Illinois retooling offense this summer

Jul. 10—CHAMPAIGN — Illinois finished the 2023-24 men’s college basketball season with one of the most efficient offenses in the country.

What worked last season, though, won’t necessarily be the way forward in the 2024-25 season when it tips off in November.

Mostly because what worked was a lot of “booty ball” from Marcus Domask and a lot of Terrence Shannon Jr. bulldozing his way to the basket both in transition and in the halfcourt. Both will make their NBA Summer League debuts later this week, Shannon for the Timberwolves and Domask with the Bulls.

So the Illini will have to retool their offense to fit a new-look team with just two returning players in Ty Rodgers and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (neither player was an offensive focal point last season) and 10 newcomers. That process started to take shape in the first four weeks of Illinois’ summer workouts, with individual work in small groups and structured pick-up games.

The latter is where Illinois has started to try and leverage its depth of talent. After finishing last season ranked just inside the top 70 nationally in terms of adjusted tempo, Brad Underwood wants the 2024-25 team to play faster. So the Illini coach has tweaked some of the pick-up structure.

“We started out playing pick-up with a 24-second shot clock,” Underwood said. “It was 20 one week. Then it was 18 seconds one week. Guys get in great shape doing that because they’ve got to run. They have to learn to make decisions quickly.

“It just keeps guys thinking and keeps them competitive. There’s days we play two-minutes games with a 14-second shot clock. We mix it up. It’s never the same, but it’s a lot of five-on-five.”

Illinois’ pick-up games have also included shot selection-based scoring. Dunks and layups are valued. Catch-and-shoot three-pointers are worth more than off-the-dribble threes. Paint touches that lead to shots are rewarded. Long twos that come in possessions without a paint touch yield just a single point.

“It’s a way for us to get them to figure…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/illinois-retooling-offense-summer-144900301.html

Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

Publish date : 2024-07-10 14:49:00

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