The women’s Big Ten Tournament starts on Wednesday, and the Illinois basketball team doesn’t have to sweat the first round.
Thankfully, the Illini had a good season, resulting in a single bye in the Big Ten Tournament. Despite losing the last three games, Shauna Green guided the Orange and Blue to an 11-7 Big Ten record and the No. 7 seed in the conference tournament.
Wednesday’s matchups will determine who plays Illinois on Thursday. No. 10 Nebraska will take on No. 15 Rutgers 25 minutes after game one on Wednesday. The winner gets the honor to take on the Illini.
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Which program is a better option for Illinois, though? The Illini beat both programs this season. We took down Nebraska 77-68. Illinois also beat Rutgers 69-65 in overtime. To me, there is one clear team I would like Illinois to play.
Illinois basketball fans should be cheering for Rutgers to beat Nebraska on Wednesday
It is pretty simple. Rutgers, on paper, is the lower seed and therefore the worst team. But the game goes much deeper than seeding.
You can’t tell in the box score, but Illinois missed a lot of bunnies against Nebraska. We struggled to put the ball in the hoop from close range, and that killed us.
Kendall Bostic had one of her worst games of the season, as she finished the Rutgers game with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists. The fact that she went 3-of-11 from the field is an outlier. That is something I am not worrying about.
Rutgers does most of their damage on the perimeter. Kiyomi McMiller about clipped us in the last game, but she didn’t play well. She had 22 points but was 8-of-22 from the field and 2-of-8 from three-point range. For the season, Illinois is allowing opponents to shoot 27.7% from three-point range, which ranks No. 34 in the country. So, I like the option of playing Rutgers.
On top of the matchup being good with Rutgers, I am a little worried about Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are sneaky good, and they have a powerful weapon with Alexis Markowski. She managed to drop 14 points and 11 rebounds in the last matchup. She also shot 6-of-12 from the field and 1-of-2 from three-point range. Over the last two seasons, Markowski averages 18.7 points and 10.3 rebounds in three matchups against Illinois.
So, tomorrow around 5:00 p.m. CT/6:00 p.m. ET, get cozy, get a snack, and root on Rutgers. While I believe Illinois will beat either program, I would like to have a little bit easier path in the Big Ten Tournament.