John Groce was raised an Indiana Hoosiers fan.

Growing up in Danville, Ind., Groce lived nearly equidistant from the Indiana University, Purdue University and University of Illinois campuses. But his grandmother was a Hoosiers fan, and so he was, too.

As the fates would have it, Groce’s second head coaching job in college basketball landed him at one of Indiana’s biggest rivals, and when the No. 1-ranked Hoosiers invade Assembly Hall Thursday night, it will mark the first time he will oppose his boyhood team as a head coach.

Illinois has faced a No. 1-ranked twice since 2000 — the famed 91-73 victory over Wake Forest in 2004 and a 73-68 loss to Ohio State in 2011 — and Indiana will present as formidable challenge as any the Illini have seen this season.

“They’ve got size, they’ve got depth, they’ve got speed, they’ve got drivers, they’ve got shooters,” Groce said. “They play exceptionally hard.”

Groce singled out one Hoosier player specifically, junior swingman Victor Oladipo, as an impressive cog of Indiana’s offensive and defensive prowess. Oladipo brings a pedigree that includes top-flight athleticism, lockdown defense and an improving jump shot, evidenced by his 64.4 field goal percentage and 51.4 3-point shooting.

“He’s as good an individual defender as we’ve played against all season,” Groce said. “I really appreciate his progress from where he started when I recall watching him to now. You can tell the young man has worked really hard and plays with a lot of toughness. They seem to feed off that.”

Illinois senior D.J. Richardson echoed his coaches’ praise for Oladipo and marveled at his ability to influence the game at both ends of the basketball court.

“He has a motor that never ends,” Richardson said. “You really never see a guy, especially in college basketball, that can do both ends of the floor. He‘s defending the best player, giving his team points and making big plays.”

Indiana’s offense is a freewheeling machine, ranking second in the nation with 83.8 points per game and sixth in the nation with a 50.1 field goal percentage. That offense runs into an Illinois squad that has lost six of its last seven, benched its leading scorer from the starting lineup and has been called out by Groce for its lack of defense. Groce declined to give any indication of what his starting lineup will resemble Thursday night and expressed that his message to Brandon Paul is much simpler than perceived.

“Brandon knows what he has to do,” Groce said. “It ain’t about mind games. Brandon’s 20-something years old. He’s been through a lot. I love Brandon. I’m not into the mind game deal. We want production.”

For his part, Paul said he knows why he didn’t start Sunday and why his improvement is crucial to his team’s success during the ongoing treachery of the Big Ten season.

“It’s no message. I didn’t get it done on the defensive end,” Paul said. “I let myself down a little bit in that area, as well as my team, and I have to continue getting better at it.”

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and @ThomasBruch.