The Illinois women’s basketball team has struggled with preventing scoring outbursts from dynamic opponents early this season. In the team’s last three games, Illinois’ top-scoring individual opponent has averaged 25 points per game.

The Illini will face another dynamic scorer when it heads down I-57 to face Memphis on Sunday. Tigers forward Nicole Dickson has made scoring look easy so far this season. The senior is averaging 23.3 points per game, good for seventh in the nation, and she has had three 30-point performances. She also averages seven rebounds per game.

Illinois head coach Matt Bollant said the Illini have let other teams’ top players hit shots early, which has allowed opponents to get going offensively. Forwards Karisma Penn and Kersten Magrum will begin with the task of slowing Dickson down, but Bollant expects to play a variety of defenders on her.

The team flew back to campus following Illinois’ first road game of the season at Texas Tech on Wednesday night. The Illini will stay in Champaign for two days before heading to Memphis on Saturday.

The Tigers started the season 3-1 with road wins at Illinois State and Texas-Arlington but are currently on a two-game losing skid after double-digit losses to Prairie View A&M and East Tennessee State. They will be playing two games in three days, as they host Arkansas-Little Rock on Friday.

The Illinois bench was held scoreless in its loss against Texas Tech, while Penn (18 points) and Amber Moore (21 points) accounted for 70 percent of Illinois’ scoring. Moore was flagrantly fouled while shooting late in the second half, and she made four consecutive free throws to help boost the team, but the game ultimately resulted in a loss for Illinois.

“Those two stepped up and made shots, and everyone else on the team didn’t,” Bollant said.

After playing four BCS programs in four games, Memphis will provide a break for Illinois before the Illini face Oregon on Wednesday. The Illini are 1-3 in the four-game span, during which they have allowed 73.5 points per game. In Illinois’ first four games in which the team went 3-1, the defense allowed 68.5 points per game.

Bollant said defense will be a main focus in upcoming practices after the team allowed Texas Tech to shoot 65 percent from the field in the second half.

The Illini were defensively sound in their last meeting with the Tigers. Illinois beat Memphis 62-54 last season at Assembly Hall. The Illini are 2-1 all-time against the Tigers, and lost in their only meeting in Memphis in 1982.

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @hetting2.