Tip Off: Saturday March 30th, 2024 – 5:09 PM CT
Venue: TD Garden – Boston, MA
Illinois took down 2-seed Iowa State on Thursday night to advance to the Elite Eight. The Illini will take on reigning national champion Connecticut.
Illinois dropped from 1st to 2nd in offensive efficiency after the win over Iowa State and UConn’s 82-52 win over San Diego State. The Huskies are now 1st in the country but now the storyline for this one is the nation’s top 2 offenses meet up for a chance to go to the Final Four.
The efficiency of the Huskies’ offense stems from their transition game and high 2-point shooting percentage. That 2-point percentage is driven heavily by 7’2 Donovan Clingan down low.
I’ve already done some deep dives into UConn since they played Northwestern in the second round. You can see that post here.
Connecticut Personnel
First Team All-American Tristen Newton leads the charge for the Huskies. A real triple-double threat, he does a bit of everything. Averaging 15.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists but he is most effective as a driver.
Donovan Clingan brings the interior presence at 7’2. We’ll see how he handles the Northwestern double with just one day of prep. After playing Zach Edey and Vlad Goldin, the Cats have plenty of experience with 7-footers this season. UConn loves emptying a side out and using him in pick-and-roll lobs.
Rutgers transfer Cam Spencer has been one of the most integral parts of this team. He’s been scorching from beyond-the-arc with a 44% 3-point percentage at a pretty high volume (leads the team in 3’s made). And of course, his brother Pat Spencer played at Northwestern so I’m sure they’ll mention that on the broadcast.
Freshman Stephon Castle is a projected NBA Lottery pick. When a projected lottery pick is your 3rd leading scorer, that’s some insane depth. Due to all the other weapons on this team, Castle hasn’t had to do too much but he’s capable of playmaking for himself and others. He’ll shoot the three but it’s still a work in progress (28.1%).
Alex Karaban is the Huskies secondary shooter after Spencer but at 6’8 he really helps stretch the floor. In addition, he has shown a post-up game. He’s yet another versatile player for this team.
Hassan Diarra is the first option off the bench. His role is as a defensive pest. His offense is much shakier and a bit undisciplined at times.
Two more prized freshmen in Jaylin Stewart and Solomon Ball have been in the rotation. Ball has electric talent but is still figuring things out. Stewart is figuring it out as well. After four straight scoreless games, he put up eight in the Big East Tournament semifinal and nine in the Championship (3-4 from 3).
Samson Johnson backs up Clingan at the 5-spot. He’s an athletic freak at 6’10 with a 7’5 wingspan. He’s a rim-protector, lob catcher and floor runner.
Keys
Transition Defense – The Huskies don’t really force turnovers, but they can be lethal with their transition offense. Newton and Castle will push it, Clingan can run the floor, and Spencer and Karaban hunt threes.
Handling Clingan – The Illini have not double teamed opposing bigs this season in order to prevent threes and at times it’s allowed those opposing big to have big nights. It’ll be interesting to see how they defend Clingan. He does most of his work before he catches anyway so having Dain Dainja in there to push on him may prove to be essential.
No Easy Threes for Spencer – Cam Spencer has been the best shooter on this team all year. If the Illini can force other guys to be the ones taking the threes, then the Illini will be much better off.
Wrap Up
The Huskies have not faced a team like Illinois yet. In their three games, they’ve faced only slower teams that rely on defense. In terms of tempo, they’ve faced #253 (Stetson), #338 (Northwestern) and #268 (San Diego State). They have not played a team that wants to push it ad that has the talent to score with them. For reference, Illinois ranks 69th in tempo. Illinois has as good a chance as anyone to take down the defending champs. Let’s hope they can get it done!