When Brad Underwood scheduled No. 8 Illinois for home games on Saturday and Monday, he did it to simulate the NCAA Tournament’s weekend format.
It’s the only time during the regular season that the Illini will play twice in a three-day span. And, as is often the case in the NCAA Tournament, the quality of Illinois’ opponent climbs from Game 1 to Game 2.
After dispatching NEC favorite Long Island by 40 points on Saturday, Illinois (5-1) tackles UT Rio Grande Valley (2-3) on Monday night in Champaign, Ill.
The Illini aren’t fooled by the Vaqueros’ record. They built a 14-point first-half lead at Baylor in their season opener before losing by 15. They led by 13 with 5:19 to go Saturday at Missouri State and lost by seven. They rank 11th in the nation in 3-point accuracy at 43.2%.
Even if these facts weren’t the case, Underwood would not allow his guys to look ahead to their Black Friday showdown with No. 3 UConn at Madison Square Garden.
“The next one’s the important one,” the coach said. “I’ve had it marked on my calendar since (the schedule) came out. UTRGV is good. They’ve got a very, very good player.”
That player, graduate transfer guard Marvin McGhee, averages 15.0 points and 6.2 rebounds while shooting 48% from 3-point range. UTRGV also starts forward Filip Brankovic (9.4 ppg), who played professionally with Illinois guard Mihailo Petrovic in Serbia.
“They play very hard,” Underwood said. “They’re very well-coached. And I do understand what’s after it. I’ve had this one marked because this is an NCAA Tournament-like setup where we’ve got a quick turn. And it’s a quality opponent … they have our full attention.”
However, as is typical with coaches at this time of year, Underwood is far more concerned with his team sustaining an effort than anything his opponent might do. After the Illini built a 70-24 lead against Long Island, the final 14 minutes turned into glorified rec ball.
“This is where we’ve got to continue to grow as a team,” Underwood said. “We can’t let immaturity settle in. We’ve got to continue to want to play the game the right way — no matter what the lead is, no matter who the opponent is.”
To be fair, Illinois’ players could have mistaken the Long Island clash for an extended practice where the coaches mix and match the lineups on the court frequently. With Tomislav Ivisic (knee), Petrovic (hamstring) and freshman guard Brandon Lee (high ankle sprain) all part of the rotation against Long Island, suddenly the Illini have 10 worthy players to evaluate and games can feel experimental.
They even went through a brief stretch on Saturday where all three point guards — Petrovic, Kylan Boswell and Keaton Wagler — were on the floor at the same time.
“We probably have never practiced that lineup, to be very honest,” Underwood said.
More important, Illinois’ offense looks different when Petrovic, a pure point guard who was projected as the starter in preseason, is running the show compared to the tag team of Boswell (17.8 ppg, 4.2 apg) and Wagler (16.2 ppg) — who got accustomed to feeding off each other when Petrovic missed the first four games.
“(Petrovic) is still very new to what we’re doing practice-wise,” Underwood said. “He’s still got some of his European club stuff where he wants the ball in his hands a lot. We don’t. We need him to move it, drive it, but he’s getting there.”
