They Were Merely Freshmen

Ooh, what's THIS? It feels really good.

Oh yeah. It's called a WINNING STREAK. And we're on one.

My previous article was two weeks ago, after a home loss vs. USC put a damper on the "sell out" home crowd. That loss was our seventh in ten games and the vibes were muted.

But the next three opponents were bad and I thought we would win all three. And we did. And I feel better even though I know the end of the regular season is going to be tough. We'll get to that and to some other stuff on my mind.

Game Recaps

Okay, here were the get-right games in question:

vs. Wisconsin (Illini win 92-60)

Aaliyah Guyton, come on down! This was good to see from Aaliyah who had an injury-plagued start to the season, and not much to show in the middle either. But she was 6-6 behind the arc in this game, led all scorers with 22 points, and really looked like the weapon that we hoped she would become. (She also made her first two threes in the Rutgers game, so she made 8 straight...that ain't easy to do, folks.)

This one was over quickly. I'll remember it most for the brutal finish in which we had a 9x-5x going and then a Badger hit a three to get them to 60 with 30 seconds left. Tough beat.

(Cece also had an awesome game, but she's got her own section below.)

vs. Rutgers (Illini win 76-56)

"If you can't say something nice..." Well, I won't say anything about Rutgers then. Let's just say that their 1-13 Big Ten record tracks.

The Illini had a slow start, but a 12-0 run early in the second quarter meant that this one was over. Cece was excellent again (KEEP READING) as was Berry (21 points, 9 boards)...but boy, it looks like Berry's having to LABOR since she broke her nose.

I think the scouting report on her says this: "Berry Wallace...hit her hard when she gets in the paint, they can't call them all." I feel like there was a lightness about her early in the season...but without Gretchen (sigh), it feels like the defense continues to jam her up and I think she's oft frustrated. (I saw her talking to a ref after she was hacked in this game...I've never seen her do that before). She's still been great, of course, but she's definitely expending more effort.

A couple more nuggets from this game, but I'm going to put them in a different section.

at Northwestern (Illini win 92-65)

The Wildcats gave us a scare at home, but there was little drama in this one. First half stats for the Illini:

57 points
64% from the field
8/9 from three (AALIYAH, DANG IT!)
Rebounds were 18 to 6
17 points for Berry

The second half was less inspiring but we'll take a 27 point win on the road. Destiny had 19-7-7, Jas had a season high with 18, and Cearah had yet another double-double (19-10).

And Krush road trip, woohoo! (A happy coach in the background)

Cearah's Corner

This honestly should be a recurring section because she continues to amaze. I wrote a haiku about her in my season preview, but she probably deserves a paean at this point. In her last eight games she's averaging 19 points and 11 rebounds, while shooting 56% from the field and 50%(!) behind the arc. She put up 26 and 7 against maybe the best team in the nation (UCLA). She's also had multiple games with at least four assists and multiple games with at least four steals.

Guys, she's awesome.

And I think her game keeps expanding as she gets more comfortable on the court. In that Rutgers game, she grabbed a rebound, brought the ball up the floor and called for a pick-and-roll with Lety. Our two tallest players running the ol' PnR on the perimeter...of course. On another play she galloped down the floor after a steal for a pick six. In the halfcourt offense? Post moves and pick n' pop threes, with increasing efficiency as the season progresses. All with a big smile and a joie de vivre that is absolutely infectious to her teammates and the fans.

I got to thinking...does she have the chance to be freshman of the year in the conference? Heck, does she have the chance to have the best freshman year in Illinois history??

To the first question...probably not, unfortunately. Jazzy Davidson for USC has been masterful lately (she cooked us for 27-8-8, if you recall) and that team has really come on with her ascent. It's not impossible, but Jazzy's numbers will look better at the end of the year so I wouldn't think Cearah is going to win it. Alas.

