Despite playing in Las Vegas, the Illinois men’s basketball team will feel right at home.

The Illini (4-0) will head across the country for the first time this season to play in the Las Vegas Invitational. Illinois will play Indiana State (3-1) on Thursday in a matchup that head coach John Groce said will feel like an “old-fashioned Big Ten-style game” because of the physicality of the Sycamores. 

“They’ve got good size and they’ve got good size coming off the bench as well in terms of height and weight,” Groce said. “I anticipate it being a very, very physical game.”

The Illini will have their hands full against a Sycamore front line that includes seniors Justin Gant and Jake Kitchell. Groce said that Gant and Kitchell, who are 6-foot-9 and 6-foot-10, respectively, and both weigh over 230 pounds, might create matchup problems in the paint for Illinois because of their size.

“The two guys up front, Kitchell and Gant, are very, very physical in the paint, both rebounding as well as scoring down there,” Groce said.

Indiana State’s frontcourt is also skilled on the defensive end as the Sycamores pull down over 39 defensive rebounds per game. The team leads the Missouri Valley in blocks per game with 4.3 and opponent field goal percentage at 36.3 percent.

The size of the Sycamore frontcourt won’t get any less intimidating when the team goes to the bench, as Indiana State has two players who are both over 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds.

“They’ve got some size, some girth, some strength and some toughness to their team,” Groce said.

Although the tournament will be the Illini’s first away games of the regular season, Illinois already has experience with playing on the road this year as the team traveled to play an exhibition against Dayton. The Dayton scrimmage and the Illini’s experience, with 11 out of 15 players returning, gives Groce confidence that the team will  handle itself away from home. 

“We experienced a lot of success away and at neutral venues last year, especially late in the year,” Groce said. “For us, we have the motto of being unconditional regardless of whether it’s away, it’s neutral, what time the game is, who we’re playing. Obviously that’s helped us.”

With a win against the Sycamores, the Illini would advance to play the winner of the Baylor and Memphis game on Friday in the championship game of the tournament. 

Win or lose, Groce said that the game will be a good test of the physicality of the Illinois frontcourt and a precursor to the style of play the Illini will see in conference play.

“(It’s) potentially the most physical of any of the games we’ve played to this juncture,” Groce said.

Nicholas can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @IlliniSportsGuy.