Women's basketball Game 19 preview: Illinois at Northwestern, 7 p.m., Thursday

Lineups Illinois (13-5, 3-4 Big Ten) P Name Yr.

Ht.

PPG Hometown G Jasmine Brown-Hagger So.

5-9 9.8 Shorewood G Genesis Bryant Sr.

5-6 13.9 Jonesboro, Ga.

G Adalia McKenzie Sr.

5-10 13.3 Brooklyn Park, Minn.

F Brynn Shoup-Hill Sr.

6-3 4.5 Goshen, Ind.

F Kendall Bostic Sr.

6-2 16.2 Kokomo, Ind.

FYI: Nine consecutive games of scoring in double figures is the longest stretch of double-digit scoring for McKenzie in her Illini career.

The veteran guard also had two other such stretches of eight games at Illinois.

McKenzie finished with 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting while playing 39 minutes in Sundays 86-68 home loss to Michigan State.

This current nine-game stretch started with a season-high 23 points against Bradley on Dec.

12.

For the season, McKenzie is shooting .470/.250/.778, with the latter two numbers both career-highs.

P Name Yr.

Ht.

PPG Hometown F Berry Wallace Fr.

6-1 6.4 Pickerington, Ohio G Cori Allen So.

5-10 1.0 Nashville, Tenn.

C Hayven Smith Fr.

6-6 1.1 Frankfort Northwestern (7-10, 0-6 Big Ten) P Name Yr.

Ht.

PPG Hometown G Caroline Lau Jr.

5-9 4.4 Westport, Conn.

G Kyla Jones Gr.

5-9 10.4 Chicago G Casey Harter So.

5-11 7.0 Harleysville, Pa.

F Caileigh Walsh Sr.

6-3 11.7 Sparta, N.J.

F Taylor Williams Gr.

6-2 10.8 New Baltimore, Mich.

FYI: Jones and Williams were both transfer additions in the offseason for coach Joe McKeowns Wildcats.

Jones, a former Whitney Young standout, arrived from Brown and Williams stayed in the Big Ten with a move from Michigan to Northwestern after the graduate forward started her career at Western Michigan.

Walsh, a regular starter last season for McKeown, came off the bench to open up the season before returning to the starting five once Big Ten play resumed for good in late December and has now started the last five games for the Wildcats.

P Name Yr.

Ht.

PPG Hometown G Melannie Daley Sr.

5-11 10.9 Hastings, N.Y.

F Grace Sullivan Jr.

6-4 10.8 Antioch G Xamiya Walton Fr.

5-7 1.5 Chicago Details Site: Welsh-Ryan Arena (7,039); Evanston.

TV: Mike Hall (play-by-play) and Shimmy Gray-Miller (analysis) will have the call on BTN.

Radio: Mike Koon will have the call on WDWS 1400-AM, WDWS 93.9-FM.

Series: Northwestern leads 49-38.

Last meeting: Illinois won 82-71 against Northwestern on Feb.

8, 2024, in Champaign.

FYI: The current four-game winning streak against the Wildcats the Illini take into Thursday nights matchup in Evanston is the longest run of wins for Illinois since it won 21 straight against Northwestern from Jan.

23, 2000 through Feb.

28, 2010.

Before this four-game winning streak by the Illini, Northwestern had won 14 in a row against Illinois prior to Shauna Greens arrival as the Illinois coach.

Beat writer Joe Vozzellis storylines Moving past defensive letdown That Illinois had 22 turnovers in Sundays 18-point loss to Michigan State stood out to Shauna Green, with seven turnovers belonging to Jasmine Brown-Hagger.

But what was equally if not more concerning for the Illini coach is how easy her team made it for the Spartans to score points.

That led to Illinois allowing a season-high 86 points after a pair of standout defensive efforts in wins against Iowa and Indiana.

My biggest thing was defensively we made a lot of mistakes, Green said, and you cant afford to do that against a really good team like that.

We had been so good and so locked in and so disciplined in our previous two games defensively.

It wasnt just scouting-report mistakes that hurt the Illini against Michigan State, either.

It was how undisciplined Illinois was in adhering to the on-ball fundamental defense Green demands.

A little bit of everything, the Illini coach said of the defensive lapses in the loss to the Spartans.

We knew they were great right-hand drivers and they drove right way too much.

Thats discipline.

Thats focus on doing the scout, and again, we had been elite at scout defense.

...

We werent good enough that night.

Weve learned, and just like if we beat them, you have to learn and move on.

Playing more like a guard The decision to move Berry Wallace and work with associate head coach Calamity McEntire as her position coach wasnt just because of a lack of numbers.

McEntire would normally have Makira Cook and Gretchen Dolan as part of that group, but that Illinois guard duo is out for the season.

Green also had something else in mind by having Wallace, a 6-foot-1 forward, work with McEntire.

The Illini wanted to develop guard-specific skills during Wallaces freshman season.

Wallace played a career-high 32 minutes against Michigan State and had eight points, three rebounds and one assist.

Wallace did have five turnovers as Illinois asked her to bring the ball up the court against the Spartans at times.

I feel like Ive been able to grow a lot as a guard, said Wallace, with the Illini utilizing the former five-star recruit and McDonalds All-American in a guard/wing/forward hybrid role.

Coming more off ball screens a lot and also just stepping up more on defense.

(Working with the guards in practice), its taught me a lot with my handles.

Especially watching (Genesis Bryant) a lot.

Shes confident with the ball, keeps it low and tight.

Coach Mac has helped me a lot just with footwork and small details.

I think those are really big when it comes to college basketball.

No rest for the weary The reality is that with the exception of limited minutes for Cori Allen the sophomore guard has played a combined 13 minutes in the last three Illinois games Green is basically playing a six-player rotation.

That Cook and Dolan are both out has limited the options Green has available to her since it was announced earlier this month the pair would miss the rest of the season.

Its also put an onus on the Illini coach and her staff to think about how to best get her starters some rest during the week before games.

Especially with 11 Big Ten games still left on the schedule during the next five-plus weeks that includes a trip to the East Coast to play Rutgers and Maryland and a trip to the West Coast to play UCLA and Southern California.

Weve tried to be smart about it, Green said.

Were limiting some of their (practice) reps up and down, and after Michigan State, we had Monday off completely.

They came in here to do all their recovery.

They had massages and really maintained their body.

...

Whats been getting us is those two-day preps with a short bench and Ive tried different things.

Well just continue to see what works and we may even have to change it up as the season goes further along of just cutting down more reps and getting them even more rest.

The News-Gazettes Pick Illinois 75, Northwestern 66 The 93-52 win the Illini had the last time they visited Evanston a year ago feels like a true outlier.

The other three instances Illinois faced the Wildcats during Shauna Greens time as Illini coach were decided by an average of 6.7 points.

That Minnesota barely escaped with a 87-82 win on Sunday at Northwestern with the Wildcats ahead by 15 with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter is at the very least a talking point for Green to get her team to take the Wildcats seriously despite their winless Big Ten record.

Still, this is a game Illinois simply cant afford to lose.

Not if the Illini want to be an NCAA tournament team come March.

(News-Gazette prediction record: 12-6).

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