Twenty-two years ago, Western Carolina head coach Larry Hunter, then the coach at Ohio, traveled an hour and 40-minutes to Cambridge, Ohio, for a Ford family dinner.
His recruiting target was current Bradley head coach Geno Ford, and sitting at the dinner table right next to him was Geno’s brother — current Illinois assistant coach Dustin Ford.
Both Fords went on to play for Hunter at Ohio, and Dustin even followed Hunter to Western Carolina, where he got his start coaching at the college level. He then returned to his alma mater in 2009 to work on current Illini head coach John Groce’s Bobcats coaching staff.
As the No. 13 Illinois men’s basketball team seeks its ninth straight win and a chance to remain undefeated during Tuesday’s game against Western Carolina, a small branch off Ohio’s long-standing coaching tree will dictate the sidelines at Assembly Hall. For the occasion, Groce has tasked his longest-tenured assistant with a responsibility that hits close to home.
Ford will be the Illini’s lead scout for Tuesday’s game against Hunter’s Western Carolina squad.
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“I’ve known him since I was 12 or 13 years old. It goes back, way back,” Ford said. “I’m grateful he gave me my start in the business. He gave me a chance to play at this level. He’s done a lot of things for me not only in my career but personally. He’s like a second dad, to be honest.”
Ford had difficulty comparing his mentor’s chiseled 20-year trek as a head coach to Groce’s five-year resume, but he said both are unique player-first coaches with top-flight preparation. That’s why Groce isn’t overlooking Hunter’s squad, which was picked in the preseason to finish second in the Southern Conference behind Davidson, who the Catamounts took to overtime in their conference championship game last season as both teams fought for an NCAA tournament bid. Davidson won the matchup and moved on to the postseason, but Western Carolina returns seven of its nine players from last season, including redshirt junior Trey Sumler, who is currently averaging 18 points and 4.6 assists per game.
“They’re older. They’ve got a lot of juniors, a lot of guys who were on that team last year,” Groce said. “They’ll be challenging for sure. We’ll see mostly man-to-man, could see some zone, which at this point is good for us because we’ve seen all kinds of different styles of play, and that’s been good for our team’s development and growth.”
The Illini could also play some zone after matchup problems during Wednesday’s game against Georgia Tech forced Groce to switch to a traditional 2-3 approach. The Yellow Jackets passed the ball into the post at will while the Illini were playing man-to-man during the first half, but the Illini pressured the ball and forced crucial turnovers late in the game after Groce switched to a zone.
Illinois stuck with the zone for the latter part of the second half, playing 19 second-half possessions (roughly 25 percent of Georgia Tech’s total offensive possessions) in the defensive format. Western Carolina’s 6-foot-8, 245-pound junior Tawaski King could provide similar low-post difficulties as Georgia Tech’s big men, and if it becomes necessary to make a switch, the Illini will be ready with their secondary defense.
“I don’t think teams were expecting us to play zone,” senior guard D.J. Richardson said. “Coach Groce did a good job of preparing us early in our practice days. I like the 2-3 zone. I think it’s pretty active. The way he showed us 2-3 zone, I’ve never really played it like that.”
Actually, Richardson hasn’t really played zone much at all. The system is nearly extinct in college basketball aside from a few outliers, but Richardson and fellow senior Tyler Griffey both said it fit the current roster’s personnel. Even in their final year with the program, the two seniors were willing to adopt a different style of play and embrace it to help the team. That’s been the force behind Groce’s style thus far, and for Ford, it’s oddly familiar.
“Both guys have won a lot. Both do it their own way,” Ford said. “At the end of the day they’re both really, really good coaches.”
Ford is the latest to instill top-flight preparation into his scouting. Maybe it’s just an Ohio thing.
Ethan can be reached at asofsky1@ dailyillini.com and @asofthesky.
