Illini Basketball 2025-2026

[RockfordIllini]

How the Illini have lost their games:

Alabama - Couldn't hit free throws at even an average rate. Weird anomaly, potentially explainable by "tired bodies" from running ragged. Also, they didn't know Keaton was Keaton at the time.
UConn - Couldn't hit any shots at all. Even Hurley post-game was quoted as "if they make shots at a normal rate they win that game". Effectively the strategy was "count on the offense not offensing", which is a risky strategy.
Nebraska - Defense wasn't clicking at all. Switches missed, Nebraska was able to get whatever they wanted all game. Still took a buzzer beater 3 to win.
MSU - Count on the officials to call fouls on the team that never fouls to get the starters out of the game.
Wisconsin - FTs AND perimeter defense were an issue, mostly due to "they only had 6 healthy players worth playing". EVEN THEN, the game was winnable.

So, thus far the strategies that have worked since they've gone full Keaton are:
- Hope they can't defend correctly
- Hope they don't have all their players
- Hope the officials call more fouls on them

I suppose on some level I’m being petty and it doesn’t really matter, but in 2 of Purdue’s wins vs a common opponent we lost to they had:
1. Philon missed the front end of a one and one to tie the game in the last minute (we weren’t very good defensively but he drilled shot after shot against us in closing time)
2. Lawrence slip on an in bounds down 1 with 4 seconds left (he hit an off the dribble contested 25 foot 3 at the buzzer vs us).

And as others have said, vs Bama we weren’t really us yet and I believe that was Tomi’s first game back from having his tonsils out and a bone bruise.

Probably just my way of saying with a little better injury luck and just plain luck luck, we probably only have 1 or 2 losses total and are neck and neck with Michigan.

 

[Epsilon]

More turnovers means more fouls, not worth the risk.

And turnovers are most valuable in PPP terms for teams that excel in transition, which isn't our game.

Our game strategy is designed to dare opponents to play more efficient offense than us for 40 minutes. I'd say Nebraska is the only one to really do it, the others found some way out of the riddle.

In a nutshell, rebounding is our steals. You get to shoot once, no more. We get four shots instead. Seems kind of unfair n’est-ce pas?

 

[illinifan1987]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2024476100240253272

 

[alaskaillini]

To understand how talented this roster is:

How many 6th man are there better than Andrej Stojakovic in college basketball?

I, personally, would continue to start Jake Davis.

Agree that Stoj, Ben and Z off the bench would be nasty (especially against the 6, 7 and 8 men of the opponents) - and not really a downgrade from the starters in that scenario.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

One guy I haven't seen mentioned one time is Cam Crocker. This defense does not need to be elite; it just needs to be good enough.

Illinois is currently 23rd in defensive efficiency, and 14th since the Nebraska game. Remember there's 7 games in there without Kylan!

Last year we were 40th; the year before that we finished 80th.

 

[ChiefGritty]

In a nutshell, rebounding is our steals.

That's a really good way to put it actually. Every additional marginal rebound does the same thing as a steal, takes a possession from them and gives it to you.

 

[TheodoreRex]

I'm sorry but did you forget that less than 2 years ago we were playing in the Elite 8 for a spot in the Final Four (and unfortunately just ended up getting beat by one of the best college teams in recent memory on their way to the title)?

I didn't forget that.. I also didn't forget getting bounced by Loyola.. I also didn't forget that Underwood has 1 sweet 16 appearance in his almost 9 years as head coach... I also didn't forget getting stomped by Uconn, looking bad against Kentucky, looking bad against Arkansas and Houston, etc...

Feel free to disagree with me- but I expect more at Illinois than 1 sweet 16 in 8 years..

So yes, I'm waiting for more tournament success.

 

[mysterio2525]

One guy I haven't seen mentioned one time is Cam Crocker. This defense does not need to be elite; it just needs to be good enough.

Illinois is currently 23rd in defensive efficiency, and 14th since the Nebraska game. Remember there's 7 games in there without Kylan!

Last year we were 40th; the year before that we finished 80th.

even beyond that. I saw man, zone, matchup zone, full court press and a bunch of looks yesterday. they even switched defenses during possessions yesterday. nice to have a full bag of tricks to throw at teams on the defensive end

 

[IlliniHardwood]

even beyond that. I saw man, zone, matchup zone, full court press and a bunch of looks yesterday. they even switched defenses during possessions yesterday. nice to have a full bag of tricks to throw at teams on the defensive end

Don't forget halfcourt traps.

