CHAMPAIGN — An absent Kylan Boswell sported a white sweatsuit throughout Illinois’ matchup towards Maryland on Wednesday. His absence is because of an premature fractured bone in his proper hand that can sideline him for at the least a month.
Unfortunate for Illinois, contemplating how shut this iteration of the crew was to firmly settling into their roles forward of coming into a heavy stretch of convention play with journeys to Purdue and Nebraska for 2 of their subsequent 4 video games.
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Boswell had established himself as Illinois’ greatest defender, on a crew not recognized for defending as certainly one of its key attributes. And main as much as Maryland’s Wednesday evening go to, the Terrapins had received two straight and closely featured a David Coit who had scored a mixed 73 factors in these video games.
But Illinois’ roster high quality was not examined — at the least not totally — throughout what turned an Illinois beatdown of Maryland that stopped them of their tracks, 80-70.
With the sidelining of Boswell, Illinois, head coach Brad Underwood selected to trot out Jake Davis in his place. For what it’s price, there was an prolonged stretch through the first half the place Illinois’ protection struggled mightily.
Navigating a Boswell-less lineup
As a zany Illinois first-half efficiency unfolded on the courtroom, Underwood buckled into his coat and goggles. After an underwhelming begin that noticed Illinois permit Maryland to go shot-for-shot on the State Farm Center, and the offense taking less-than-ideal pictures, Underwood made his greatest impression of a mad scientist when it got here to the lineup.
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Over the course of a three-minute game-time stretch, Underwood combined and matched his guys, together with a lineup that rotated between starter Davis, Zvonimir Ivisic and Ben Humrichous. As Illinois trailed 17-19 and amid the disarray, Underwood would check out Mihailo Petrovic, whose title started to swirl across the web because the protagonist instantly following the general public announcement of Boswell’s damage.
Petrovic’s alternative got here, however rapidly frayed away.
He registered 4 minutes and shot 0-for-2 however had a rebound. He often elevated as a ground basic, however in the end missed too many pictures for Underwood’s liking.
Instead, it was Andrej Stojakovic who seized the chance to substitute for his good friend Boswell. While he earned the lion’s share of minutes, it was clear he was greater than a substitute. He flourished. Stojakovic completed the evening scoring a career-high as an Illini 30 factors. Add in 9 rebounds and two blocks by means of 32 minutes and you’ve got certainly one of his greatest outings in latest reminiscence.
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His position coming off the bench, coupled with Illinois’ pictures coming down and a concerted effort on the rebounding facet, Illinois was capable of end the primary half on a 12-2 run, and put Illinois on a path to comfortably taking down the Terps.
Shortcomings (nonetheless) revealed?
Illinois’ bench solely scored three factors within the first half. And positive, lots of it may very well be attributed to Underwood’s frequent lineup tweaking, however the crew completed with a mixed 10 bench factors.
Is successful like this sustainable towards a high-octane crew like Purdue? Can the crew get by going by means of stretches with poor taking pictures?
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Those are questions Illinois must discover solutions to in a rush, as key convention video games (as guests) loom.
Wednesday evening offered an early problem to the Illini; the powerful street will proceed as Illinois travels to Purdue on Saturday, the place an exhilarating Top-12 matchup ought to go down.