The No. 10 Illini (21-11, 9-9) failed to escape the No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes (25-5, 15-3) during the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals. Friday night was a lot of things for Illinois, but pretty wasn’t one of them. The Illini played their lowest scoring game of the season and ended the night with 58 points to the Hawkeyes’ 64.
“This team, the one thing about this team, we’re never going to give up, we’re never going to stop fighting,” said head coach Shauna Green. “We clawed our way back and ended up cutting it to six.”
Going into halftime, the Illini were down 14 to the Hawkeyes. Despite having more field goal attempts, Illinois couldn’t seem to make a basket. Iowa, however, was making all of its shots with ease to get an easy and comfortable lead
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Illini found themselves down 53-31. Even a 15-0 run in the final minutes of the game wasn’t enough to pull Illinois out of the hole it dug itself into at the beginning of the game. With such a tough loss for the Illini, there was some good, bad and ugly to it.
Good: Jasmine Brown-Hagger
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“That’s what Illinois basketball is about,” Green said of junior guard Jasmine Brown-Hagger’s performance. “That’s what being an everyday woman is about. You play the game the right way. You play hard. You play tough. You never stop. You don’t care about the scoreboard. It’s process-driven. You leave every ounce of yourself out on that floor. I thought she embodied that today.
It was a career-high night for Brown-Hagger. With 22 points, Brown-Hagger was the reason the Illini didn’t get blown out by the Hawkeyes.
On top of her offensive performance, making up 37.9% of the Illini’s total points, Brown-Hagger was a force to be reckoned with defensively. Her activeness on both ends of the court was the primary reason that the Illini walked away from the Hawkeyes only down 6 points. Nearly half of Brown-Hagger’s points came in the fourth quarter, where she shot 4 for 5 from the field for a total of 9 points. During the third quarter, Brown-Hagger went to the free-throw line six times and made four of those shots.
“I mean, it’s wonderful to play with Jas,” said freshman point guard Destiny Jackson. “Just having somebody that’s our role model. To see somebody play that hard is just wonderful to play with.”
Brown-Hagger shot effectively from all three levels and prevented a major blowout for Illinois. Her hard work and determination on the court Friday night were the Illini’s saving grace against the Hawkeyes.
Bad: Defensive performance
“We can’t have that,” Green said of Illinois’ lack of execution. “We’ve still got to have our defense fuel our offense, no matter the circumstances, no matter what’s going on.”
The Illini’s defense was not at its sharpest on Friday night. Fouls weren’t even the main issue for Illinois, since both teams were pretty even when it came to player fouls. The Illini were able to control their foul trouble, and only sophomore forward Berry Wallace found herself close to foul trouble after totaling four fouls.
Illinois was simply unable to guard Iowa the way it needed to. The Illini were able to force some of the 16 turnovers the Hawkeyes had, but they played with minimal defensive pressure as a team when it came to defending the paint. Iowa was able to score more than half of its points in the paint, with 36 total. It was clear that Iowa was better prepared when it came to reading Illinois’ zone defense and defending its offense. Iowa held Illinois to only 23 points in the first half.
“We really took the scout serious,” said Iowa freshman guard Journey Houston. “We kind of struggled with it a bit last game, so I feel like everybody did a good job studying it and being well prepared for this game.
If the Illini had simply put more pressure on the Hawkeyes during the first 20 minutes, they wouldn’t have had to fight as hard in the second half of the game. Illinois was able to limit some of Iowa’s offensive moves in the second half. Iowa scored 27 in the half, which is ten less than the first half. However, the Hawkeyes’ early strides were too strong to be trapped by the Illini in the end.
Friday night was truly a testament that Illinois’ offensive performance is fueled by its defense. With the Illini still looking ahead to the NCAA tournament, they need to have a good defensive start to their matchups. These games aren’t solely won based on what a team does offensively.
Ugly: Making shots
“Just the first quarter to start the game, we came out flat and got behind and dug ourselves a 10-point hole and just didn’t have enough to really fight back,” Green said.
The first quarter truly set the tone for Illinois’ lackluster offensive performance for the majority of the matchup. Other than the last four minutes of the game, where the Illini went on their 15-0 run, the offense was flat overall.
The Illini’s worst field goal percentage came in the third quarter, where they shot 2 for 14 for a 14.3% field-goal percentage. The fourth quarter performance, in which Illinois shot 9 for 18, helped bring its overall field goal percentage to 33.3%.
The Illini attempted 63 shots, but only 21 went in the basket. Freshman forward Cearah Parchment had her worst game of the season. The Canadian totaled two points, going 0 for 4 from three and 1 for 7 from the field. The Hawkeyes, on the other hand, made 26 of their 55 field goal attempts for a 47.3% shooting percentage.
Illinois saw its worst field goal percentage all season long. For a team looking ahead to the NCAA tournament, having your worst offensive performance this late in the season is not good news. Illinois’ inconsistent shooting is worrisome as it continues into more tournament play.
“Staying together, fighting through fatigue and just again, play together,” said junior guard Maddie Webber. “That’s the biggest thing. I think we kind of separated a little bit today, but we know what to do now, and we’re gonna learn from it.”
If there’s one thing the Illini have showcased this season, it’s their resilience. They always bounce back, no matter how tough a loss is. Illinois’ main goal right now is moving forward to the NCAA tournament. The Illini are still projected to be a No. 7 seed in the tournament. Making it to the quarterfinals helped their chances, but they need to stick to nailing their basics if they want to continue moving forward.
@lauram0131
