It’s strength on strength as Iowa State basketball meets Illinois in NCAA Tournament Sweet 16

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BOSTON – Kyle Green and Hason Ward sat on a pair of folding chairs in the narrow hallway outside the cramped locker room at TD Garden. On his lap, Green had a laptop, playing various clips of Illinois’ heavy-hitter offense for Ward to consume.

As players, staff and media shuffled through the tight confines, Green and Ward were engrossed in the screen in front of them.

“We were watching a couple clips on dudes,” Ward, a senior forward, said later, “trying to see how to defend the ball screens, how to defend guys on the roll and box dudes out to keep them off the glass.”

Every moment of preparation and every little detail matters in the Sweet 16 for No. 2 seed Iowa State basketball as it readies to take on the No. 3 Illini on Thursday (9:09 p.m.; TBS).

More: Iowa State basketball: The story behind the Cyclones’ last Final Four team in 1944

It will be an incredible battle between the country’s most efficient defense (Iowa State) and the nation’s most efficient offense (Illinois).

“Probably the most explosive offensive team we’ve played,” Green, who, along with fellow assistant JR Blount, coordinates head coach T.J. Otzelberger’s defense, said. “What they’ve done as the year’s gone on is define their roles on their team, and each guy has accepted and is very good at what he does. They do a wonderful job of creating mismatches.

“Every time you think you’ve got this part covered, this pops up. They’re a really good offensive team.”

Illinois (28-8) ranks No. 1 offensively on KenPom.com thanks largely to its ability to score in different ways. The Illini rank just outside the top 100 in 3-point shooting (35.3%) while ranking 21st in 2-point shooting (55.3%). They’re 16th nationally in offensive rebounding as they grab 36.2% of their own misses.

They have a dynamic wing scorer in Terrence Shannon, Jr., a pick-and-pop center in Coleman Hawkins, a physical guard in Marcus Domask and a player, Dain Dainja, who hasn’t missed a shot since March 15…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/strength-strength-iowa-state-basketball-211930471.html

Author : The Des Moines Register

Publish date : 2024-03-27 21:19:30

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