NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY ILLINOIS VS. UCONN
When: Saturday, 6:09 p.m.
Where: TD Garden, Boston
Records: Illinois 29-8, UConn 34-3
TV: TBS
Radio: UConn Sports Network, WAVZ-New Haven (1300 AM), WGCH- Greenwich (1490 AM), WATR-Waterbury (1320 AM), WICH-Norwich (1310 AM, 94.5 FM), WILI-Willimantic (1400 AM, 95.3 FM), Fox Sports 97.9 FM Hartford, SiriusXM-983, SXM App 973
KEEP AN EYE ON
Fighting Illini: This is what Dan Hurley meant when he said his UConn men’s basketball team received a tougher draw than a No. 1 overall seed deserves.
Illinois may be the No. 3 seed in the East Region, but boasts the resume of a team that could have been considered a top seed. The Illini have won seven straight and 10 of their last 11, their lone loss to No. 2 overall seed Purdue. They won the Big Ten Tournament championship and edged second-seeded Iowa State on Thursday night to advance to the Elite Eight.
Illinois boasts KenPom’s No. 2-rated offense, averaging 84.2 points per game with an uptempo style engineered by senior Terrence Shannon Jr., the nation’s third-leading scorer at 23.5 ppg. Marcus Domask has emerged as a lethal scoring threat after transferring from Southern Illinois and Coleman Hawkins is more than just a social media troller.
The Huskies have some familiarity with Quincy Guerrier, facing him while he was with Oregon last season in the PK85 Invitational and holding him to five points in 15 minutes. And UConn recruited Ty Rodgers, an athletic guard/wing.
Illinois has weathered the storm of a rape charge against Shannon, who was suspended from the team for a while before a court ruled he should be reinstated. According the Des Moines Register, his preliminary hearing in the rape case, originally set for February, was moved back to May 10 after the court had a scheduling conflict. He has yet to enter a plea. His attorney, Mark P. Sutter, said in a statement to the Des Moines Register that Shannon had declared his innocence “from the beginning” and that he has “cooperated with law enforcement throughout the investigation.”
The Illini’s defense has been suspect, rated No. 84 in the nation by KenPom. But it’s been improving, and Illinois’ defensive intensity was a key in beating Iowa State on Thursday.
The Illni won’t be intimidated by the Huskies. “I have more of a respect for them,” Hawkins said. “I think it’s a higher level of respect. I think they’ve been playing great all year. I think they’re well-coached, and they do what they do.”
Indeed, while Illinois may have the No. 2 offense in the country, UConn boasts the No. 1, per KenPom. And the Huskies combine that with the sixth-rated efense.
“I have a lot of respect for them and what they’ve done,” Domask added. “We’ve played a lot of college basketball. I’ve played a lot of teams that are supposed to beat us, if you say they’re supposed to beat us. We’ll figure out how to guard them and how to score on us, but they have to do the same. It’s just another game for us really.”
Just another game to advance to the Final Four.