When the ball is tipped at Assembly Hall on Saturday afternoon, two teams led by first-year head coaches will have to show their squads how to respond from either an extreme high or extreme low.

On one side of the court, wearing white, there will be the Illinois women’s basketball team. Head coach Matt Bollant’s squad is coming off its worst loss of the season, a 33-point thrashing by No. 7 Penn State.

Going the opposite direction, wearing crimson, will be Indiana. Head coach Curt Miller’s Hoosiers are coming off their best win of the season, a 62-61 upset of No. 22 Purdue.

In the locker room after Illinois’ loss, Bollant was already prepping the team on how to respond.

“We can’t let this loss affect the next one,” he told the team. “We have to move on as a team, move on mentally and be ready for Indiana.”

Bollant said the quick turnaround will benefit the Illini.

“Any time after a loss, you’re hungry to get back on the court,” he said. “Every time we’ve lost, we’ve come back the next game and played really well.”

Bollant cited two specific incidences, Illinois’ win over then-No. 6 Georgia after a loss to Illinois State and Illinois’ 91-86 win at Minnesota following its loss to Northwestern.

Following each loss, however, Illinois had at least a weeklong break to prepare for its next opponent, compared with the two-day turnaround with Indiana.

One main area where Illinois struggled Wednesday, and has struggled all season long, was with foul trouble.

Senior forward Karisma Penn was sent to the bench with three fouls just eight minutes into the Penn State game and played just 26 minutes overall before fouling out.

When Penn gets in foul trouble, Illinois either turns to a five-guard lineup or puts in little-used reserves like Nia Oden or McKenzie Piper. On Wednesday, Oden was substituted in, but she recorded three fouls in just over two minutes of playing time and was sent back to the bench, forcing Illinois into a five-guard lineup.

Illinois finished with 26 fouls with two players fouling out. Illinois’ lack of size with Penn out allowed Penn State to gain a 45-26 rebound advantage.

“We’ve got to change that. We’re not the same team when she’s in foul trouble,” Bollant said. “She’s got to be really disciplined and we have to put her in situations where she’s not going to foul them.”

Indiana snapped a 10-game losing streak, during which it lost every game by at least 10 points, with its win over Purdue on Wednesday. The Hoosiers are still in last place in the conference, but Bollant has seen them make strides under his long-time friend.

“They do a really good job of running their offense,” Bollant said.

Miller’s ball-screen offense has helped Indiana improve from 6-24 last season to 11-15 so far this season.

It could be Bollant on the other side of the court, leading the ladies in crimson. The man strolling the sideline in orange and blue interviewed for the Indiana job but was offered Illinois’ spot before he heard back from the Hoosiers. Bollant was an assistant at Indiana for two seasons, from 2000-02, and still has many close friends in Bloomington.

Bollant and Miller, who was the head coach at Bowling Green, have known each other since Bollant started working in Division-I basketball in the late ’90s, meeting on recruiting trips and exchanging phone calls about potential jobs they may pursue in the future. 

“We’ve known each other for a long time, and we’re in similar situation leaving mid-majors programs and coming to the Big Ten, so we can really relate to each other and feel what the other person is going through quite a bit.”

When the ball is tipped, though, both Bollant and Miller will try to keep their teams level-headed and pick up a highly-coveted Big Ten win.

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93.