No. 5 UConn basketball, No. 13 Illinois preview; storylines, players to watch
How difficult is it to guard a team with a hardy, veteran point guard and sizable, downhill wing as its go-to scoring options?
Ask Dan Hurley.
He did it last week, when now-No. 2 Arizona waltzed into Gampel Pavilion and beat the Huskies 71-67 behind 37 combined points from Jaden Bradley and Koa Peat.
And he’ll have to do it again on Black Friday, when No. 13 Illinois (6-1), anchored by the savvy scoring duo of Kylan Boswell and Andrej Stojakovic, marches into Madison Square Garden to take on No. 5 Connecticut (5-1).
Next week with Kansas will be much of the same. And Florida after that. Then Texas, too. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Friday’s game against Illinois is the Huskies’ third top 15 matchup in two weeks, with the Illini sporting by far the deepest roster UConn has faced to date.
Don’t expect any 30-0 runs this time around, though, Hurley said. The Huskies still have “a lot of work to do” to get back to that point.
Injury Updates – Reed, Mullins Inching Closer to Return
Friday’s game against the Illini is the Huskies’ first chance at being fully healthy this season, with both Braylon Mullins (ankle) and Tarris Reed Jr. (ankle) being upgraded to game time decisions by Hurley on Wednesday.
“For the first time in a while, we had 15 guys in practice,” Hurley said. “It’s been good to get some people back in practice, but Tarris and Braylon will still be game time decisions.”
Reed has missed the last two games with an ankle injury suffered in the second half of the BYU game. Likewise, Mullins has been sidelined since late October with an ankle injury suffered in practice.
“This will be the third Final Four caliber team we’ve played, and we’ve played them with health issues in all three,” Hurley said. “You don’t want to keep playing games against the best of the best without your best team.”
Reed’s presence was sorely missed against Arizona last Wednesday, when the Huskies were outrebounded by 20 and couldn’t stop the Cats’ enormous frontcourt in the paint.
Mullins, supposedly Connecticut’s next great sharpshooter, would’ve helped, too. UConn currently ranks 134th nationally in three point percentage (.350) and hit on just 8 of 25 attempts from deep against Arizona.
“He was killing it today,” Alex Karaban said of Mullins on Wednesday. “He was making his shots, he was defending well, he looked really good – as if there was no rest.”
Storylines to Watch for No. 5 UConn
A return to normalcy for Ball – Solo Ball hasn’t found the consistency from behind the arc that he displayed most of last season, hitting on just 10 of his first 40 three point attempts through six games.
The good news? Well, aside from the potential debut of Mullins to free up Ball on the perimeter, Illinois allows a lot of field goal attempts (65.9 per game, to be exact, which ranks 348th in Division I) and has allowed an assist/turnover ratio of 1.31 so far.
“Solo is in a really good mental space,” Hurley said. “He’s had the best couple days of practice shooting the ball he’s had in a while.”
Reed and Reibe – Eric Reibe was just named the Big East Freshman of the Week after leading the team in scoring the last two games. He’ll likely be relegated to a bench role with the return of Reed from injury, but Reibe will be called upon when the Illini look to space the floor with five shooters.
Defensive Player of the Year – Hurley challenged Silas Demary Jr. and Jayden Ross to be “Defensive Player of the Year caliber” going forward, citing the need to be great defensively against the slew of elite guards the Huskies will face in the next month.
“A guy who when coaches watch film, they’re seeing shutdown wing,” Hurley said of his expectations for Ross. “With the amount of weapons Illinois has and the people that we’re going to play the rest of the way, we need a shutdown wing.”
Opponent Profile: No. 13 Illinois (6-1)
The Illini are deep. They run the rims efficiently and can shoot from the perimeter at all five positions. They rebound offensively at one of the top clips in the nation and seldom turn the ball over. The starting lineup is volatile and, especially down low, hard to prepare for.
| BENCH PTS/G | PACE | TEAM 3PT% | TEAM OR% | TEAM TO% | |
| STAT | 24.3 | 70.9 | .341 | .410 | .118 |
| PERCENTILE | 59th | 72nd | 60th | 97th | 94th |
Four Illini average north of 15 points per game, nine average more than 12 minutes per game and seven shoot better than 33% from three.
“One through five can shoot the ball out there,” Karaban said when asked about Illinois. “Super physical, they love to crash the glass, so we have to show up with physicality, toughness and be able to guard their skill players.”
That physicality starts on the inbounds pass. Boswell, the former Arizona transfer, is the “head of snake” according to Dan Hurley, notorious for his bottlenecking defensive play.
But the true senior has developed into a crucial cog of the Illini offense this season, boasting career-highs in points (16.1), assists (4) and offensive rebounds (1.4) through seven games.
He’s also shouldered, along with Stojakovic, the bulk of Illinois’ late-game shot attempts. The two have combined to take 14 of the team’s 31 shots in the final three minutes of each game, which included Boswell’s lay-in with under 30 seconds remaining to put a lid on Texas Tech’s comeback two weeks ago.
Stojakovic is more of a straight line driver, slicing through the lane to get to the rack on most of his attempts. The Cal transfer is averaging 18.5 points and shooting 58.8% from the field in four starts.
“Guy’s a one-on-one player,” Hurley said. “He’s got a lot of game. He’s athletic, a really classy, athletic guard whose got a bag in terms of shot creating.”
Down low, the Illini are buoyed by the quartet of Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivsic, Ben Humrichous and David Mirkovic, who combine for 25 of Illinois’ 45 rebounds per game.
Mirkovic, the Montenegro native, is arguably the best of the bunch. The 6-foot-9, 250-pound forward was the first Illinois player since 1972 to register 20 points and 20 rebounds in one game, doing so with 27 and 21 against Colgate, respectively.
Humrichous, the other 6-foot-9 forward, led the team in three pointers made last season (62) and is a sizable, versatile defender that Brad Underwood deploys off the bench.
Freshman guard Keaton Wagler is a positionless threat from anywhere on the floor and can break open a game in transition with his athleticism.
“The quality of what they put on the court, one through five, with shooting from the center position and a four man that’s as versatile as you’re going to play against, Brad’s got a great team, they’re incredibly well coached,” Hurley explained.
Friday’s game will be only the second meeting between the two teams all-time. Illinois is 6-9 all-time at MSG (3-2 under Underwood) and 29-97 versus AP top-5 teams (5-14 under Underwood). Tip-off is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on FOX.
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