Highlighting Illinois Basketball adjustments vs Iowa

On Tuesday night’s 81-61 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes, Illinois basketball rolled out some interesting adjustments on both sides of the ball. The changes were necessary, the Illini had been reeling the past few weeks and had just lost three consecutive games. Brad Underwood was also in a precarious situation in which he barely had any time to implement these changes effectively. The Big Ten schedule has games every three to four days with travel days necessary, and a majority of his roster has been nursing injury, illnesses, or a mix of both.

However, as the head coach stated in his postgame press conference, “Enough was Enough”.

Offensively?

The very first possession involved Illinois basketball clearing out a side of the floor and rolling Tomislav Ivisic to the basket. This simple adjustment allows for some kind of a paint touch and allows the Illini to play through arguably their most complete offensive weapon. Once they establish Ivisic at the rim with a roll or a post touch, it allows Ivisic to pop at the three if he is open.

Afterward, the Illini featured Ivisic on the perimeter and had their players actively slip to the basket. Again, this allowed for a paint touch and allowed whoever slipped to spray it out to open shooters for catch-and-shoot opportunities. Another benefit of this was that it lowered the burden of Kasparas Jakucionis maneuvering the perimeter which lowered turnover numbers. Though the Iowa Hawkeyes are not defensive juggernauts, the Illini only had 5 total turnovers.

Defensively?

One of the most glaring adjustments for the Illini was on the defensive side of the ball. For an Illini team that had just given up 110 points to Duke, adjustments had to come. The Illini played a bit less “drop-coverage” and forced their big men to slightly hedge on ball screens. This prevented open mid-range jumpers from their opponents and allowed the Illini guards to guard a little more aggressively. Also, Illinois switched a lot less which prevented those mismatches that we saw vs Duke. Kylan Boswell was showing that he is a top-flight defender early in the season and this subtle adjustment allowed Boswell to show some of that juice.

Are these permanent changes?

Personally, I think the offensive mentality needs to stay focused on the paint touches. When the Illini are able to have rim pressure, it allows them to loosen up and not force up so many three-point jumpers. I also think that rolling out their most talented lineup with Will Riley to start is something that will allow Kasparas Jakucionis to settle into games.

Defensively, Iowa’s personnel forced the Illini to stray away from the drop coverage. Whether they will play that same way against Michigan is to be seen, but at least the Illini have shown that they can play multiple different ways. As the team starts to regain health, hopefully, the Illini can practice more and solidify what they have been doing. If they can, look for the Illinois basketball to make one more push before the season.

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