Illinois Basketball: Three Keys to victory over the Michigan Wolverines

Illinois basketball just lost a heartbreaker over in Westwood vs the UCLA Bruins 95-94. The Illini will now have to get right as they host the number 3-ranked team in the country, the Michigan Wolverines, on Friday, February 27th. The Wolverines have lost two games this season and have proved themselves as the best team in the Big Ten conference. The Wolverines will clinch the Big Ten regular-season championship on Tuesday if they beat the Minnesota Gophers. Yet, the Illini still have a lot to play for and certainly want to prove to fans and themselves that they are still one of those elite teams in the country.

If Illinois basketball wants to pull off the upset, there are three keys to their victory

1) Limit the Wolverines in Transition

The Michigan Wolverines are elite in transition. Led by point guard Elliot Cadeau and point-forward Yaxel Lendeborg, the Wolverines use their top-ranked defense to stop teams and ultimately get out and run. In the Wolverines’ loss vs Duke, they were only limited to 7 points in transition. The Illini may not be the quickest team, but they cannot take poor shots that allow the Wolverines to get out and run. In addition to Cadeau and Lendeborg, Michigan has elite rim-runners in Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara. It will be tough to contain the Wolverines in transition, given the Illini’s below-average athleticism and speed, but they need to focus on taking good shots and crashing the offensive glass so that the Wolverines cannot send as many players out running.

2) Win the rebounding battle

The Illini have to do a good job of defensive rebounding and cannot let the Wolverines get second-chance opportunities. Illinois basketball typically does a good job at this, as they typically send all their guys to rebound as opposed to sending one or two guys out on a break. As I said above, if the Illini can crash the offensive glass effectively, it will help limit the Wolverines in transition. In the loss to UCLA, Keaton Wagler had six offensive reboundings including a putback, to help put the Illini up by one with five seconds left. This helped save the Illini momentarily from their poor shooting performance in the second half.

Kylan Boswell and Andrej Stojakovic need to be better on the glass if Illinois wants a chance to beat the number one team.

3) Win the frontcourt battle

David Mirkovic, Tomislav Ivisic, and Zvonimir Ivisic all had rough games in the loss vs UCLA. On the offensive side, the trio shot 2-11 from the three. However, on defense, the trio got beat off the dribble and overhelped a lot which led to open shots for UCLA. The foul at the end of the first half by David Mirkovic was arguably the most costly blunder of the night as it helped UCLA cut the lead to 7 going into halftime. The Illini will go as far as the trio of Mirkovic and the Ivisic’s can take them. They also only combined for 12 rebounds on the night. All three have to be better at rebounding and guarding the ball.

On top of that, if they can hit shots, it helps drag Michigan’s impressive frontcourt out from under the basket. If Michigan can lay off and just camp out in the paint, there is no chance that the Illini win. Mirkovic and the Ivisic twins must play well.

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