After its win this past Thursday over Missouri State, Illinois will add to its postseason endeavors with an afternoon matchup against Stony Brook. The Illini will remain on their home court for the game in search of a win to push them into the third round of this new tournament.
The Stony Brook Seawolves hold a 28-4 record on the season and have worked their way into the second round of the tournament with a victory over the No. 1 James Madison Dukes. The Illini have never played against the Seawolves, so this competition will be a new experience for both teams.
Illinois’ first-round win brought the team back to .500 on the season, and if it plays as tough as it did against Missouri State, it’ll have a good shot at making it even further. Rebounding and avoiding turnovers will be a crucial component of their gameplay as well.
“We already have those (games broken) down,” said head coach Shauna Green about the upcoming matchup. “Coming in, we kind of thought James Madison may get them, but Stony Brook has been really good … They’ve won a lot in the past five or so years. They’ve just been a really good basketball team, so we’re gonna have our hands full.”
While Green touched on the fact that she hasn’t seen Stony Brook play this season, she’s aware of the threat they bring to the tournament. The Illini have faced a variety of excellent teams this year and have put up both wins and losses against these tough competitors.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Green always emphasizes the importance of getting off to a good start. With the game on Thursday, the Illini had some trouble getting things going at first and even trailed by as much as 11 points. However, coming out of halftime, Illinois stepped things up and out-scored Missouri State in both quarters of the second half. If things don’t work out well for the team in the first half, there’s proof that it is more than capable of taking things over in the latter half of games.
Illinois has seen many ups and downs this season. There have been so many instances where the team came up just short of a win by a few points, but its efforts have remained steady every single time.
The Illini kick things off at the State Farm Center at 2 p.m. on Sunday. With all the talent they have and all the lessons they have learned from this year, there’s immense hope that they can continue further in the postseason, no matter the challenges that come their way.
@tess_eken
