The Chicago Bulls rescheduled their postponed game, and the Illinois and Notre Dame women’s teams hosted special guests this week in the Chicago basketball report.
Every Tuesday, Tribune writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Bulls, Sky and local college basketball teams. Want more? Sign up for our Tribune sports newsletter.
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Bulls reschedule postponed Heat game
The Bulls shifted their schedule to accommodate last Thursday’s game against the Miami Heat, which was postponed due to playing conditions. An abnormally warm and humid day caused the ice rink under the basketball court — which was utilized for a Blackhawks game the night before — to create severe condensation on the hardwood. After a two-hour delay, the NBA and both teams agreed to postpone the game to a later date.
The makeup game will take place at the United Center on Jan. 29. All tickets to the originally scheduled game will be honored for this new date. Additionally, the Bulls will move a previously scheduled road game against the Heat from Jan. 30 to Jan. 31. This means the Bulls and the Heat will play three times in four days on Jan 29, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
This scheduling anomaly reflects the constricted nature of both teams’ schedules. The Heat will be on the second game of a back-to-back when they travel to Chicago, adding two back-to-backs to that weekend. The Bulls will only gain one more back-to-back as a product of this rescheduling, but they will now play nine games in the final 15 days before the All-Star break.
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“I think it would have been too unsafe for those guys to play, I think the decision that was made was the right one, but you’re obviously going to pay somewhere in the schedule with that,” coach Billy Donovan said. “We’re going to play them three times in a short period of time. I really don’t remember ever doing that much unless it’s been a playoff series.”
A’ja Wilson shows support for Illini women
The No. 25 Fighting Illini had a little extra motivation for last Wednesday’s game against Ohio State when four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson pulled up courtside to show some support for the program.
Wilson attended the game with her partner Bam Adebayo ahead of his scheduled game with the Miami Heat against the Bulls on Thursday. Coach Shauna Green welcomed the star into the Illinois locker room after the game, where Wilson offered advice from her recent championship run with the Las Vegas Aces.
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“The effort, the hustle, the intangibles, the ones that don’t really show up on the stat sheet — those are the ones that are really winning championships,” Wilson said in a video the team posted to social media.
Wilson doled out advice to Illinois players after the final buzzer, but it was Ohio State guard Jaloni Cambridge who stole the show during the game, scoring 41 points to edge out Illinois in a 78-69 win for the Buckeyes.
Cambridge is a Wilson superfan who once gave an interview detailing how she “needed” the Aces star to come out to one of her games at some point in her collegiate career. The guard told reporters after the game that she didn’t immediately recognize Wilson because she doesn’t wear contacts or glasses on the court, but once she confirmed that her favorite player was courtside, she turned up the intensity on her game.
“That’s literally a dream come true,” Cambridge said.
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A Notre Dame celebration
No. 23 Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey coached her team to a big win in front of her former teammates and coach Sunday.
During the Irish’s 73-50 win over then-No. 22 North Carolina, Notre Dame celebrated the 25th anniversary of the 2000-01 women’s basketball team that won the program’s first national championship under coach Muffet McGraw.
Ivey was a senior on the team that beat Purdue in the final before returning to Notre Dame in 2007 to be an assistant under McGraw. Ivey said she views McGraw as someone who made her better by holding her accountable and challenging her.
“She was somebody that really coached with integrity,” Ivey said at her postgame news conference. “She just did things the right way. She was super bright, and I learned a lot of life lessons from her, just by the way she ran a program, what she taught me on and off the court, even as an assistant. I’ve been a sponge for the last 25 years, so I’m super grateful for the lessons that she taught me.”
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Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo, who had 31 points, eight rebounds, seven steals and six assists against the Tar Heels, said the 2001 team visited the locker room after the game to talk about what their experience was like in South Bend.
“I think the biggest thing for me is that family that they feel, that they still have that connection they had, and how important it is to be tight-knit,” Hidalgo said. “Everybody has to do their role in order for it to fit. Because at the end of the day, it’s a puzzle, and every piece has to fit perfectly in order for the picture to be complete. When everybody plays their role and does that, then nobody is in our way.”
The win was the second straight for the Irish (12-4, 4-2) after back-to-back losses to Georgia Tech and Duke, and they returned to the rankings at No. 23.
Number of the week: 54
The blocks just keep coming for Matas Buzelis.
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The forward has recorded 54 blocks in 38 games for the Bulls this season. That is the 12th-largest tally of any player in the NBA, a statistic led by Indiana Pacers center Jay Huff, who has blocked 84 shots this season. Buzelis averages 1.4 blocks per game, the highest rate on the Bulls roster and the 20th highest in the league.
Blocking shots is only one piece of the defensive game plan for Buzelis — and it’s often not the most important piece of the puzzle for the second-year star — but coach Billy Donovan feels this recent stretch of shot blocking is reflective of a greater overall development for the forward.
“He’s seeing things happen before they’re happening and he’s putting himself in a position to make those plays,” Donovan said. “That’s probably the biggest growth I’ve seen in him so far defensively.”
Week ahead: Bulls
•Tuesday: @ Rockets, 7 p.m., CHSN
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•Wednesday: Jazz, 7 p.m., CHSN
•Friday: @ Nets, 6:30 p.m., CHSN
•Sunday: Nets, 6 p.m., CHSN
The Bulls play one of their two final back-to-backs before the All-Star break this week, heading to Houston to face the Rockets on Tuesday before returning home to host the Jazz on Wednesday.
Week ahead: Best college basketball games
•Wednesday: No. 13 Illinois men at Northwestern, 7:30 p.m., Big Ten Network
•Thursday: No. 25 Illinois women at No. 8 Michigan, 6 p.m., Peacock
•Thursday: No. 9 Louisville women at No. 23 Notre Dame, 5 p.m., ACC Network
•Saturday: No. 8 Nebraska men at Northwestern, 3 p.m., Big Ten Network
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•Sunday: Northwestern women at No. 25 Illinois, 2 p.m., Big Ten Plus
Illinois and Northwestern meet each other on the men’s and women’s sides in the next week, the first of two meetings this season for both. It would take an upset on Northwestern’s part to get a win in either game, as both the Illini teams are now ranked.
The NU men then will face an even bigger test Saturday, hosting No. 8 Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are still undefeated entering Tuesday’s game against Oregon.
Quote of the week
“It’s amazing when he’s that dialed in how his offense comes along and his rebounding. But Kylan’s unique. He’s got a great, great base. He’s got great strength, and he’s got ultra-quick hands. … He finds a way to annoy. He’s strong. He picks your pocket. He fights over screens. And it wasn’t just him, but it was him setting the tone. He’s just a veteran. He’s got tremendous skills and can do that to a lot of people.” — Illinois coach Brad Underwood on guard Kylan Boswell’s defense. Boswell helped hold Bennett Stirtz to 12 points in Illinois’ 75-69 win at Iowa.