(If it's any consolation, we've only had one freshman of the year ever - Mandy Cunningham, 1991 on a 9-19 Illini team - when the conference was much smaller, and Cearah's numbers are better than hers.)

But best freshman in the history of the Illinois program?...now that's an interesting thought experiment and I am too impatient to wait until the end of the year to start researching it.

I combed through a lot of freshmen and I think maybe the best all-around season I could find was Chatrice White's in 2014-15. I'll put her numbers side-by-side with Cearah's, with initials to show who has the edge in each category:

(Cearah in bold, Chatrice in italics)

Points: 13.3 vs. 14.5 (CW)
Rebounds: 8.5 vs. 7.0 (CP)
Assists: 1.3 vs. 1.1 (CP)
Steals: 1.7 vs. 1.9 (CW)
Blocks: 0.5 vs. 1.9 (CW)
FG%: 50.2 vs. 44.1 (CP)
3-PT FG%: 41.9 vs. 36.2 (CP)
FT%: 79.8 vs. 64.1 (CP)
Team record: 19-8 vs. 15-16 (CP)

After the tally...it's a landslide:

Cearah: 6
Chatrice: 3

She's also quite close to breaking the records for most points AND rebounds for a freshman...AND she's top ten in steals. Steals! We'll check on this later on.

What's that? We have another great freshman?

Destiny Jackson (henceforth known as "DJACK," I can not be dissuaded) has already broken the freshman record for assists in a year. (Jenny Johnson had 140 in 84-85; Destiny now has 142) She has the chance to obliterate it if we can have some postseason success.

AND WE HAD TWO HERALDED FRESHMAN THAT DIDN'T PLAY A MINUTE THIS YEAR DUE TO INJURY. Tell your friends to buy Illinois stock if they haven't already.

CLUB DUB

After a win, I'm always eager to watch a good locker room video. Most of them are about 45 seconds long and check the following boxes: coach walks in to cheers (and sometimes water), coach highlights a couple players who played well, and then the team comes together with a "1-2-3 FAMILLY!"

But occasionally we get a longer, lightly edited video...and I analyze those like the Zapruder video. If you haven't seen this, give it a look:

Okay, the takeaways:

• Injured players locked in - I broke my hand my junior year of high school hoops and was out for several weeks...and that's a LONELY time. These folks spend significant time apart from the team on training tables, and I look to see if Gretchen, Manuella, and Erica are as locked into the celebration as the active players. Check.
• First player to speak up - DJACK. "A freshman shall lead them" is in the Bible somewhere, if I recall.
• Surprise Speech - Jasmine Brown-Hagger, hello. She's pretty quiet on the court and in huddles, so I was surprised to see her take the stage for a bit. We see you, Jas.
• Showing love to individuals - Aaliyah and Lety have both dealt with nagging injuries and seeing them get some love from the coach and their fellow teammates has gotta feel sooo good.
• Physical touch - This is my love language, y'all, and I'm overjoyed to see these players arm-in-arm. This team is connected.
• Shauna's motivation - This is a young team and they make mistakes...but I know she loves them, warts and all. A leader with great coaching acumen and generous love (sometimes tough love!) for her squad is one I want in our locker room.

One more thing from this postgame...I was listening to the radio on the way out of the parking lot and Shauna had sent Lety to chat with Mike and Kendall. And I am just so happy for her. She's had a long, long road to recovery after a terrible knee injury, and she was just so effusive on the radio, full of joy, and seemingly on the verge of tears after having a really solid game. A healthy, happy and confident Lety can really help this team down the stretch.

The Week Ahead

Okay, we're sitting at 19-8 overall, 9-7 in the conference. We are right on the border of getting a bye in the Big Ten tournament (top nine teams don't have to play until Thursday)...but man, our last two regular season games are difficult:

at Iowa (Torvik #14)
vs. Minnesota (#8)

Get even one of these and I think we're a shoo-in to make the NCAA tournament.

Go Illini.