After a disappointing home loss to Nebraska in mid-December, Illinois needed to switch some things up.
The Illini had lost three of their last seven games and it felt as if things could go off the rails if not for a sudden mentality switch.
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“The Nebraska loss started it all,” said Illinois freshman David Mirkovic following his team’s 75-66 win over Washington. “We changed our mentality after that…We just changed our mentality. Started living for each other, playing harder defense, communicating more. When we give our best and try to play as hard as possible, points find us and we win.
Brad Underwood’s squad has reeled off 10 straight wins since the Nebraska loss, including a 43-point rivalry win over Missouri, an incredible upset win over Purdue at Mackey Arena, and eight straight in Big Ten play.
The latest of the 10 wins wasn’t the prettiest performance of all time, but the Illini — without senior leader Kylan Boswell — managed to take down a gritty Washington team to move to 9-1 and into a tie for first in conference play.
Freshmen Keaton Wagler starred once again, pouring in 22 points on 13 shots. The projected lottery pick also tallied five rebounds and eight assists. The aforementioned Mirkovic had a fantastic game himself, recording 19 points and six rebounds in 30 minutes of play.
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Andrej Stojakovic and the Ivisic twins struggled offensively, but Illinois was able to withstand poor shooting performances from their stars by holding Washington to just 26.1% from beyond the arc. The 24 second chance points Illinois scored also made quite the difference in the end.
Ben Humrichous played a huge part in the win, knocking down four triples off the bench. After a shaky first half of the season, Humrichous has rounded into form recently. The graduate student from Tipton, Indiana has shot 8-for-14 from beyond the arc over the team’s last three wins.
“I’m a good shooter. I’ve proven that over time,” Humrichous said following the win. “Seeing them go through feels awesome. Just continuing to focus on the things that matter in basketball…the winning plays, the rebounding, the defense, being a great teammate and then shooting follows.”
With the help of Humrichous, the Illini have made 10 or more three-pointers in seven straight games. They’ve recorded 10 or more assists in nine of their last 10 outings. Illinois and Washington surprisingly both recorded exactly 34 rebounds, marking the first time since December 6th (vs Tennessee) that Illinois did not win the rebounding battle.
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The on-court product over the past month and a half has simply been fantastic to watch for Illinois fans. The togetherness the team shows off the hardwood may be even more entertaining and encouraging.
There’s clearly a real bond between the players on this roster, which has created truly special chemistry that’s visible to outsiders. Maybe it’s because nearly half of the team has European roots. It could be because they’re an older unit with great veteran leaders. Or it might just be because the team plays great basketball together.
“I’ve seen this team come together as a collective group,” said Humrichous. “Our identity is that we’re just going to compete. I’ve seen us continue to gel as a team. This is a team that’s incredibly connected on and off the court. This is a group that loves to play with one another. Right as this stretch of wins started, we just saw a bunch of people put an arm around another.”
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As the gauntlet that is Big Ten basketball rolls on, Illinois will have to stick together on and off the court. The eventual return of Kylan Boswell and potentially Ty Rodgers should aid the Illini in their quest to win a Big Ten regular season title.
