Men's basketball Game 28 preview | Illinois vs. No. 3 Duke; 7 p.m., Saturday
Lineups Illinois (17-10) P Name Yr.
Ht.
PPG Hometown G Kasparas Jakucionis Fr.
6-6 15.6 Vilnius, Lithuania G Kylan Boswell Jr.
6-2 10.9 Champaign G Tre White Jr.
6-7 9.2 Dallas F Ben Humrichous Gr.
6-9 8.7 Tipton, Ind.
C Tomislav Ivisic So.
7-1 12.5 Vodice, Croatia FYI: February is on pace to be Boswells least productive and efficient month of the season.
The veteran guard is averaging seven points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists through six games this month, while shooting 30 percent overall and 19 percent from three-point range.
Totals that have basically seen his production cut in half from January.
Boswell was at his most productive in December, putting up 13.8 points, seven rebounds and 4.8 assists per game (against almost all high major competition) .
P Name Yr.
Ht.
PPG Hometown F Will Riley Fr.
6-8 11.9 Kitchener, Ontario G Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn So.
6-1 7.4 Lafayette, Ind.
F Jake Davis So.
6-6 3.4 McCordsville, Ind.
No.
3 Duke (23-3) P Name Yr.
Ht.
PPG Hometown G Tyrese Proctor Jr.
6-6 12.0 Sydney G Sion James Gr.
6-6 8.2 Sugar Hill, Ga.
G/F Kon Knueppel Fr.
6-7 13.2 Milwaukee, Wis.
G/F Cooper Flagg Fr.
6-9 19.7 Newport, Maine C Khaman Maluach Fr.
7-2 8.0 Rumbek, South Sudan FYI: NBA front-office personnel are likely to flock to Madison Square Garden on Saturday with five potential first-round picks on the court.
The Blue Devils have three of them, with Flagg, Knueppel and Maluach all projected as potential top 10 picks.
The last time three teammates were picked in the top 10 of the same draft was 2009 with Floridas Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Joakim Noah.
P Name Yr.
Ht.
PPG Hometown G/F Isaiah Evans Fr.
6-6 6.6 Fayetteville, N.C.
G Caleb Foster So.
6-5 5.0 Harrisburg, N.C.
F Mason Gillis Gr.
6-6 4.4 New Castle, Ind.
Details Site: Madison Square Garden (19,500); New York Radio: Brian Barnhart (play-by-play) and former Illini Deon Thomas (analysis) will have the call on the Illini Sports Network on WDWS 1400-AM, WDWS 93.9-FM, WHMS 97.5-FM, WPXN 104.9-FM, WDAN-1490-AM, WDNL 102.1-FM, WSOY 1340-AM and WSOY 103.3-FM.
TV: Gus Johnson (play-by-play), Jim Jackson (analysis) and Allison Williams (sideline reports) will have the call on Fox.
Series: Duke leads 5-3.
Last meeting: Illinois won 83-68 on Dec.
8, 2020, in Durham, N.C.
FYI: Just two of the eight previous games in the series were played at campus sites, with Duke hosting both.
Those are also two of Illinois three wins against the Blue Devils.
Ayo Dosunmus 18 points, 12 rebounds and five assists led six Illini in double figures in the win in an empty Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2020.
Kiwane Garris also had 18 points to lead the Illini in a 76-65 road win on Dec.
2, 1995.
Beat writer Scott Richeys storylines Unwanted help in turnover creation Kasparas Jakucionis seven turnovers in Illinois Tuesday night loss at Wisconsin matched his season-high set against Tennessee and then against against Maryland.
The Illini freshman now has nine games with at least five turnovers and passed Penn States Ace Baldwin Jr.
to lead the Big Ten at 3.7 turnovers per game.
Illinois coach Brad Underwood saw Jakucionis turnovers against the Badgers a bit differently.
I saw three fouls that didnt get called that were turnovers that were just egregious, Underwood said.
When somebody grabs your elbow and yanks and hes strong so he doesnt flop around like a lot of players do when they get them called Im really frustrated with that.
...
(Wisconsin guard John Blackwell) literally grabs his arm and yanks it back and the ball goes out of bounds.
I dont know how you miss those.
Crashing the offensive glass Three of Dra Gibbs-Lawhorns four rebounds in Tuesdays game at Wisconsin came on the offensive end.
It marked the seventh time this season the Illinois sophomore hauled in multiple offensive rebounds.
Gibbs-Lawhorns offensive rebounding percentage pales in comparison to Morez Johnson Jr., who is arguably the most effective offensive rebounder in the Big Ten, but he does give up eight inches to his freshman teammate.
Gibbs-Lawhorn, however, has the second-highest offensive rebounding percentage of any player in the country 6-foot-1 or shorter.
Only Alcorn States Michael Pajeaud grabs a higher percentage.
Im just trying to watch where the ball is going to bounce off and just always trying to tell myself to go, Gibbs-Lawhorn said of his offensive rebounding approach.
Coach Underwood has a saying that if you dont go offensive rebound you go come sit at the end of the bench.
Im trying to keep myself as far from the end of the bench as possible.
Leading with energy, effort Ben Humrichous said after Tuesdays loss at Wisconsin that Gibbs-Lawhorn has emerged as a leader for Illinois during this difficult stretch of the season.
It goes beyond the sophomore guard playing one of the most complete games of his career against the Badgers with 17 points, five assists and four rebounds.
Because that performance and leading on the court was rooted in what Gibbs-Lawhorn did in practice leading up to the game.
He had the two best practices hes had in the uniform, Underwood said.
And it was all energy.
It was all enthusiasm.
It was all trash talking.
It was all competitive.
It was fun.
Hes making the most of his opportunity.
...
Hes got to be that nasty on-ball defender and in guys because of his size, but hes been great.
Hes been doing a great job of leading.
The News-Gazettes pick No.
3 Duke 84, Illinois 73 At full strength, Illinois would have been an underdog for Saturdays game at Madison Square Garden.
Since the Illini likely wont come close to that status, facing Duke will be even more of a challenge.
The one question that doesnt have a great answer is, Who will guard Cooper Flagg? Morez Johnson Jr.
probably would have received that assignment.
His broken wrist means it falls on someone else to try and slow down the future No.
1 pick.
Flaggs season-high is 42 points.
Illinois has to hope thats not in play.
(News-Gazette prediction record: 18-9).
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