 

[Ryllini]

To understand how talented this roster is:

How many 6th man are there better than Andrej Stojakovic in college basketball?

I, personally, would continue to start Jake Davis.

Sometimes we have a 5 cooking on the court and I then I see 3 guys get up and about to come in and I'm like oh !!!!, I almost forgot about them. It happened last night, the offense was humming and I think it was Bos, Z, and Hum get ready to check in. This team can just lay on opposing teams like a wet blanket. This team is a unit.

 

[Rebounding Dog]

One guy I haven't seen mentioned one time is Cam Crocker. This defense does not need to be elite; it just needs to be good enough.

Illinois is currently 23rd in defensive efficiency, and 14th since the Nebraska game. Remember there's 7 games in there without Kylan!

Last year we were 40th; the year before that we finished 80th.

Last two teams we played both ave 80 ppg… we held them to 56 ppg ave between the two.
I like those numbers!

 

[Epsilon]

That's a really good way to put it actually. Every additional marginal rebound does the same thing as a steal, takes a possession from them and gives it to you.

Exactly. And it’s a big part of why our offense is so darn efficient. Haven’t looked at how many possessions we average per game (I know it’s low) but if you get offensive rebounds on a quarter of those possessions (or whatever it is) you get more chances at buckets. It’s nice when you can spend almost a minute of tick trying to get your best shots.

Edit: I guess the question is what percentage of missed shots do we get back. That’s the better driver. That gives us a not so marginal increase to our scoring ppp.

Edit to edit: and yes our defensive rebounding takes away from their ppp.

 

[AirTran]

How the Illini have lost their games:

Alabama - Couldn't hit free throws at even an average rate. Weird anomaly, potentially explainable by "tired bodies" from running ragged. Also, they didn't know Keaton was Keaton at the time.
UConn - Couldn't hit any shots at all. Even Hurley post-game was quoted as "if they make shots at a normal rate they win that game". Effectively the strategy was "count on the offense not offensing", which is a risky strategy.
Nebraska - Defense wasn't clicking at all. Switches missed, Nebraska was able to get whatever they wanted all game. Still took a buzzer beater 3 to win.
MSU - Count on the officials to call fouls on the team that never fouls to get the starters out of the game.
Wisconsin - FTs AND perimeter defense were an issue, mostly due to "they only had 6 healthy players worth playing". EVEN THEN, the game was winnable.

So, thus far the strategies that have worked since they've gone full Keaton are:
- Hope they can't defend correctly
- Hope they don't have all their players
- Hope the officials call more fouls on the

How the Illini have lost their games:

Alabama - Couldn't hit free throws at even an average rate. Weird anomaly, potentially explainable by "tired bodies" from running ragged. Also, they didn't know Keaton was Keaton at the time.
UConn - Couldn't hit any shots at all. Even Hurley post-game was quoted as "if they make shots at a normal rate they win that game". Effectively the strategy was "count on the offense not offensing", which is a risky strategy.
Nebraska - Defense wasn't clicking at all. Switches missed, Nebraska was able to get whatever they wanted all game. Still took a buzzer beater 3 to win.
MSU - Count on the officials to call fouls on the team that never fouls to get the starters out of the game.
Wisconsin - FTs AND perimeter defense were an issue, mostly due to "they only had 6 healthy players worth playing". EVEN THEN, the game was winnable.

So, thus far the strategies that have worked since they've gone full Keaton are:
- Hope they can't defend correctly
- Hope they don't have all their players
- Hope the officials call more fouls on them

We lost to UCONN because we were outrebounded. We lost to Nebraska because of two missed 1 and 1s in the last 10 mins of the game and the Hoidberg dribble drive penetration. We lost to MSU on a lane violation in regulation and we were materially out rebounded (-10). We aren't going to beat anyone getting outrebounded by 10. We lost to Wisconsin on missed FTs and dribble drive penetration similar to what Nebraska did to us in the first game. Either way - I think making foul shots, rebounding and shutting down down the staggered screen dribble drive kick - out with Kylan is getting addressed pretty well.

 

[GrayGhost77]

That's a really good way to put it actually. Every additional marginal rebound does the same thing as a steal, takes a possession from them and gives it to you.

In prioritizing getting rebounds over getting steals you are also less likely to foul. Another bonus.

 

[illinifan1987]

One guy I haven't seen mentioned one time is Cam Crocker. This defense does not need to be elite; it just needs to be good enough.

