Illinois Basketball looks to grow its hot streak to 4-straight Big Ten wins, and possible winners of 9 of their last 10 conference matchups. The Illini are coming off of a 72-56 win over Nebraska in which the Huskers gave the Illini a good scare. For the first 33+ minutes of the game, Nebraska’s Sam Griesel was untouchable, and the Huskers held a 2 point lead. However, Illinois strong defense held on to shut down Nebraska’s offense entirely for the final 6+ minutes of the game, where Illinois pulled ahead and never looked back.
Up next for the llini, a saturday travel to Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, where Illinois will faceoff against heated border-rival, the Iowa Hawkeyes. Now granted, Iowa has gone 0-5 against Illinois in their last 5 matchups. However, those 5 have been absolute classics with matchups like Kofi Cockburn vs Luke Garza, and Ayo vs Keegan Murray.
There will of course be a little bit of added juice to this years rivalry, as an Orange Krush controversy with ticketing at Carver-Hawkeye Arena has gotten both teams and fanbases fired up on social media. As always with good ol’ Illinois vs Iowa matchups, a lot of smack talk, and a lot of controversy.
Know the Enemy
The 14-8 Hawkeyes are winners of their last two Big Ten matchups. An impressive 93-82 win over a second place Rutgers team, at the time, before knocking off the hot Northwestern Wildcats in dominant fashion 86-70.
Iowa is led by Big Ten star Kris Murray, who averages nearly 21 points per game, and shoots 50.4% from the floor. Murray stands at 6’8 and 220lbs, and shoots lights out when he gets going. Kris, the brother of former lottery pick (no. 4 in the 2022 draft) Keegan Murray, is a future NBA star himself, and is a great test for a very athletic and big Illini team. Illinois size and hounding defense will be a major player in the success that Murray will have on saturday, and Matt Mayer and Coleman Hawkins certainly will have their hands full. Murray is coming off of a 22 point scoring game vs Rutgers, and 16 points vs the Northwestern Wildcats, so he is certainly feeling good, and ready to give the Illini his all.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Iowa basketball if we didn’t have a pair of McCaffery’s on the court right? Senior Guard Connor McCaffery stands in at 6’6 and 215 lbs, and will be a threat from the mid-range, as well as occasionally from behind the arc. I don’t say that lightly as McCaffery has been a good 3-point shooter in years past, but his 3 point percentage average has dropped from a 50% 3-point percentage in 2018, to a 38% in 2022-2023. He currently averages 7.9 PPG, and shoots 44% from the floor. Connor can be as dangerous as anyone in the Big Ten when his shots are going down, but Illinois goal of course, is to try to keep that from happening.
Then of course you have Connors younger brother, Junior F Patrick McCaffery, who has seen some really nice growth in his game. He currently is sitting over his older brother in average points per game with 11.8, and rebounds with 4.4. The 6’9 forward is a really great complimentary piece to other F Kris Murray, as the two big men are a matchup nightmare with their length and athleticism.
Illini Now Prediction
Lucky for Illinois, Hawkins, Dainja, Melendez and Mayer all bring the size and athleticism to match, but can they be as discipline? That’s the question. Illinois has to avoid early foul trouble, and keeping their best scorers off the bench. Illinois has really struggled over the course of the season when Dainja, Shannon, and Hawkins find themselves in foul trouble. It usually leads to streaky scoring, and sloppy turnovers due to bad rotations, and Illinois can’t afford to start slow and discombobulated. The Illini will need to play one of their best defensive games of the season to finish, because the Hawkeyes combination of size and shooting ability is a problem, and Illinois will lose if they are behind on the defensive end of the floor. However, Illinois has bettered themselves at not allowing this starting rotation to not start ice cold, and force themselves to take easy shots, feeding the paint early. I also believe that Illinois will need to be pretty good from behind the arc. As good as freshman guards Jayden Epps and Sincere Harris have been as a spark to this team, Iowa City is a hostile environment, and this is a BIG Iowa team. These are very tough circumstances for even the best freshman guards in college basketball. Illinois has been a good team from behind the arc, on and off this season, but recently it has been a bit of a struggle. The Illini will truly need to play one of their best, and most complete games of the season, and vs their heated rival Iowa, they will.
Illini 77 Hawkeyes 72
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