HOUSTON — Illinois head coach Brad Underwood isn’t worried about No. 2 Houston’s home advantage for the Sweet 16 showdown.
“We’ve won on the road all year,” Underwood said.
And he’s right: the Illini won eight out of ten road games in the Big Ten this season.
“It’s no different than going into West Lafayette or East Lansing”.
For the Illini (26-8), Thursday night’s matchup at the Toyota Center in Houston will come down to grit. Illinois can stretch the floor with its size and make some shots, while also
having outlets to the rim through guards like Keaton Wagler and Andrej Stojakovic.
But how well will they be able to do it against KenPom’s No. 4 ranked Houston defense? How well will they be able to do it against a hall-of-fame coach in Houston’s Kelvin Sampson and his veteran squad that’s coming off a national championship loss last season?
Matching the Tenacity
Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars are known for their physicality, but All-Big Ten Defensive selection Kylan Boswell believes Illinois’ principles aren’t all that different from Houston’s.
“Both our philosophies are kind of the same,” Boswell said. “Rebound the basketball and guard your tail off”.
Those defensive and rebounding efforts were on full display during the first two rounds of March Madness in Greenville, bullying Penn on the glass with 20 offensive rebounds before showcasing a dominant defensive performance against a dangerous VCU team.
And in both of those games, the second halves were even more convincing than the firsts, leaving Illinois fans with hope that late-game collapses are no longer a worry. That’ll be put to the test against a Houston squad that hunts threes in transition and possesses a unique mental grit.
A major factor in slowing down the Cougars will be stopping All-American freshman guard Kingston Flemings from scoring. While this Illini defense is typically comfortable giving up twos and forcing teams into the mid-range, Thursday’s matchup may be a little different.
“His shot is the mid-range pullup,” Boswell said. “It’s different when a player’s favorite shot, and an efficient shot, is that shot. We’re going to try to make that as limited as possible for him”.
Full Chemistry
Beyond the X’s and O’s, this run is fueled by a locker room that couldn’t be much closer. After the heartbreaking collapse against Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal, Kylan Boswell took it upon himself to host a team meeting at his apartment to get everyone back on the same page.
“I just try my best to get everybody together and just understand our process,” Boswell said. “It’s what got us to that point and what’s going to get us through this moment. Leaning on each other and making sure that we’re all levelheaded”.
That sense of unity will be the X-factor against the Cougars. To escape Houston with a win, the Illini must maintain the levelheadedness they rediscovered during that apartment meeting, and they simply have to want it more.
A Taste of the Final Four
If Illinois can find a way to win Thursday, they’ll face a familiar Big Ten opponent in the Elite Eight: either No. 4 seed Nebraska or No. 9 seed Iowa. Knowing that the next step to the Final Four would require beating a team they’ve already faced this year rises the stakes of Thursday’s matchup even higher.
