We should know plenty more about this Illinois squad after Wednesday's matchup with No. 8 Alabama
After two weeks of the college basketball season, it has been fairly smooth sailing for No. 25 Illinois. Three games, three wins – and by an average margin of 29.7 points.
But there has been an obvious caveat: the level of competition has been. Still, the Illini have taken care of business against the opponents on the schedule and this week were rewarded with their first AP ranking of the season. Sneaking into the bottom of the top 25 was the easy part. Staying in it? Well, that’s going to be a more difficult task – for one week, at least.
On Wednesday, Illinois will take on No. 8 Alabama , in Birmingham, for its first true test of the season. Aside from the overarching question that only the Tide can help answer – are the Illini for real? – we have three more we'd like to address ahead of this ranked-versus-ranked showdown:Aside from the 19 offensive rebounds they gave up to SIU-Edwardsville, the Illini have been absolutely dominant on the glass. Currently outrebounding opponents by an average margin of 15.
Ivisic has been excellent on offense and also a significant presence on the other end of the floor. At 7-foot-1, Ivisic averages 9.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and consistently creates deflections and disrupts the flow of opposing offenses. Meanwhile, Johnson has been a one-man wrecking crew on defense, swatting more than two shots per game and snagging 6.3 rebounds in only 11.7 minutes per game.
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