Despite a late push from Illinois State (1-1), Illinois (2-0) managed to hold on and secure a 75-65 victory. The Illini were led by their pair of veterans: sophomore forward Berry Wallace and junior guard Gretchen Dolan, the only Illini with double-digits.
Even with these strong scoring performances to fall back on, Illinois struggled to avoid forcing shots, despite holding a solid lead.
“We’re still trying to find that consistency, where we can stretch games out when we do have a 10-point lead,” said head coach Shauna Green. “That’s where the growth needs to happen: how we can turn that 11-point lead into a 15- or 16-point lead and not let them go on a big run.”
Offensive inconsistencies allow Illinois State to close in
While Illinois never gave up its lead against Illinois State, the Illini did allow the Redbirds to get uncomfortably close. The Illini struggled all game to grab offensive rebounds and take the right shot.
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“We were feeling a lot out early on,” Green said. “Then we finally got into a little bit of a groove. We have to continue to hone in on shot selection, timing and scoring.”
The Redbirds’ defense challenged the Illini well, keeping them from driving into the paint. This forced the Illini to take more midrange floaters or kick it back out for a reset.
This clearly rattled some of the Illini, notably Wallace. After going a perfect 6-6 at halftime, she spent her next eight minutes of court time taking no shots and dishing out two assists. Yet, her defense remained impressive, closing down lanes and locking up Redbirds.
Point guard position leaves room for improvement
Green had both sophomore guard Aaliyah Guyton and freshman guard Destiny Jackson run the team’s offense. However, neither did so with much efficiency. Their youth was on full display tonight. Guyton played just over five minutes due to a minutes restriction. She contributed only a single rebound and a turnover. Guyton attempted only one shot and struggled to move the ball. Green hopes that with more practice time, the transfer’s confidence will grow.
Jackson, who has had a couple of games now to adjust, had a slightly better playmaking game. She scored only eight points but had five rebounds, two assists, four steals and no turnovers in her 34 minutes of playtime. Her defense also bolstered her on-floor presence when her shooting was falling short.
“She’s really settled in,” Green said. “She’s playing really confidently and under control. She had some really big deflections and steals that got us going in the third and fourth. She got some good looks, and we’ll keep working on her finishing.”
Instead, a lot of the team’s offense was run through Dolan and Wallace, who had the ball in their hands a lot. They both struggled with taking and making shots, though. Unless redshirt sophomore center Lety Vasconcelos was there for the feed down low, the ball had to be kicked back out more often than not.
“It’s all about experience and who’s been in those moments before,” Green said. “(Gretchen and Berry) put us on their back and made some big offensive plays.”
Dolan, one of the team’s most reliable three-point shooters, only attempted two this afternoon. Her one make was a huge push for the Illini in the fourth quarter, who had allowed the Redbirds to make it a one-possession game. Wallace was good at forcing fouls from her opponents late in the game to keep her team’s lead alive.
The two can serve as reliable pick-me-ups for the team. However, other players will need to start digging deep within themselves late in the game, so the whole responsibility doesn’t fall on the returners.
Electric final five
The crowd was fired up, the stadium roaring as the game drew to a close. The Redbirds were within two when Dolan had a big three to push ahead again. The Redbirds followed it up with two points of their own, and it was a back-and-forth battle to finish the game.
With two minutes to go and the Illini only up by four, the entire stadium was on its feet. Illinois tried to slow the game down and run some plays, while Illinois State tried to score quickly in transition.
The Illini were only able to secure their victory thanks to their offensive rebounding. Converting their first look was still a struggle, but Vasconcelos was in at the end to collect the ball down low for putbacks. The Brazilian had a huge rebound off a Redbird three-pointer attempt with 43 seconds left, but a foul by Jackson gave them the ball back. The Illini protected the rim well enough to close out the game for the 10-point win.
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