feel like that was just more unfortunate for him because I was just extremely frustrated with the last situation, and I was hyperfocused and understood the assignment I had today.”
Despite Power dealing with an illness, Boswell’s defense against him was a difference maker in the game’s end result. As seen in the Ivy League championship game, Power has the ability to get hot, but Boswell’s defensive efforts didn’t allow that to happen. There’s a reason why Boswell was named to the All Big Ten Defensive team and he proved why on Thursday by taking Penn’s biggest offensive threat out of the game.
“We talked a lot about making (Power’s) touches hard,” Underwood said. “We wanted to have some physicality. Kylan’s physical … Kylan just seems to have that ability to rise to the level. He had great hands. He poked a ball away a few times, and that’s all disruptive.”
Illini’s clicking offense sends Quakers home
The first half may have been a tough shooting outing for the Illini, but it’s hard to hold one of the country’s top offenses down for long. After Mirković’s finish at the rim against Power to open the final 20 minutes of play, Illinois was off to the races and didn’t look back. In comparison to shooting under 40% from the field in the first half, the Illini found its groove once again in the second, finishing the game shooting 63.4% from the field in the last 20 nminutes, including 64.3% from three.
Getting to the rim, whether that was by driving downhill or feeding bigs in the paint, proved to be successful, especially with Illinois’ size advantage. The Illini dominated the paint with a 44 to 24 advantage over the Quakers down low. After struggling offensively both near the rim and beyond the arc recently, Tomislav saw more shots fall for him on Thursday. Tomislav was aggressive offensively against the smaller Quaker lineup, scoring six of his 12 points in the lane, plus knocking down one three.
“Tomi can score down there,” Underwood said. “It’s something we do. We don’t do it frequently, but we do it when we feel like we’ve got matchup opportunities. We score in the paint a lot of different ways, but it was nice to see his 3-ball go … It was great to see him because he’s so cerebral.”
Wagler played a quieter first half than expected in his NCAA tournament debut, but it’s hard to keep the Big Ten Freshman of the Year down for a complete 40 minutes. While Wagler was an avid rebounder and passer in the first half, with five rebounds and five assists, his scoring caught up in the second. Of Wagler’s 18 points, he scored 11 in the second half on 4 for 5 shooting, including a perfect 3 for 3 from beyond the arc.
“In the first half I was getting good shots, they just weren’t falling,” Wagler said. “I just tried to stay confident … When the shots came to me, just to shoot them with confidence, and they started to fall for me which was really nice. It just felt like everyone’s shot was falling late in the game because we were moving the ball and we were having fun.”
Illinois’ 65-point outburst in the second half is a new program record for most points in a period in an NCAA tournament game. When the Illini offense and defense are top notch simultaneously, their athleticism, size and versatility are hard to go toe-to-toe with, and the Quakers experienced that first hand on Thursday. For Illinois, this is a step in the right direction and momentum booster moving into the second round on Saturday against No. 11 VCU.
@evy_york2
