Sophomore forward Lucas “Bulldog” Johnson and the Illinois basketball team pinned a crushing defeat on Iowa on Saturday that would have made Dick Bennett proud, not to mention Dick the Bruiser.
Playing the kind of bump-and-grind defense Bennett’s Wisconsin Badgers are famous for, the Illini stumped and thumped the Hawkeyes 78-50 at the Assembly Hall to run their winning streak to four and claim their sixth victory in the last seven games.
Led by Johnson, who likes his basketball rough around the edges, Illinois (15-7, 7-4) is learning the key to success in the Big Ten–that it’s better to give an elbow, shoulder or hip than receive one.
“Our inability to run our offense had an awful lot to do with Illinois’ defense,” Iowa coach Steve Alford said. “They were very physical. The bumped us off cuts all day. The way they guarded us was pretty impressive.”
No Illini player was more impressive than Johnson, who seemed to revel in mixing it up with the Hawkeyes underneath. Time after time Johnson drove to the bucket, was fouled and made Iowa pay. Johnson cashed in by scoring a season-high 16 points, making a career-high 12 free throws in 14 attempts.
“Lucas gives us a lot of emotion,” Illinois coach Lon Kruger said. “When you’ve got guys playing with the emotion and intensity of a Brian Cardinal [Purdue senior] or a Lucas Johnson, that wears on the other team after a while. Those bulldog-type personalities are great to have on your team.”
Bulldog? Johnson barked his approval.
“I get tangled up a lot,” he said. “But that’s just the physical play, the aggressive play I bring to the table. If I get tangled up, I get tangled up. I don’t try to hurt anybody.”
Three days after they stunned No. 5 Ohio State 67-64 in Columbus, the Hawkeyes found their pride hurting as much as their bodies. Johnson, Sergio McClain and Brian Cook each had two of Illinois’ nine steals, and the Hawkeyes (11-12, 4-7) turned the ball over 14 times. In the last 10 minutes of the first half, they also shot 26 percent (5 for 18) and made only one shot to fall behind 30-17 at the intermission.
Center Jacob Jaacks sparked Iowa with nine points and nine rebounds in the first half, but Illinois was so effective clogging the middle that Jaacks was held to one bucket in six attempts and finished with 12 points. Rob Griffin led Iowa with 20 points, but the Illini held junior guard Dean Oliver, who scored 21 against the Buckeyes, to two points.
“The game was called in a way that benefited physical play,” Alford said. “Give Illinois credit. They took advantage of that and we didn’t.”
Illinois enjoyed its first romp in a while with Cook contributing a career-, season- and game-high 21 points and Marcus Griffin adding 10 points and five rebounds before fouling out with 4:13 remaining. In five of their last six Big Ten games, the Illini have held their opponents under 60 points.
“In the beginning the team didn’t take defense as seriously as we needed to,” Johnson said. “We kind of relied on our offensive threats to outscore teams. But that changed after the Michigan State game (a 91-66 blowout). Michigan State sets a lot of standards in this league, and for us to be as good as them we realized we needed to elevate our defense to their level.”
Take it from Iowa: It’s elevated.
