The first time Illinois was forced to play two games in three days this season, coach Bill Self brought out his old “two-game tournament” trick.
After his team outlasted Missouri in overtime Dec. 21, Self tried to pump up his weary players by telling them to think of their Dec. 23 game at Texas as the second of a two-game tournament instead of what it was–a land mine of a trip two days before Christmas. Give Self credit for a nice try, but the Longhorns won 72-64.
With Michigan set to visit the Assembly Hall on Saturday night only 48 hours after the Illini were thumped 78-62 at Iowa, Self is using a different tack–the sooner-we-get-back-on-the-court-the-better approach. Junior forward Lucas Johnson first espoused it Thursday night after Illinois’ toughest defeat of the year.
“What Lucas said was good,” Self said. “We have to get [the Iowa loss] out of our minds. When you get beat like we did you want a chance to redeem yourselves. Unfortunately, Michigan has had since Tuesday to get ready for us.”
Upon further review, Self didn’t think his Illini played as poorly as the final score and Iowa’s 22-6 second-half run seemed to indicate. Self said his team might have made it closer with:
– A better night at the free throw line, where the Illini missed seven in a row and 10-of-17.
– A few favorable rolls on the numerous fast-break layups that failed to drop.
– Better shot selection, because the Illini missed 15-of-22 three-pointers.
“As poorly as I thought we played,” Self said, “I thought we guarded pretty hard and fought pretty hard. I don’t know. I think we can bounce back. We fell apart in the last eight minutes, but I’m more concerned about Saturday because it’s Michigan than because of what happened in the second half.”
To bounce back against the Wolverines (7-6, 1-1 Big Ten), the Illini (12-4, 2-1) will have to rebound much better than they did against the Hawkeyes, who dominated 47-27 on the boards. They also will need the floor leadership of point guard Frank Williams, who bruised his tailbone and sat out the last four minutes against Iowa.
“We hope it’s [just] a bruised tailbone,” Self said. “I know he was in a lot of discomfort. Frank is tough. If he’s able to go, we plan on using him. Right now, though, I’m not counting on him being 100 percent.”
With four freshmen and three sophomores on its roster, Michigan has been up and down all year. The lowlights were a 97-90 loss to Oakland, an 82-51 loss to Maryland and a 104-61 pounding by Duke. The highlight was Tuesday’s victory over Indiana in Ann Arbor.
“Our rotation has been fine,” Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe said. “We don’t have an experienced guy on our basketball team outside of [senior] Josh Asselin.”
