CHICAGO, Ill. – A chance to taste sweet revenge. An opportunity to build real momentum before March Madness and silence the late-game narratives. A 15-point lead with 11:34 left on the clock.
All gone in what felt like the blink of an eye. In the first win-or-go-home game of the season, the Illini walked home with their heads down.
No. 9 Illinois (No. 4 Big Ten) lost its identity yet again Friday afternoon at the United Center in the quarterfinal of the Big Ten Tournament, falling to No. 23 Wisconsin
(No. 5 Big Ten) in overtime 91-88 after suffering a scarily similar defeat to the Badgers last month in Champaign.
“They were much better at staying consistent,” said Illinois head coach Brad Underwood. “It was a tale of two halves for us.”
Déjà vu at its finest.
Last time out, in front of a sold out State Farm Center on Jake Davis wig night, Wisconsin stole the win from the Illini. Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard celebrated by wearing Davis’ wig in the locker room after the upset.
But in that game, Illinois was down two game-changers in the backcourt. Kylan Boswell recovering from a broken hand, Andrej Stojakovic dealing with an ankle sprain.
Wisconsin guards John Blackwell and Nick Boyd combined for 49 points in the February matchup. But with a healthy Illinois roster for the quarterfinal, many Illini fans pointed to Friday’s outcome being different – now with the presence of a Big Ten All-Defensive First Team guard in Boswell, and a prolific scorer who has shown flashes of his defensive and rebounding abilities in Stojakovic. And on top of that, Wisconsin were down their best big man in Nolan Winters.
All of the arrows pointed to an Illinois win.
And they continued pointing towards the Orange and Blue, even after shooting 46.4% from the field in the first half. Partly due to the fact that Wisconsin shot even worse to start out at 35.3%.
Then the comfort sank in. The same way it sank in against UCLA, and the same way it sank in February 10th at State Farm Center: 12-point lead with 8:10 to go, slowly deteriorating with no chance to save it.
This time, the deterioration of Illinois and its 15-point lead with 11:34 on the clock was even more apparent.
“We had a nice 15-point lead in the second half, and then we got complacent,” Underwood said.
The Illini led for 30 of the 45 minutes played Friday afternoon. But the Wisconsin run just kept on going.
“They just chipped away,” Underwood said.
Illinois found themselves down two with four minutes to go, somehow. Holding on for dear life while the lead vanished, again.
“Sometimes I think when we make shots, we get casual on the other end and we think it’s just easy,” Underwood said. “I had that feeling today.”
The energy starts fading on one side of the court. The offense begins to panic. The free throws in the clutch start rimming out. A team that’s known for not fouling starts fouling.
Illinois committed six fouls in the first half, and committed 17 in the second half and overtime.
A blowout suddenly turned into a nail-biter. A few minutes later, overtime was on the cards again.
Boswell only saw eight minutes in the first half after two early fouls, and ended up fouling out after playing 18 minutes. Exactly what the Badgers needed to mount a comeback, combined with the Illini playing what Underwood thought was “too loose”.
Boyd and Blackwell combined for 19 first-half points, then combined for 41 in just the second half. Last time they combined for 16 first-half points, and combined for 33 in the second half and overtime.
After losing the rebound and second-chance points battle last time out against the Badgers, the Illini knew where they had to improve.
Illinois snagged 21 first-half rebounds to Wisconsin’s nine. Wisconsin ended up winning the rebound battle.
“Our offensive rebound effort, no matter how much we work on it in practice, somehow it’s not carrying over right now,” Underwood said.
That’s now the second time the Illini have been out-rebounded by the Badgers, a much smaller team.
“A lot of rebounding is what’s underneath your hood, meaning inside of you, your grit, your toughness,” Gard said. “You can rebound against size if you continue to have the fight in you.”
Big Ten Freshman of the Year Keaton Wagler spoke on what Underwood had to say in the locker room after the loss.
“His message to us was that this loss isn’t the end for us,” Wagler said. “We gotta learn from this, we gotta be focused on what wins games, which is defense and rebounding. We got outrebounded tonight, we can’t let that happen if we want to win games.”
With a week of rest ahead, the Illini will sit on that sour loss as they prepare both their minds and bodies for the NCAA tournament.
“If we’re not consistent on the defensive side, we’ll go home,” Underwood said.
