Illinois (15-6, 5-5) has already made a trip out to Oregon once this season, when it suffered its first loss to Oregon State (17-6, 9-1) back in November. That early exposure taught the team how to prep for long away trips.
“Our nutritionists help us a lot with making sure we fuel properly on the plane and getting reset with the time change,” said sophomore forward Berry Wallace. “Taking care of those things that are controllable off the court and will help when we get there on the court.”
No. 25 Washington (17-4, 7-3) will be in a similar boat. It’s team crossed the country to play No. 16 Maryland on Jan. 28 and will have just recently made the return trip. The Huskies are coming off a thrilling win, taking down the Terrapins 83-80 in double overtime.
Sunday marks the tail end of Illinois’ gauntlet to start Big Ten play, with seven of its last nine games against Top-25 opponents. All of Illinois’ conference losses have been to these ranked opponents, so an upset may seem unlikely. But, they’ve proven not only that they can play with the best, but they can beat them, too.
Unranked opponents have toppled Washington
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While the Huskies are no doubt a dominant team, they have already dropped two Big Ten games against opponents outside the Top-25. USC defeated Washington 59-50 in its Big Ten opener at the beginning of December. Then, the Huskies suffered an even bigger upset against the Boilermakers, who bested them 78-72 in overtime on Jan. 11. These lower-tier losses for Washington show that they have weaknesses that Illinois can exploit.
One target Illinois needs to focus on is junior guard Sayvia Sellers. She’s coming off a stellar performance, scoring a career-high 38 points and hitting five triples. The 3-point defense Illinois used against No. 2 UCLA will be crucial again to prevent Sellers from going on another heater.
More importantly, in all three of the Huskies’ unranked losses, they were outperformed in the second half. On the other hand, the Illini have been a strong second-half team in their most recent stretch of games and have proven they can come from behind to win.
One advantage the Illini have is the athleticism of freshman guard Destiny Jackson and junior guard Maddie Webber. The two play off each other’s speed to cause turnovers and get ahead on fast breaks. Both are accurate passers and can get to their spots under pressure, so running more transition plays with them on the floor could boost the offense if they can finish consistently.
“We have a lot of different people that can score it and attack,” Wallace said. “We’re trying to get more continuous stuff. We’re running more motion, we’re getting more things in transition.”
Parchment, Vasconcelos need to be two-way leaders
Redshirt sophomore center Lety Vasconcelos had a standout game against No. 2 UCLA’s senior center Lauren Betts. Vasconcelos shut down the star center, who had only five points at halftime. The second half proved that Vasconcelos was the only Illini able to contain last season’s National Defensive Player of the Year.
“It was such a great opportunity to see the trust that my coach has in me to put me in that position,” Vasconcelos said. “It was great, I was happy, I was excited.”
Now, Vasconcelos will be going against a smaller opponent, senior center Yulia Grabovskaia, who stands at 6-foot-5 to the Brazilian’s 6-foot-7. If Vasconcelos can show the same fluidity and focus she had against UCLA, it will be tough for Washington to navigate the paint.
Vasconcelos will also need to finish around the rim more reliably. In Illinois’ latest win over Northwestern (8-13, 2-8), the center dropped 8 points, tying her season-high. The Illini as a whole outshot the Wildcats 38-32 from the paint, in part because of Vasconcelos’ and freshman forward Cearah Parchment’s offensive rebounding effort.
The pair helped the Illini get 23 second-chance points that game. Their rebounding on both ends of the floor will be much needed. Washington scored 40 points in the paint and dominated second-chance opportunities 24 to 14 in its Maryland win.
“When we talk about CeCe (Parchment), a lot of things impress me about her,” Vasconcelos said. “She’s a unique player. You’re not really used to a player her size handling the ball, coming off screens or shooting threes with confidence. I love playing with her. It’s good to come off a pick and pop, come off a pick and roll, hand-offs, things like that.”
If the two can build on the chemistry that their size and spacing allow, then Illinois will have multiple reliable scoring options to secure the upset.
Getting travel-ready
Wallace is one of the few current Illini who has experience making this trip out West. While it can be stressful and tiring, she also notes the benefits the opportunity provides.
“We know how our game is gonna transfer once we get there and that our defense is gonna travel with us,” Wallace said. “We just go out there and play the same we would here.”
The long stay out West will also allow the team to have some fun away from the basketball court, as Wallace remembers. The Illini flew to Los Angeles last season to face UCLA and USC.
“The trip (to LA) last year was a great bonding experience for us,” Wallace said. “The long travel on the plane, all that time together. Also, just staying there together for a week and experiencing new things, going places that most of us have probably haven’t really been. We’ll definitely use it to the best of our advantage.”
The Illini will test that advantage on Feb. 1 at 5 p.m. CST on FS1.
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