WBB: @ Illinois B1G+ 12/28/24 12PM

[GrandpaDuck]

Non Conference is now over. In the B1G we will only be playing teams once which is a huge advantage over the PAC-12 as far as getting into the tournament because you don't have 8 games against Top-10 teams and 16 against Top-25 on the schedule. These teams are all new to me except the Top 2 teams in the conference UCLA and USC (Boo!!).

This years team is very deep with 12 players who can make a case for deserving some playing time. In preseason the subs often outscored the starters and regularly had a better plus minus. Deja Kelly the biggest transfer portal star has always been a good scorer but mediocre percentage shooter. This year she is in such a shooting slump mediocre would be a blessing.

At this point I would put the ceiling of our team at top 20-25. They overall are not a great rebounding team and 3 point shooting can be very inconsistent with the wrong people often taking the most attempts.

Illinois is 10-2, 0-1 and 8-0 at home with their only losses being to #12 and #14. They are a very balanced team who excel at 3 point defense (uggg). Oregon will be a solid underdog this game.

[Duck07]

Gave up a 17-2 run to end the 1st, trail 11-21.

[Duck07]

Defense steps up only giving up 7 points, trail 27-28 at the half.