How Illinois Basketball can hold serve without Tomislav Ivisic

Illinois basketball has been dealt a difficult hand. After winning their west coast stretch in dominant fashion and destroying the Penn State Nittany Lions without their star point guard, fans were raving about the prospects of this team. This is a young team, but it seems that the world was picking Illinois basketball as a national championship contender. Since then, the Illini have lost three of their last four games and now face a must-win game to stay in the thick of the upper echelon of the Big Ten. On top of that, flu and sickness have ravaged the team, and starting center, Tomislav Ivisic, has come down with Mononucleosis.

Ivisic is already confirmed out for Sunday’s matchup vs Northwestern and will likely miss a few weeks as he recovers. With that being said, games do not stop and the Illini need to find a solution to winning without their starting center.

Mix it up, and hit your shots.

Morez Johnson Jr. is the clear replacement for Ivisic at the center spot. However, Brad Underwood needs to find a way to support his true freshman whether he gets into foul trouble or not. Ivisic was so important because he forced opposing bigs away from the basket. He is also versatile and skilled, and he can pass if the situation becomes difficult. Johnson Jr. is a different kind of big, but he needs to focus on doing what he does well. That means focusing on hitting the glass hard and rolling to the rim as hard as he can.  To make his rolls more effective, guys like Ben Humrichous, Tre White, and Kylan Boswell have to hit shots.

In the last four games, the trio has shot extremely poorly from the three-point line. Humrichous has gone 5/17, White has gone 1/9, and Boswell has been 3/18. That means that all three are a putrid 6 of 44 from the three-point line in the last four games. All three of those guys have to get going and perhaps they have to stray back into the mid-post instead of the three-point line.

Defensively

Look, no one is going to replace the size and defensive stability that Ivisic brings. Behind Johnson Jr, the Illini simply do not have the size and/or physicality to match other teams in the frontcourt. Because of that, they have to get aggressive with post-defense. Throw in traps and mix in doubles. Ivisic was so good at guarding bigs without much help, hence the Illini simply looked uncomfortable when forced to do so against Maryland.

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