Illinois is currently 23rd in defensive efficiency, and 14th since the Nebraska game. Remember there's 7 games in there without Kylan!

Last year we were 40th; the year before that we finished 80th.

 

[doowink]

For anyone who has gone to the BTT a lot in the past, can you advise how the tickets work? We really want to go this year, but (unless I am missing something) it appears that you can only buy "all session" tickets from the official website right now; if you want tickets to a single session, you have to go somewhere like StubHub. We have gone to the BTT at the United Center twice, but both times we just bought tickets on StubHub the night before once we already knew when Illinois played.

This year, I was thinking about trying to see if it would be more cost effective to play the odds of when we might play (I saw somewhere the overwhelming odds at the moment were the 5:30 pm on Friday slot?) and buy tickets for that session! If we had guaranteed child care, though, it seems like buying all session tickets is actually a pretty good deal. There are some that are $400, which is only $50 per session if you actually cared to go to every game from Tuesday to Sunday, lol. We'll probably end up paying like $120+ per ticket on StubHub for just one session with Illinois and potentially that tripled if we made the Championship Game on Sunday and wanted to go again and again!

Haven't been in several years, but a buddy of mine use to get tickets for the entire tourney through his work place...we would go to the games and if Illinois wasn't involved in the Championship game on Sunday we would sell those tickets....sometimes for a pretty good price...but not sure how they do it now...if they send paper tickets or not....which could make selling Sat/Sun tickets a little more difficult

 

[Joel Goodson]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2024667271935689060

 

[skyIdub]

In a nutshell, rebounding is our steals. You get to shoot once, no more. We get four shots instead. Seems kind of unfair n’est-ce pas?

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

Mara is a bit bigger and longer than Tomi, sure.

But Z is longer than Morez, Mirk and Yaxel about the same, Boswell bigger and longer than Cadeau, Wagler longer than Trey McKenney, Stojakovic bigger than Roddy Gayle, Davis and Humrichous are way bigger than Burnett & Cason, etc.

Unlike most teams in CBB there aren't dramatic size mismatches for us against Michigan (and that will be noticeable immediately when that game tips off), but what size mismatches there are go in our direction.


Plus they have guys you don't have to guard out to three.

And these are the best teams in the country!

There's taller, then there's tougher and more athletic. Our bigs aren't very physical, live on the perimeter(which does matchup problems) and theirs are NBA caliber, play above the rim, athletic, physically tough bullies(for lack of a better term and they will bully the opponent.

We're going to have to shoot light out and make them pay by spreading them out to offset the punishment we'll take in the paint. It is what it is. To beat #1, you have to not be afraid to get dirty(diving in the floor, take hard found so no "and ones"" and try and keep them out of transition

A team made up of this type of explosive athleticism is our kryptonite. We just don't have that. We have to spread them out and hit threes at a high clip. That's our chance.

 

[Combo]

There's taller, then there's tougher and more athletic. Our bigs aren't very physical, live on the perimeter(which does matchup problems) and theirs are NBA caliber, play above the rim, athletic, physically tough bullies(for lack of a better term and they will bully the opponent.

We're going to have to shoot light out and make them pay by spreading them out to offset the punishment we'll take in the paint. It is what it is. To beat #1, you have to not be afraid to get dirty(diving in the floor, take hard found so no "and ones"" and try and keep them out of transition

A team made up of this type of explosive athleticism is our kryptonite. We just don't have that. We have to spread them out and hit threes at a high clip. That's our chance.

Agree with all you wrote. They are a tough matchup - they can match our size, but are way more athletic. We've known from early on that we lack athleticism up front. Hopefully our shots are falling and we can keep them out of transition.

 

[ChiefGritty]

There's taller, then there's tougher and more athletic. Our bigs aren't very physical, live on the perimeter(which does matchup problems) and theirs are NBA caliber, play above the rim, athletic, physically tough bullies(for lack of a better term and they will bully the opponent.

We're going to have to shoot light out and make them pay by spreading them out to offset the punishment we'll take in the paint. It is what it is. To beat #1, you have to not be afraid to get dirty(diving in the floor, take hard found so no "and ones"" and try and keep them out of transition

A team made up of this type of explosive athleticism is our kryptonite. We just don't have that. We have to spread them out and hit threes at a high clip. That's our chance.

Yup, the two ways you'd think about breaking the riddle we put you into is to either make a fistfight of the game (a la MSU), or speed us up into a track meet (a la Alabama). Michigan is one of very few teams capable of doing both. Plus they're not giving up the size most teams are. They are really good, our margin for error disappears against an opponent like that.

