Welcome to Big Ten competition, gentlemen.
On Friday in Evanston, Northwestern continued a recent tradition of dragging Illinois through the muck – especially on the Wildcats’ home turf of Welsh-Ryan Arena – and forcing them to showing up as their worst selves, upsetting the Illini 70-66 in overtime.
The Illini (6-2, 0-1 Big Ten) return downstate bruised and bewildered after struggling with the physicality and aggressive on-ball defense of Northwestern (7-3, 1-1 Big Ten). What they do from here is up to them, but there were plenty of lessons to learn from this one.
Forward together.#Illini | #HTTO | #EveryDayGuys pic.twitter.com/v5bWPreNk5
— Illinois Men’s Basketball (@IlliniMBB) December 7, 2024
First: Have a plan. The worst moments of the Brad Underwood era in Illinois have been marked by important moments in which the Illini seemed to default to hero ball rather than set plays or familiar actions when they needed a bucket to stop the bleeding. Freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis (20 points and six 3-pointers) hit several clutch 3s down the stretch. But he also missed a few when Illinois seemed to have nowhere else to turn – or worse, planned it that way.
The issue extended to the defense, as the Wildcats voraciously targeted Jakucionis with Nick Martinelli (game-high 27 points) and Brooks Barnhizer (17 points), who took advantage over and over – particularly down the stretch. It was Barnhizer who hit a stepback at the free-throw line to send the game into OT, and it was Martinelli who hit the first two buckets of overtime to send the Cats on their way.
Second: When a Big Ten opponent hits, hit back. Bodies and elbows fly in this league, and there will be games – such as Friday’s – when the officials favor a wrestling match. Like it or not, you’d better be ready for it. Illinois wasn’t.
The irony is that it was Will Riley, the willowy freshman forward known for his quick trigger from sometimes-unwise distances, who first showed he had had enough. In the first half, with the Illini wallowing, he got low, went at his man and drove hard into contact to sink a floater and draw a shooting foul on back-to-back trips. He scored 11 of his 12 points in the first half to stake Illinois to a shaky 27-24 halftime lead.
Last: Control what you can control. The Wildcats swarmed the perimeter to assure that Illinois’ long-distance struggles would extend another game, yet they kept firing, often settling for difficult and high-pressure 3-point looks – and the results showed: 9-for-34.
Moreover, Northwestern hit shots. Lots of them. The Illini largely goaded the Cats into launching from 3, which worked like a charm (NU hit 4-for-21 from distance), but they also typically dropped in pick-and-roll coverage against a team with multiple mid-range killers. Even when Illinois seemed to have NU’s offense bottled up, the Cats knocked down tough looks to keep the score close throughout.
What Underwood and the Illini will look back on and find most disappointing, however, were the rebounding and turnover margins. Illinois, which entered the game with college basketball’s best rebounding margin, barely edged Northwestern on the boards (44-43) and seemed to lose every key battle on the glass. They also finished with 11 turnovers to the Cats’ four. NU was the aggressor, and Illinois failed to answer back in kind.
If the Illini thought they took lumps from the Wildcats, just wait until the rest of the Big Ten watches the film from Friday and begins writing the book on this Illinois club: soft, lacks toughness, easy to bully. It will be up to the Illini to prove them all wrong.
