Writing Illini
Fansided

Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Morehead State

By Rees Woodcock

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - MARCH 02: Head coach Shauna Green of the Illinois Fighting Illini looks on against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the first half of the game in the second round of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament at Target Center on March 2, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - MARCH 02: Head coach Shauna Green of the Illinois Fighting Illini looks on against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the first half of the game in the second round of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament at Target Center on March 2, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 5
Next
Illinois basketball
Dec 4, 2012; Champaign, IL, USA; The Big Ten logo displayed on the court before the game between the Western Carolina Catamounts and the Illinois Fighting Illini at Assembly Hall. Mandatory Credit: Bradley Leeb-USA TODAY Sports /

5. Illinois getting outrebounded worries me a bit

Coming into the 2023-24 season, I thought Illinois would be okay in the rebounding department. We returned a ton of talent from the NCAA tournament squad last year, and there shouldn’t be any issues heading into the new campaign.

Through one game, I am a bit worried, though. Illinois wasn’t able to rebound well against Morehead State, and this enabled the Eagles to hang around a little too long.

Led by Kendall Bostic and Adalia McKenzie, who averaged 9.8 and 6.1 rebounds, respectively, Illinois was a solid rebounding team last season. We pulled down an average of 38.6 rebounds per game, which ranked No. 80 out of 363 DI basketball programs.

Illinois’ top five rebounders from the team last season all returned this year too. While we were missing Makira Cook, who averaged 3.4 rebounds per game in 2022-23, the Illini still should have been able to outrebound Morehead State, a team that pulled down 33.9 rebounds per game and ranked No. 287 in the country last season.

That didn’t end up being the case, though. The Eagles outrebounded Illinois on Tuesday night 36-32. Bostic pulled down 13 rebounds en route to a double-double, but she didn’t get much help on the glass. The next highest rebounder was Genesis Bryant who pulled down four rebounds on the night.

It was the first game of the season, so I am not putting too much stock into certain things right now. But we have to be better on the glass. Hopefully, this was a bit of a wake-up call because Marquette is not going to be easy to deal with if we can’t rebound.

Next. 5 observations from the Illini win over Eastern Illinois. dark

Home/Illinois Basketball