The women's Illinois basketball team was hoping for a stellar end to their regular season, but came up short against the No. 22 Minnesota Golden Gophers.
The Illini, who won three of their last four games prior to Sunday, needed win No. 20 to help their NCAA tournament resume. It was supposed to be the perfect capstone to an already impressive season, but it ended up being cut short by the likes of seniors Sophie Hart and Amaya Battle.
This was a bit of a rough patch to hit before the start of the Big Ten Tournament, but this team still has plenty of life for March. Just like head coach Shauna Green said after the game, this team is an NCAA Tournament team.
But before we move on to the tournament, what are some key observations that we should be looking at as we make our way towards Wednesday?
1. Minnesota center Sophie Hart was a big part of the Gophers' win
Prior to the start of this game, the only name that was rattling around in my head was that of Hart. The 6-foot-5 center from Farmington, Minnesota, has been a terror in the paint for the Golden Gophers.
Hart's distinct size advantage mixed with her veteran IQ made her a problem for Illinois' young frontcourt, resulting in Hart leading the Gophers with 17 points and six rebounds in just 19 minutes of work.
Granted, Cearah Parchment's early foul trouble did hinder Illinois' ability to guard Hart a bit. But this was just a game that was meant for Minnesota's center. It was a physical matchup that put her opposition in early foul trouble, and she took advantage because of it.
2. The weak start bug bit the Illini once again at the State Farm Center
For some reason, the Illini have been experiencing a peculiar trend of starting games slowly. It happened in their games against Oregon and USC when they scored a combined 47 in the first half across both games. It also happened in the Rutgers game when they only led the then 9-17 Scarlet Knights by two after the first quarter.
That trend unfortunately reared its ugly head Sunday afternoon against Minnesota when the Illini quickly fell behind in the first quarter by a score of 22-14. Illinois shot 5-of-12 from the field in this quarter, missing a few key jumpers from sophomore Berry Wallace and Parchment.
The Illini did make a strong comeback down the stretch to make this a rather palatable contest. But it was this early hole they put themselves in that really set them back for the rest of the game. This team is very talented and has a great chance to make noise in this year's NCAA tournament. But they will need to cut this out and quickly, or else someone is going to capitalize on it early.
3. Maddie Webber had a perfect afternoon in an attempt to keep Illinois in it
It is tough to look at the box score for this game after a loss with the way the Illini played. Sure, they had some miscues and some sloppy play, especially during their 14-point first half. But they still had five players who were able to score double-digits in this game.
The best performance in my mind, however, has to be that of junior Maddie Webber. The transfer guard out of Villanova had an absolutely miraculous shooting performance against the Gophers this past Sunday, scoring 14 points while shooting 100% from the field, 5-of-5, and from three-point range, 2-of-2.
Webber literally could not miss on Sunday, and continued to show why she's a pivotal piece for the Illini off the bench. As we make our way through March Madness, Webber is going to be a very important player to watch for the Orange and Blue. We should certainly expect her to have a "March Moment" or two as we make our way down the stretch.