Indiana basketball heads to Champaign to take on the Illini as they try to build on back-to-back wins last week.
The Indiana Hoosiers will look to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive as they travel to play Illinois on Thursday night. Coming off two big wins over Wisconsin and Michigan State, Indiana will now see if they can get a big win on the road- something they’ve only done twice all season.
"“I know exactly how that game’s going to be,” Head Coach Archie Miller said. “Illinois plays the kind of defense you rarely see. We’re going to have to go back to work and be ready. Everybody is playing for something right now. We have to stay with what we’re doing. We have to be about us.”"
When these teams met in Bloomington in January, the Hoosiers won 73-65, with Illinois holding a 10-point lead in the first half. The Hoosiers then led by as many as 15 in the second half, before the Illini cut the lead to four with under three minutes to play. Romeo Langford had his season/career high of 28 points in the victory, as the Hoosiers pulled away in the closing minutes.
After that win, the Hoosiers began their free-fall. They dropped 12 of 13 games before winning their last two.
You almost NEVER see this- But even at 15-14 on the season= Indiana's tournament hopes are very much alive.
— Tyler Smith (@TylerSmith_ISL) March 2, 2019
SEVEN quad-1 wins.
ZERO quad 3-4 losses.
Only 13 teams have even 6 and 0 in those categories. #iubb
Illinois (11-18) has also been a streaky team of late. After winning four straight, they’ve dropped three of their last four games. They can be a dangerous team, especially at home. They’ve already defeated Michigan State, Minnesota, and Maryland at home this season, and they come in with a better record in conference play (7-11) than the Hoosiers (6-12).
These teams rank 8th and 9th in the conference in effective FG%, though Illinois leads the conference in pace. Indiana would prefer to slow the Illini down in transition and make it another low-scoring, grind-it-out type of game.
The duo of Ayo Dosunmu and Trent Frazier in the backcourt lead the team in scoring with 14 points per game each, while Giorgi Bezhanishvili (11.9 PPG) is the stabilizing force on the inside. In the previous matchup, those three combined for 49 of the 65 total points.
"“Now that we’ve won two in a row, it’s next game up,” said Hoosiers forward Justin Smith. “Confidence is definitely up, but we have to move to the next game.”"
For the Hoosiers to make the NCAA Tournament without winning the conference tourney, they’ll probably need to beat Illinois and Rutgers at the very least. As unpredictable as this season has been, good luck trying to guess which Hoosiers team will show up in Champaign on Thursday night.
What you need to know
What? Illinois 11-18 (7-11) vs Indiana 15-14 (6-12)
When? Thursday, March 7th, 8:00 pm ET
Where? Champaign, IL
TV? FS1
Radio? Indiana Radio Network, Sirius XM 135
All-Time Series? Indiana leads series 92-87
Prediction? Indiana 61, Illinois 59