Illinois basketball’s exhibition opener against McKendree last week was the first runthrough. Sunday’s exhibition against Northwood (Mich.) at State Farm Center is the dress rehearsal.

Head coach John Groce said before the game against McKendree that his teams never go through a scouting report before the first exhibition game. The Illini went into last week’s game not knowing much about their opponent at all. The team also lifted the day of the game, something it wouldn’t normally do on game day.

Sunday they will prepare like it’s a regular season game. 

“All the film, all the reading, it’s going to be an adjustment,” center Nnanna Egwu said. “I know when I came in I was like: ‘What is going on. We’ve got to do this.’ It’s going to be long, it’s going to be time-consuming.”

The game against McKendree felt different to Groce for another reasons as well. With practice starting on Sept. 27 for all men’s basketball programs this season — two weeks earlier than before — Groce felt like he had a better understanding of his team. 

He said he felt comfortable enough with his team that he didn’t script any plays or lineups beforehand. 

“I felt like I had enough information through what we had graded out on film,” Groce said. “We’ve got a pretty good feel, maybe more so than ever in my time as a head coach, of knowing what guys can do, what they’re strengths are. Because of that I went more on instincts.”

Sunday’s game will give the Illini’s five freshmen another chance to familiarize themselves with the State Farm Center court.

Point guard Jaylon Tate stood out more than any other freshman last week. His 13 points were just three behind leading scorer Tracy Abrams. 

“I felt like he played pretty good,” Abrams said of Tate. “Obviously there’s always room for improvement, but he looked pretty good out there.” 

Abrams led the way with 16 points against McKendree and is expected to be one of the Illini’s leaders this season, both on and off the court. Groce said he wasn’t totally happy with Abrams’ play in the Orange and Blue scrimmage, but liked what he saw against McKendree.

“I thought he was better,” Groce said. “I thought in the scrimmage defensively he was out of position a lot. I expect more out of a guy who’s been in our program for a year and knows what he’s doing. (Against McKendree), he played like he practiced post-Orange and Blue Scrimmage. 

Northwood is playing in its second exhibition game after travelling to Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday. The Division-II Timberwolves finished 13-14 in 2012-13 and 12-10 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Sunday’s matchup will be Illinois’ final exhibition game before the season opener against Alabama State on Nov. 8 at State Farm Center.  

Sean can be reached at [email protected] and @sean_hammond.