When trying to figure out how the Illinois women’s basketball team has had a complete turnaround from last season, it’s easy to give all the credit to the offense. 

Illinois, a team that already has three more wins than last season, is ranked second in the Big Ten and 28th in the nation in points per game at 72.1. The Illini have also scored over 90 twice this season for the first time since 2002-03. At the same time last season, the Illini were averaging only 63.8 points per game, 8.3 less than their current average.

While Illinois’ offensive numbers are some of the most impressive in college basketball, some of its defensive statistics aren’t going to blow anyone away.

Illinois stands last in the conference in opponent’s points per game at 67.2 and opponent’s field-goal percentage at .410. Despite those lackluster numbers, the most important categories on defense for the Illini are often overlooked.

Illinois is first in the Big Ten in turnovers forced per game at 23.6 and second in turnover margin at plus-4.61. Illinois has already forced six more turnovers than all of last season with five games left before the conference tournament. If Illinois averaged the least amount of turnovers it’s forced in a game this season (17 against Iowa State), it would still own the third-best mark of turnovers forced per game in the Big Ten. 

Illinois also leads the conference with 12.4 steals per game, which ranks 12th in the country. Three Illini players are ranked in the top 13 in the conference in steals per game; that doesn’t include senior guard Adrienne GodBold, who would be second in the Big Ten but does not qualify because she hasn’t played in enough games.

Although Illinois’ switching man-to-man defense has contributed to its defensive progress, one of first-year head coach Matt Bollant’s holdovers from Green Bay has ignited Illinois’ defense.

The Buzz defense, also known as the Twilight, has completely changed Illinois’ philosophy.

The main idea behind the Buzz is to force opponents to lob pass, giving the zone enough time to shift. The passing lanes are guarded first, preventing the opponent from firing line-drive passes. If the opponent holds the ball near the 3-point line, two players will shift over to trap the ballhandler. 

Each position in the Buzz serves a different role. The 1 guards the passing lane to the right wing. The 2’s responsibility is to guard the passing lane to the left wing. Sophomore guards Alexis Smith and Ivory Crawford respectively fill the 1 and 2 spots (typically point guard and shooting guard). The 3 and 4 (typically small forward and power forward) have similar jobs, but they also try to steal lob passes thrown to the wing while guarding the passing lanes from the wing to the corner. 

Associate head coach Mike Divilbiss calls the 3 spot “Michael Jordan,” where GodBold plays for the Illini. Senior forward Karisma Penn plays the 4, where the best rebounder on the team usually plays. The 5, played by junior guard Amber Moore, is the team’s smartest defender, who always stays in a line between the ball and the basket and moves in front of any opponent on that line.

“The overall concept of each person’s role is to funnel the ball at the 5,” Divilbiss said. “What we’re telling you is you can’t drive the ball in with a player on each side of you trapping you, drive at our 5 and jump up and score and make a shot off the dribble. You’re not good enough to do that 25-26 times a game and beat us.”

Divilbiss may not have invented the Buzz defense, but he perfected it. He first saw the Buzz used as a graduate assistant at Eastern Washington in 1985 by Dave Olmstead, who was then Portland’s head coach. Divilbiss also saw Aki Hill, the former Oregon State women’s head coach, who used the unique defense for her team. After losing three times while facing the Buzz in the NAIA national tournament while coaching at Lewis-Clark State, Divilbiss began to use that system during his last two years of his 14-year coaching career at LCSC.

The first year he ran the Buzz for the Lady Warriors in 2000, his team went 26-0 and was the No. 1 team in the country until it lost by a half-court buzzer-beater in the Frontier Championship. The team went on to reach the Elite Eight in the NAIA that year.

During his last season at Lewis-Clark State in 2001, the team won 33 games and lost in the NAIA Final Four.

After an up-and-down seven years as the head coach of Idaho, Divilbiss was hired by Bollant as an assistant coach at Green Bay in 2008. Although Divilbiss was no longer the head coach, Bollant was intrigued by the Buzz.

“Right away I said, ‘We need a change of pace from our man(-to-man),’” Bollant said. “We started talking about the Buzz, and then I actually saw a California coach run it, and I said, ‘Can’t we do that?’ and (Divilbiss) said, ‘Yeah, we can.’”

During their first season together during the 2008-09 season, Green Bay went 29-4 and reached the first round of the NCAA tournament. After ranking 106th in the nation in scoring defense and 60th in steals per game the season before, the Phoenix that year allowed the least points in the nation and had the sixth most steals per game in the country. Bollant and Divilbiss had a record of 122-13 during their four seasons together at Green Bay.

Now coaching at Illinois, the two had to find out if the Buzz would fit well with different personnel.

“When I was out, playing against it was a headache,” GodBold said. “I was paying attention to the positions and what I needed to do or where I would come in to fit in. Coming in it wasn’t bad, I had to play in it to get a feel for it.”

“We thought with this group that they potentially could be really good in the Buzz because of their athleticism,” Divilbiss said. “They’ve had to learn to kind of let go and trust it. It’s been a little bit of a process. They’re getting better and better at it all the time, and quite frankly they’re getting really good.”

Because the Buzz relies on player instincts, the defense has only been practiced about 10 hours this season. Bollant estimates the team plays the Buzz only 30-40 percent of the time during games, but those moments can be the difference.

Two games in particular stood out for Bollant where the Buzz defense thrived: Illinois’ win at Nebraska, when the Illini forced 26 turnovers, and at home against then-No. 24 Iowa, when Illinois went on a 14-2 run to end the game while employing the Buzz.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played a defense that rattles teams so much,” Penn said. “We’re in Big Ten season, people know that we play this defense and nobody still has an answer for it.”

“I think it’s unconventional,” Bollant said. “It’s different from what people normally see. It’s hard to figure out when you’re gonna be trapped and if you’re gonna be trapped. It just makes kids feel uncomfortable.”

Although other teams — such as Oral Roberts, Utah State, Fresno State, Dayton, Northern Iowa and Minnesota — use versions of the Buzz, the defense isn’t successful unless the players are disciplined.

“If you don’t play this defense really, really hard, you’re gonna look really, really stupid,“ Divilbiss said. “We expend a lot of energy running the Buzz, it’s taxing. It’s human nature to play offense hard because everybody likes to score. But to get kids to play defense extremely hard is challenging.”

Unfortunately for Illinois’ opponents, the Buzz’s weakness will forever be a secret of Divilbiss’.

“Not saying. I don’t say.”

Michael can be reached at [email protected].