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The Difference a Month Makes

The Difference a Month Makes
Photo Credit: University of Illinois Sports Information

January brings the snow,
makes our feet and fingers glow.
("The Months" by Sarah Coleridge)

January is a good month in my home typically. I do not like winter weather, but I enjoy the slow start to the year (one of the joys of working on a college campus), numerous family birthdays, and conference play in college hoops.

This January, however? It was a little hit or miss for me.

The GOOD:
Overseas travel (Viva Italia!)
An 8-0 month for the fellas

The BAD:
My face hurts when I go outside
A tough month for the other side of Ubben

I'm writing this post on February 2nd, Groundhog Day. Let's rewind exactly one month to January 2nd and see where our basketball teams were at the beginning of the calendar year:

  • The men were 8-3, ranked #20, and still reveling in a Braggin' Rights blowout. But fans were struggling to unsee the flaws that Nebraska exposed in that home loss to the Huskers.
  • The ladies were rolling, off to the best start in program history (13-1) and floating on air after a tremendous home victory over then #7 Maryland.

What happened next?

  • The men rattled off nine more in a row, including huge wins at Mackey and Pinnacle Bank. They're ranked in the top five and all is right with the world.
  • The women, their #25 ranking long gone, went 3-5 with their NCAA tourney hopes on less certain ground than before.

It was a tough month for the ladies. But I can't say that some of this wasn't expected. We spoke early on that this team is brand new and pretty inexperienced. I don't think that stellar start was fool's gold, per se, but the front third of the schedule was pretty weak, and maybe we all thought this team was farther along than it was.

Let's diagnose the struggles of this past month:

  • Conference play started- The Big Ten is a buzzsaw this year and we played all the best teams (other than Iowa) in the conference in January. It was always going to be an uphill climb for players who had never been through a Big Ten schedule before.
  • Our three-headed monster lost a head- I think it's hard to overstate how huge the loss of Gretchen Dolan has been. When Gretchen was cooking, she could put up points in a hurry, and teams had to divide their defensive attention between her, Berry, and Maddie. Since then, Maddie has struggled at times with more being asked of her, and Berry has had to carry a HUGE load on the offensive end.
  • Slow starts- Since the Maryland game, we've played six ranked teams; here is the halftime deficit in each of those games:
    • at MSU: down 12
    • vs. OSU: tied
    • at Michigan: down 15
    • at Nebraska: down 18
    • vs. UCLA: down 14
    • at Washington: UP 8(!)

      In most of these games we sliced away at the deficit, but playing from down double digits is not a recipe for success.

There's more of course: too many turnovers, struggling to defend good post players, lack of balanced scoring, losing the rebounding battle, etc. It hasn't been a great stretch.

But I was bowled over by this tidbit:

Our Torvik ranking after beating Maryland: #38
Our Torvik ranking on February 2nd: #34

We went UP in Torvik in January?? I was surprised since the record has not been good since 2026 began...but Bart doesn't care whether you win or lose, but how you play the game. (heh) Maybe there's hope after all.

Let's recap the three games we've played since I last wrote and then I'll share some optimism.

at #24 Nebraska (Illini loss 81-75)


This game was the epitome of the rough stretch we've had: a brutal start, a furious comeback that was too little, too late. 23 points (Berry had 18 of them) in the first half, 52 in the second. Too many turnovers, poor free throw shooting (for us, at least), and first half foul trouble for CeCe (who had a nuclear second half and wound up with 24 points) meant that 18 point deficit at halftime was just going to be too much to overcome.

vs. #3 UCLA (Illini loss 80-67)


Ideally you'd be playing your best ball at full strength with #3 coming to town. That was not our situation and we predictably lost. But...we played okay? I mean, our limitations were on display (we could NOT get a stop in the post), but we cut a 16 point deficit down to five in the third quarter, and the vibe of the team and fanbase was surprisingly upbeat after this one. Berry took off her Superman cape in this one (only 11 points with 3-17 shooting), but Cearah continued her torrid pace with another 26 points, seven rebounds.

at #25 Washington (Illini win 75-66)


Goodness, the team was locked in for this one. The defense was stifling. The offensive rebounding was responsible for 26 second chance points. And Cearah and Berry were brilliant again (combined for 45 points and 17 rebounds). AND GRETCHEN MADE AN APPEARANCE. A very exciting road win over a ranked team and we're now sitting at 16-6. Was this game the turning point?

Okay, Punxsutawney Phil says we have six more weeks before Selection Sunday and I'm feeling upbeat for the following reasons:

  • The upcoming stretch is less daunting- Oregon on the road won't be easy, and USC at home will be a challenge...but then we have three games where we'll be heavily favored: Wisconsin, Rutgers, and Northwestern, 81, 154, and 109 in Torvik respectively. It's not crazy to think we could go 4-1 in these next few weeks.
  • The freshmen have taken another step- Cearah was really quiet once the schedule got tougher, but she's looked GREAT recently. When she and Berry both play their "A" games, that combo is a handful. And Destiny has looked fearless recently. She had 15 points against a tough, veteran UCLA backcourt, and she did not look scared at all when it got interesting in the second half.
  • Gretchen is back- Man, we'd been riding a rollercoaster on the Slack channel, parsing everything out of Shauna's mouth when asked about Gretchen's injury. There was the faintest note of optimism in her response the other day, but she said Gretchen hadn't practiced yet...so I was bowled over when she checked in during that Washington game. Is it possible that Gretchen and Kylan's injuries could be good long-term for these two programs? Time will tell. Let's just get them both back playing at a high-level SOON.
  • We're still safely in the field- I'm no bracketologist, but my quick survey of what's out there has us around a nine seed. That's not an enviable slot, but it's better than being out. Don't lose to the bottom feeders and get another win over the top tier and I think we'll be feeling pretty good on Selection Sunday.
  • WE'RE GONNA SELL OUT THE USC GAME, Y'ALL- This would be AMAZING. USC isn't the Juju Watkins team from last year, but they're really solid, so we'll need a good crowd to support the ladies on Sunday. Five dollar tickets, seven dollar beers, one dollar wings...I hope to see you there.

Oh, and I can't tell you how much I love the Big Ten Plus experience.

Eat your heart out, Wilt Chamberlain.