The Key Adjustment That Unlocked a New-Look Illinois Basketball Defense

It has been all illness and injuries for Illinois (18-11, 10-8 Big Ten) during a recent 5-8 stretch, and when those weren't being blamed as the culprits in another underwhelming performance, every finger seemed to point to the three-point shooting woes – notably against Duke, against whom the Illini went 2-for-26.

But in reality, Illinois has struggled from deep ever since its early-season mid-major slate, and the true drop-off in production during the Illini’s rough patch has been on the defensive end.

Never was that more obvious than in back-to-back games against Wisconsin and Duke, when Illinois – clearly missing Morez Johnson Jr. (broken wrist) – gave up 95 points to the Badgers and 110 to the Blue Devils.

Then came Iowa – by no means Duke, or even Wisconsin – but still owners of an uber-efficient offense that scores at a top-10 rate (83.9 points per game). Clearly, adjustments by the Illini were needed.

“When we got back from Duke, we implemented a little slight hedge, and I feel like that’s big for us guards," Kylan Boswell said of Illinois' ball-screen defense. "Getting off the pick-and-rolls and playing the sag, it’s kind of hard for us to get back in front of the guys we need to guard. So for us, just being more intense, pressing the ball, I feel like that’s what we do best – us guards, especially. I feel like that gave us a big help.”

The Illini had played drop coverage against high screen-and-roll with their bigs all season, with mixed results. But often the outcomes were less than spectacular for the same reason the Illini had so much trouble trying anything new: absences. With Johnson's injury following a weeks-long stretch when Tomislav Ivisic was either sick or hurt, Illinois' coaches had no opportunity to implement a different look.

Against Wisconsin, the Badgers routinely ran ball screens with a variety of guards on ball and big man Steven Crowl on the pick. With Ivisic falling into drop coverage, Crowl was free to pop to the three-point line and shoot unguarded, going 3-for-3 from long range. The Blue Devils torched the Illini every which way, with ball screens, flares and every trick in the book to free up its shooters.

Illinois coach Brad Underwood had seen enough after the Duke game, and despite the Illini arriving back in Champaign at 2:30 a.m. from New York and only about 60 hours until the Iowa game, he decided he couldn't wait any longer to add the hedge that had been burning a hole in his back pocket.

"We've been trying to do it for, I don't know ... a month, three weeks," Underwood said. "To add a little ball screen coverage that just gives people a little different look, it's really hard to do without Tomi. The people involved in ball screens have to be elite at communication, because they have to call them and the rights, lefts.

"We're gonna have to get more as up to speed when Morez gets back into that area, but just not switching, keeping our good defenders on the other teams' good players all the time, and there's a few other things we tweaked – we moved our pickup point back a little bit. But it was needed."

And effective. Previously, with a healthy Johnson in drop coverage, opposing guards would drive downhill and use a runway to seek out contact and draw fouls. And since the Illini would rarely switch on screens, the guards would often be stuck in limbo – trailing the play and offering no help on pick-and-pops.

Against the Hawkeyes, Illinois' slight hedge forced ball-handlers to take wider driving angles and delay just a beat, allowing the ball defender – usually Boswell or Kasparas Jakucionis – to sneak over the top of the screen and recover. An 81-61 victory over Iowa, in which the Illini held the Hawkeyes to a season-low scoring total, was proof of concept that a ball-screen hedge can help make Illinois better.

Got the job done. pic.twitter.com/Dl3Ii1KLVi
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) February 26, 2025

Depending on the matchup, Illinois may be forced to adjust the defensive scheme – especially with Michigan, a team that thrives off ball screens with its pair of 7-footers (Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin), on tap. In any case, Underwood’s willingness to make alterations this late in the season would seem to show that the young, still-learning Illini aren't dead in the water.

"And now we've got 15 days with two games," Underwood said, "and we can continue to grow and make some of the changes that we need to make."

The Key Adjustment That Unlocked a New-Look Illinois Basketball Defense

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