We've got to pull their bigs away from the basket and get them into vulnerable positions switched onto bad matchups. If we can't manage that we're in trouble.

 

[Calvin]

UMich will be a FF caliber game.

CBS preview of Michigan Duke
Huge game with two top seeds. Around the 4:40 mark he talks Illinois.

 

[RockfordIllini]

Yes we aren’t overly athletic in our frontcourt and that provides some disadvantages against Michigan’s more athletic bigs.

On the flip side we are a really tough matchup for Michigan. Obviously won’t know until we play the game, but there is a chance we play Mara off the floor. Watch highlights of their Wisconsin game, particularly the first ten minutes of the second half. If Mara played drop, it was just a pick and pop to their bigs, and our bigs are much better shooters than Wisconsin’s. If they switched Mara onto the guard, that’s just Keaton vs Oscar Cluff all over again.

Michigan actually had to go small against Wisconsin the last 10 minutes or so and from what I can see they switched everything, which favors us as well. Obviously Yaxel and Morez are big and athletic but Mara is the main reason they are so hard to score on at the rim. Probably not a Keaton game because I do think both Yaxel and Morez can stay in front of him and bother his shots like Scott for MSU did (who got away with a ton of hacks but point stands, his length bothered Keaton). However, I’m not sure either can stay in front of Kylan or Andrej, and if Yaxel and Morez are switched on our guards, we should be able to attack with Mirk or Tomi down low, and if they send 2 to trap both of them are good enough passers to find the open shooter.

To me the game comes down to rebounding much like with Michigan State. If we aren’t able to get 35% or better of our missed shots back, Michigan will kill us in transition the way MSU did. It’s true that Michigan is more athletic, but we are big enough and physical enough to wedge them under the basket and then chase the long rebounds.

Still gotta get by UCLA which will be a tough game and a rock fight. But I feel like we match up as well against Michigan as anybody due to our positional size and our bigs’ ability to shoot. To me comes down to rebounding and limiting their transition opportunities.

 

[ChiefGritty]

Yes we aren’t overly athletic in our frontcourt and that provides some disadvantages against Michigan’s more athletic bigs.

On the flip side we are a really tough matchup for Michigan. Obviously won’t know until we play the game, but there is a chance we play Mara off the floor. Watch highlights of their Wisconsin game, particularly the first ten minutes of the second half. If Mara played drop, it was just a pick and pop to their bigs, and our bigs are much better shooters than Wisconsin’s. If they switched Mara onto the guard, that’s just Keaton vs Oscar Cluff all over again.

Michigan actually had to go small against Wisconsin the last 10 minutes or so and from what I can see they switched everything, which favors us as well. Obviously Yaxel and Morez are big and athletic but Mara is the main reason they are so hard to score on at the rim. Probably not a Keaton game because I do think both Yaxel and Morez can stay in front of him and bother his shots like Scott for MSU did (who got away with a ton of hacks but point stands, his length bothered Keaton). However, I’m not sure either can stay in front of Kylan or Andrej, and if Yaxel and Morez are switched on our guards, we should be able to attack with Mirk or Tomi down low, and if they send 2 to trap both of them are good enough passers to find the open shooter.

To me the game comes down to rebounding much like with Michigan State. If we aren’t able to get 35% or better of our missed shots back, Michigan will kill us in transition the way MSU did. It’s true that Michigan is more athletic, but we are big enough and physical enough to wedge them under the basket and then chase the long rebounds.

Both teams present challenges for the other that they aren't used to seeing. Basketball!

Still gotta get by UCLA

Yup, this is all a bit premature. Michigan has a big game of their own tomorrow too.

 

[IlliDan]

There's taller, then there's tougher and more athletic. Our bigs aren't very physical, live on the perimeter(which does matchup problems) and theirs are NBA caliber, play above the rim, athletic, physically tough bullies(for lack of a better term and they will bully the opponent.

We're going to have to shoot light out and make them pay by spreading them out to offset the punishment we'll take in the paint. It is what it is. To beat #1, you have to not be afraid to get dirty(diving in the floor, take hard found so no "and ones"" and try and keep them out of transition

A team made up of this type of explosive athleticism is our kryptonite. We just don't have that. We have to spread them out and hit threes at a high clip. That's our chance.

Front court size and rebounding fairly even,sure Mich. has an athletic edge.We have a huge edge in 3 point shooting,Morez,Mara not threats from outside.