CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Among the numerous weaknesses No. 8 Illinois exposed Sunday against Indiana men’s basketball, rebounding stood out as much as any.
This isn’t anything new for the Hoosiers. It’s been one of the team’s biggest issues all season: whether it could rebound enough to win close games, or to make up the difference when shots aren’t falling.
And Sunday at State Farm Center, Illinois exploited that advantage. The Fighting Illini out-rebounded IU 38-25, and they cruised to a 71-51 victory.
“We knew it (rebounding) was the No. 1 thing that we had to do a good job of if we were gonna come in here and win,” Indiana head coach Darian DeVries said after the game. “Illinois is one of the best rebounding teams in the country. And for good reason. They got great size, they go with some physicality, they go with effort. And if we were gonna stay with them, we were gonna have to limit that. And as the game wore on, they wore into us a little bit and those opportunities became too many.”
Indeed, Illinois (21-5, 12-3 Big Ten) is one of the toughest rebounding teams IU has faced this season. The Fighting Illini entered Sunday ranked eighth in the country in total rebounds per game (41.3), 11th in offensive rebounds per game (11.9), and fourth in offensive rebound percentage (38.4).
Indiana (17-9, 8-7) has a roster with clear size limitations; it was already clearly a difficult matchup on the glass coming into Champaign. But the extent of which the rebounding battle got away proved problematic.
The offensive glass was a particular issue. Illinois racked up 15 offensive boards, which turned into 17 second-chance points.
This was the Hoosiers’ 14th game this year allowing at least 10 offensive rebounds. They’re 8-6 in those contests; they’re 9-3 when keeping opponents to single digits on the offensive glass.
That caused obvious problems for IU’s defense, but it spilled over to the other end as well. It allowed Illinois to control the pace and get its own defense set. Indiana didn’t score a single fastbreak point all game.
“We had to clean up their glass better so we could get our own transition opportunities,” DeVries said. “We had to play against a set defense so much of the time.”
IU is now 4-6 on the year when it gets out-rebounded. When that disparity finishes in double digits, DeVries’ squad is 0-5.
Illinois used only seven players all game. Five of them finished with at least six rebounds.
That’s a stark contrast from Indiana’s box score. Sam Alexis grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, but nobody else recorded more than three.
This was a major focus for the Illini going into Sunday, an area they knew they could control.
“I thought one of the big keys to the game was just getting back to us on glass,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said. “Kylan (Boswell), four offensive rebounds. Tommy (Tomislav Ivisic), four offensive rebounds. … So just the emphasis on that for two days was great.”
Indiana will have to find a way to compete more effectively on the glass to have a chance of doing anything in March.
The Hoosiers don’t have anyone averaging more than five rebounds per game in Big Ten play. Tucker DeVries (5.3) is the only player doing that over the whole season. Their two post players, Alexis (4.1 rebounds per game in conference games) and Reed Bailey (3.4 in conference games), aren’t consistently reliable enough on the glass to be difference-making rebounders.
IU’s guards have to find ways to make up some of that difference. The backcourt has done that on occasion, but not often.
But rebounding, as much as anything in basketball, comes down to sheer effort and grit. And that may be what Indiana needs to improve to put up a better fight on the glass against good teams. At least that’s what Alexis thinks.
“We gotta be tougher and more physical.”
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