No. 23 Illinois leans on talented freshman class that can be a force when healthy

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The experienced team that Illinois took to the Elite Eight last season after winning the Big Ten Tournament title needed to be replaced after most of the key players turned pro and scattered about.

Coach Brad Underwood decided to go young, and these first-year Illini have flashed plenty of potential. If they can keep everyone healthy down the stretch, they’re good enough despite their age to be quite the presence in March.

“Our ceiling is really high,” Underwood said after 23rd-ranked Illinois beat Minnesota 95-74 on Saturday. “These guys are really talented players. They’re all, at some point in their careers, next level. I’m not afraid to say that, and I’ve said it since day one.”

The freshmen were out in force to help the Illini get back on track, following four losses in their last six games. Will Riley had 27 points, nine rebounds and seven assists off the bench. Kasparas Jakucionis had 24 points on 8-for-14 shooting. Tomislav Ivisic added 18 points and 11 rebounds while playing on a bad ankle. Morez Johnson Jr. chipped in four points and three rebounds in 14 minutes.

The Illini shot 63.2% from the floor, their best rate in a Big Ten game in eight years.

“Everything we go through, we’re so young, that it’s a great experience. Going through the struggles, going through the hard things, going through a tough loss, all those things are new,” Underwood said. “We keep believing in ourselves, and that’s the one thing with my job is to not get frustrated with them because they’re going through something for the first time.”

Illinois (16-8, 8-6) improved to 15-1 when scoring at least 80 points and is averaging 85 points per game, the most since 1988-89 when that team reached the Final Four.

Jakucionis, who is a top-10 finalist for the Jerry West award given to the nation’s best shooting guard, set the program freshman record with his ninth 20-point game. The native of Lithuania is likely bound for the NBA next season.

Riley, a Canadian who was the highest-ranked incoming freshman Illinois has had since the recruiting services began grading them online, is a 6-foot-8 matchup nightmare for most wings in the league.

Then there’s the 7-foot-1 Ivisic, from Croatia, whose eligibility review by the NCAA resulted in him being classified as a sophomore. With his size and skill, he likely won’t stay in school long enough for that to matter anyway. His toughness, though, will stick with Underwood and the Illini for a long time.

After hurting his ankle in the second half of a loss at Rutgers on Thursday, Ivisic played through the pain in that game and answered the bell again on Saturday after being listed as questionable and only going through some light warmups on the court.

His ankle, Underwood said, resembled a “quite enlarged cabernet grape. It is black and blue, and it is nasty.” Ivisic played 33 minutes and was a defensive force as well, helping limit Gophers star Dawson Garcia — the second-leading scorer in the Big Ten — to 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting.

“My hat’s off to him, because when you start thinking that way, you start thinking about your teammates and not yourself, and that’s huge,” Underwood said.

The Illini have been hampered by a series of illnesses and injuries since Big Ten play began, a factor in their recent slide. The flu has run rampant through the team, and starting guard Tre White and key backup Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn were only token participants on the court on Saturday because of it.

Ivisic missed three games last month due to mononucleosis. Jakucionis missed two games last month with an arm injury and hadn’t been as productive since his return. He was 4 for 28 from 3-point range over the previous six games and totaled 15 points over the last two.

“We’re still not whole, but I liked what those pieces together do,” Underwood said.