CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Shauna Green’s team is peaking at the right time.
Illinois (19-8, 9-7 Big Ten) is coming off of three straight dominant wins against Wisconsin, Rutgers and Northwestern, but will have some tougher competition to end the regular season.
“We’ve grown a lot from these games,” said sophomore Berry Wallace. “[It will] just kind of build us some good momentum going into the last bit of the season.”
The Illini only have two games left and have to play a ranked team each time.
On Thursday the
Illini will travel to No. 9 Iowa (22-5 13-3 Big Ten) and then on Sunday will finish the regular season at home against No. 22 Minnesota.
The Hawkeyes are a very similarly built team to UCLA as their star power is in their size and their bigs, while they also have guards who can shoot, score, and spread the floor as well.
“We’re going to have our work cut out for us down low,” Green said. “They have the full package, they defend at a high level.”
Iowa’s leading scorer is sophomore center Ava Heiden, who, similar to Lauren Betts from UCLA, likes to bully her way inside and score from the paint. She has not even attempted a three pointer all season.
When the Bruins came to town in January, Green started 6-foot-7 Lety Vasconcelos to add extra protection down low and to take the full load off forward Cearah Parchment. It will be interesting to see if she had the same approach on Thursday, or if she will stick with the smaller Guyton to start.
“One through five on the court is a scoring threat,” Green said. “We’re gong to have to be really really locked in and allusive.”
Parchment has also been having the best stretch of her season during this win streak for the Illini. The freshmen has had four straight double-doubles and has brought her scoring up 13.6 a game to go along with 8.6 rebounds.
She also just won her fourth Big Ten freshmen of the week award.
For Illinois to have a shot at winning in Iowa City (a place where they are just 5-33 all time) Parchment needs to bring her A-game.
“Every day you can see her become a little bit more free, a little bit looser, a little bit more comfortable,” Green said. “With that is the confidence, she’s just playing with an elite level of confidence.”
Standout players
Parchment is not the only player who needs to show out if the Illini want to ride this win streak into the Big Ten Tournament Wallace, Destiny Jackson, Maddie Webber, and Jasmine Brown-Hagger are essential offensive pieces for the orange and blue.
Wallace is the team’s leading scorer and leader as just a sophomore.
The Ohio native has scored double figures in each of the last 17 games and is averaging just under 19 on the year.
“We’re really excited just coming off these three wins we’ve been doing really well and have been really connected as a team,” Wallace said. “Excited to challenge ourselves and play two really good teams.”
One of the main catalysts for the team being as connected as they are is their floor general.
Jackson just set the Illinois freshmen assist record against Northwestern and has been a threat to pass and to score the ball on every possession.
Most recently against Northwestern, Jackson had her career high 19 points to go along with 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals.
Another reason for this elite connection is how close everyone on the team is. Everyone gets along and they are always talking about how to improve.
“We’ve just had team meetings, a lot of them,” Webber said. “[We are] talking to each other more, the trust being there, holding each other accountable, and holding each other to the standard that we know we need to reach.”
Despite only being a junior, Webber is the oldest player getting constant minutes for the Illini. As their sixth man, the anchors the bench unit and is always providing a spark to the offense when needed.
Like Jackson, Webber also set a milestone in the win against Northwestern. With a catch and shoot there she logged her 1,000th career point. This was split between this season with Illinois and two previous seasons with the Villanova Wildcats.
For the Illini to improve their standings for both the Big Ten Tournament starting on March 4 and for the NCAA tournament directly after, everybody on Green’s team needs to be in tip top shape to take down their two upcoming quad one opponents.
