Penn was undermanned, and undersized, and — obviously — not as good as Illinois on Thursday night in the Illini’s 105-60 first-round NCAA Tournament win.
It gets more challenging now against No. 11 VCU on Saturday night.
Don’t let the 11-seed blind you; this team is good. Illinois opened on FanDuel Sportsbook as a 10.5-point favorite ahead of the 6:50 p.m. CT matchup on CBS.
Here’s what we know, and three things Illinois needs to do to advance to its second Sweet 16 in three seasons.
Protect the Ball
This is usually
a pretty good key to any game, but especially against a team like VCU that likes to force turnovers and cause some pressure. They have the 100th-most steals per game this season at 7.3, compared to Illinois’ defense which is ranked 273rd.
VCU was able to get UNC to be a bit sloppy on Thursday, and it will be key for Illinois’ primary ball handlers — i.e. Kylan Boswell and Keaton Wagler — to protect the ball. They did a really good job of that on Thursday, but Penn was never making things too difficult for the Illini on the offensive end.
The Rams have a stingy defense, allowing just 71.7 points per game this season. Gotta get more than that.
Shut Down Terrence Hill Jr.
If you spent any time watching the UNC/VCU game before the Illini got going, you know the name Terrence Hill Jr.
The guard off the bench for the Rams played 40 of a possible 45 minutes and lit up the Tar Heels for 34 points on 13-of-20 shooting, which included seven three-pointers, none bigger than the game winner with just 10 seconds remaining in OT.
Hill’s been good — he’s had at least 13 points in every game this month — but that was a monster showing, and he’s the kind of guy who usually would kill the Illini. I think you’ll have to find someone to get on him, and it can’t be Jake Davis, who struggled with Penn’s shooters on Thursday.
Is this a chance to insert Andrej Stojakovic back into the starting lineup? Or do you match him with Hill once they both check in off the bench and let him go to work one-on-one? Is it Boswell’s job to keep him in check?
It needs to be the top priority for the Illini in practice on Friday.
Make Some Threes
No big, long droughts like we saw in the first half on Thursday. Against a good team like VCU, it’s just not going to get the job done.
I’m not sure what switch got flipped in the second half, but the Illini exploded and everything started to go in.
At the Big Ten Tournament last week, Brad Underwood agreed that his team gets complacent when shots aren’t falling. That’s a bad domino effect to have this time of year. Let’s keep those shots falling early and often.
Oh, and David Mirkovic: do that again.
