5 huge observations from the Illinois basketball win over Oregon State

4. Great defensive effort against Sela Heide

There is a lot of praise to be given for the way the Illinois offense performed against Oregon State. The Illini were clicking from nearly everywhere on the court.

I did notice one thing specifically on the defensive side of the court. Oregon State trotted out their 6-foot-7 center Sela Hedie. She hasn’t been a superstar this season, but I was pleased with how Illinois handled her in the paint and held her to a mundane night.

Kendall Bostic was tasked with guarding Heide, and this is one of the reasons why I thought Bostic’s night was so special. Heide has five inches on Bostic. It is a massive height difference in the game of basketball between 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-2.

Despite the height difference, Bostic and the Illini were able to keep Heide contained. She only had nine points, six rebounds, two assists, and one block. Heide also ended the game with three fouls and two turnovers.

Illinois had a great game plan for Heide. We constantly didn’t allow Heide to get comfortable in the paint. Bostic would front Heide and not let her post up. This forced Oregon State to make a risky pass into the post if they wanted to get her the ball.

Every time the ball would go up, Illinois did a great job of boxing Heide out as well. We didn’t let her get going on the glass, and that was huge for the Illini widening the margin in the game.

This was a great game plan against the biggest player Illinois will go up against this season. On top of that great game plan, it was well executed too.