After leading the Illinois women’s basketball team to victory with 120 points and only 16 turnovers, sophomore point guard Alexis Smith said she feels very comfortable in head coach Matt Bollant’s up-tempo offense.

Smith, who went from averaging 5.6 minutes per game season to starting at point guard, isn’t the only one comfortable with Bollant’s move to Illinois.

One influential 11-year-old girl has enjoyed the move as well.

“Regan, my youngest (daughter), about a month ago, she said, ‘If I had the choice to go back to Green Bay (Wis.) or stay, I would choose here.’” Bollant said.

The head coach has been happy with the move six hours south.

“It’s been great,” Bollant said. “It’s been a really good move. The family’s done great.”

Regan and Abi, Bollant’s 14-year-old daughter, have had to move quite a bit in the past. Since 2000, Bollant has coached at five schools: the University of Evansville, Indiana, Bryan College, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Illinois.

Bollant told his daughters that this will be the last move for a while, and said at his opening press conference that they will graduate from high school here.

Abi, a freshman in high school, and Regan, a sixth-grader, will graduate from Judah Christian High School in Champaign. Bollant’s family has also joined the Vineyard Church on Lincoln Avenue in Urbana.

Bollant has been busy with speaking engagements, practices, recruiting and getting adjusted since being named head coach on March 28. His wife, Kari, is used to the busy life that comes with being the wife of Division I coach.

“At this level, you’re going to be busy,” Bollant said. “It’s a demanding job and really competitive, and you’ve got to work at it to make it happen.”

Bollant’s hard work will culminate in the season opener against the University of Evansville, where he served as an assistant coach from 1997-2000. If it’s anything like the first two games in which Bollant’s squad forced 93 total turnovers, Evansville will feel anything but comfortable in Champaign.

Almost a night of records

Tuesday night would have been a night of records for the Illini. Instead, Illinois’ second and final exhibition didn’t count for anything.

Illinois’ 120-29 victory over Division III opponent Concordia would have set five single-game team records, and the performance would have ranked second on two other lists.

Illinois would have set the mark for most points in a single game (the current record is 113), most 3-pointers attempted with 35 (28), most steals with 31 (25), most turnovers forced with 53 (48) and largest margin of victory with 91 (74).

The performance would have ranked second in 3-pointers made with 11 (12) and most field goals made with 46 (50).

Recovering from injury

After injuries plagued Illinois throughout October, the Illini dressed 10 of its 11 players against Concordia.

“We’ve taken a step,” Bollant said of the team’s health. “We were kind of banged up in October, but part of that was how hard we were practicing. I think our kids have taken their treatment and that stuff really seriously, and that’s made it better for our team.”

“Kind of banged up” seems to have been an understatement. Bollant said starting center Karisma Penn was suffering from tendonitis and a sprained wrist, and starting forward Kersten Magrum suffered a concussion. Center Kierra Morris underwent foot surgery, and forward Nia Oden missed the first exhibition with a shoulder injury. Several players were also nursing sore hamstrings and other nagging injuries.

Morris is expected to be back for Big Ten play.

Johnathan can be reached at hetting2@dailyillini.com and @jhett93.