5. Illinois was nasty on the glass
The great Dan Fouts once said to Brent Musburger, “Last game of the year Brent, can’t hold anything back now.” Illinois took those words to heart on Sunday night and absolutely obliterated the glass.
Coming into the game against Iowa, the Illini weren’t dominating the rebounding department against our counterparts. In the four games prior and in seven out of the past eight contests, Illinois had sub-40 rebounds. That wasn’t the Illinois I knew when it came to the rebounding department.
In fact, since January 1, the Illini rebounding average has gone down consistently. We were averaging 44.8 rebounds per game entering 2024. By February 1, Illinois’ average dropped to 42.9 rebounds per game. Coming into Sunday night, we averaged 41.1 rebounds per contest.
I mentioned in an earlier slide that I was impressed with the defensive energy Illinois brought to the table. We came into the Iowa game with a game plan of displaying our defensive prowess. Well, the same can be said for rebounding as well.
Illinois finished the Iowa game with 50 rebounds. That is 12 more rebounds than the 38 rebounds we had against the Hawkeyes just weeks ago. It was a team effort on the glass as well.
Quincy Guerrier led the way with 13 rebounds. He finally displayed his great athletic ability and hops. Coleman Hawkins did his thing with 10 rebounds. The 6-foot-6 Ty Rodgers continued to play like a 7-foot-2 big man with his eight rebounds in 26 minutes as well.
Let’s not discount the bench either. I had issues with the Illinois bench against Purdue, but they came through for us on Sunday night. The Illini bench had nine rebounds against Iowa. That is a big number.
Illinois needed to show better effort on defense and in the rebounding department. I was pleased with what I saw against the Hawkeyes, and this was a great victory heading into the Big Ten Tournament.