Illinois basketball headed west to start a two-game trip on the Pacific Coast.
On paper, this seems like a challenge, as the Illini are going to be on the road and will be playing at different times than usual. This is a chance for both USC and UCLA to take advantage of that homecourt.
Well, one of the two teams has already failed. The Trojans completely laid an egg on Wednesday night. For those hoping to go to bed early because of a blowout, you got your wish. Illinois had a double-digit lead early in the contest and never looked back.
From the jump, USC was out of this game. Illinois' dismantling of the Trojans continued to the tune of a 22-point halftime lead. That lead grew in the second half, as Illinois ended up beating USC, 101-65.
Here are five huge observations of the Illinois basketball beatdown of USC
1. Illinois is on a different level than USC
There are some games when you watch, and you can see that the two teams are not equal. One team is clearly better in every way than the other. That is what you got on Wednesday night.
Illinois came out of the gates, and in every facet of the game, we were a better program. The size was the thing that really stood out to me. The Illini looked like an NBA team while the Trojans had the size of a high school program.
Beyond the size aspect, talent-wise, Illinois was far beyond USC at every position. We were more athletic and quicker than the Trojans. We had better big men. We had better shooters.
Sure, USC might get into the NCAA tournament, as they are still 18-8 overall, but if that is an NCAA tournament team, Illinois will be just fine in the postseason. We were clearly a superior program to that of USC, and Eric Musselman has some work to do to get to our level.
2. Ball movement for the Illini was great
I loved everything Illinois did on Wednesday night. From opening tip to final buzzer, this was the best game the Illini have played this season.
A big reason the Illini dropped 101 points on USC was that we were moving the ball from the start of the game. The ball was flying around the floor, and unlike some of the previous contests, we didn’t just stand around and watch Keaton Wagler pound the rock.
It also wasn’t just perimeter movement. Illinois would get the ball moving on the perimeter, but then we would dump it down inside. The ball continued to move after that, as one of our big men would then dish it outside and get the ball moving again. The Illini played a great inside-out game.
I think the box score also reflects the great Illinois ball movement. For the game, we had 21 assists, which was the third-most for the season. It was also the most assists for the program since the Southern game back on December 29.
3. The Illini big men rendered Gabe Dynes useless
One of the keys I had to beating USC was the Illinois big men giving USC center Gabe Dynes problems. This kid is massive, at 7-foot-5, so we needed to figure out a way to take away that height advantage.
Dynes has been thrown into the starting lineup due to injury. Over the last three games, he has averaged 17.3 minutes per contest. On Wednesday night, he played just seven minutes.
Illinois did exactly what I was hoping they would do. They ran Dynes off the floor. He couldn’t keep up with the Illini offense and our big men. We stretched the floor, pulling Dynes out to the perimeter and not allowing him to defensively dominate the paint.
In those seven minutes on the floor, Dynes had one rebound and one foul. That is it. It was a masterclass in game planning for the USC big man. Illinois went to work early, and it was a flawless execution.
4. USC was not playing defense from the jump
I mentioned this in an earlier section, but Illinois was a better team from the jump. As soon as the game got going, you could tell that the Illini were going to put up a number.
Literally, within 15 minutes of the game starting, I noticed something pretty evident. USC wasn’t playing defense. I tweeted it out that I’m not an expert, but USC should probably start guarding.
Illinois was getting open looks from three-point range. We just had to move the ball around, and there would always be an open man. The Trojans weren’t closing out well, and this enabled the Illini to jump out to a double-digit lead just over five minutes into the game.
Nothing would change, either. It is like the team checked out completely. There was one point in the game when Kylan Boswell had an open three-pointer. He missed, and Illinois got the rebound. The ball was passed back to Boswell, who missed another open three-pointer. Illinois got the rebound. Finally, a three-pointer went in for the program.
Illinois played a team that wasn’t all there on Wednesday night. The Trojans didn’t play defense, and it showed to the tune of 101 points for the good guys.
5. Andrej Stojakovic was a welcome sight
There was a lot I was pleased with on Wednesday night, but the health of Andrej Stojakovic took the cake.
I was surprised that Stojakovic was on the floor. I figured he was going to take the West Coast road trip as a chance to get healthy, but he checked into the game and dazzled against USC.
Stojakovic led Illinois. He played just 17 minutes, which was the eighth-most minutes, but he finished with a team-high 22 points. He was 6-of-7 from the field and 9-of-9 from the free throw line. Stojakovic also added three rebounds and a steal to the mix.
Honestly, I didn’t need the big Stojakovic stats. If he just checked into the game for a few minutes to knock some rust off and then headed back to the bench, I would have been happy. That would have been enough for me.
But the fact that Stojakovic was the lead dog in a throttling of USC makes me excited for the future. Illinois is finally at full health, and what that looks like is a near-40-point road win in the Big Ten. The near future is so bright.