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5 huge observations from the Illinois basketball win over Oregon State

The weekend got off to a great start, as the women's Illinois basketball program flexed it's muscles on an overmatched Oregon State squad.

By Rees Woodcock

Feb 25, 2024; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Shauna Green reacts against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the fourth quarter at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Feb 25, 2024; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Shauna Green reacts against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the fourth quarter at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
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The women’s Illinois basketball team continued to impress on Friday night with another big win.

Coming into the game, the Illini were 4-0 and had already beaten a top-25 program in Florida State and a good team in Marquette. We were on top of the world.

It would be understandable for a letdown game to happen. Illinois didn’t let it happen, though. We came out of the gates firing, and Oregon State didn’t have answers.

Illinois played well in both halves. We took a 10-point lead into the halftime locker room and quickly expanded on that lead in the third quarter. By the game’s end, Illinois managed to secure an 85-66 win over Oregon State.

Here are five huge observations from the Illinois basketball win over Oregon State

1. Illinois was tough on the boards

Coming into the game on Friday night, Illinois has been able to hold their own when it comes to the rebounding department. But this wasn’t an easy matchup, as Oregon State is a good rebounding team as well.

Despite Oregon State having some great size, the Illini were tough on the boards. We were able to pull down rebounds at a rate that I was impressed with considering the opposing team had a 6-foot-7 center starting.

Illinois finished the game pulling down 36 rebounds compared to Oregon State’s 34 rebounds. Five of the 36 rebounds were on the offensive glass too, but we didn’t have a ton of opportunities considering the team shot 54.7% from the field.

The thing that impressed me the most about Illinois’ rebounding ability on Friday night was the size differential. Oregon State trotted out a 6-foot-7 center and a 6-foot-5 forward. We limited those two players to just 12 rebounds in 42 minutes of game action.

I think a big part of the great rebounding effort on the part of Illinois is the fact our frontcourt is strong and athletic. It is hard to move Kendall Bostic off her spot, and she does a great job boxing out. The same can be said for Brynn Shoup-Hill. Both players were quicker than anything Oregon State had in the frontcourt too.

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