Game 3 preview | Oakland at Illinois; 8 p.m., Wednesday

Nov. 13—Beat writer Scott Richey breaks down the matchup between the Illini and Golden Grizzles:

Storylines

Like most college basketball rosters, Oakland’s looks about as similar as last year’s as Illinois’ does. What hasn’t changed for the Golden Grizzlies, though, is what longtime coach Greg Kampe stresses in the games he schedules against high-major programs. Wednesday’s at Illinois will be one of two for Oakland, with a Friday date in Lawrence, Kan., with top-ranked Kansas. Offensive rebounding, minimal turnovers, knocking down open threes and, most importantly, limiting the number of possessions is how Kampe will try to pull the upset in Champaign.

“If you remember, they had a 10-second count walking the ball across half court last year with the game on the line,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “He wants to play fewer possessions. It’s a game he wants to control the possessions. … They’re very, very comfortable playing in the late shot clock. You get an NCAA tournament vibe or a league game vibe with lower possessions sometimes, and it will be interesting to see how we react to that. We still have to be us. We still have to get out and push and try to play with tempo. We’ve still got to be effective on the offensive glass.”

Defense was certainly a point of emphasis in the wake of Illinois’ charity exhibition loss at Mississippi in late October. That the Rebels shot 49 percent from the field overall and 52 percent from three-point range — numbers fueled in part by the Illini’s 22 turnovers — was far from the type of gritty defensive effort Underwood expects from his team. Last week showed growth on that front, with Illinois limiting both Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville to inefficient evenings offensively.

“We have an identity we know we want to build on,” junior guard Tre White said. “How I look at it, it’s never just one game where we mess up. I feel like it’s everything leading up to that. Every practice has been intense for us — super intense. Now,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/game-3-preview-oakland-illinois-154800302.html

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

Publish date : 2024-11-13 15:48:00

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