Dec. 20, 2001
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Illinois (6-3) at Missouri (8-1)
Dec. 22, 2001, 5:00 p.m., Savvis Center, St. Louis, Mo.
Radio: Illini Sports Network (Dave Loane and Mike Koon)
BRAGGIN' RIGHTS GAME NEXT FOR ILLINI
Illinois heads to St. Louis on Saturday night for the Second Annual Busch
Braggin' Rights game with Missouri. The Illini defeated the Tigers, 92-74
last season. Tip-off is 5 p.m. prior to the Illini-Tiger men's game at 8
p.m. This is the first year that the game has been part of a doubleheader.
The game is a sellout.
REMEMBERING LAST YEAR
After being down by five at the half, Illinois fought hard down the stretch
to gain the advantage and build on it. Illinois outscored the Tigers 59-36
in the second half behind 72 percent (18 of 25) shooting. The score was
close until Illinois' Aminata Yanni was fouled intentionally on a a lay-up
attempt. Illinois hit the free throw and the Illini scored on the ensuing
possession to go in front 65-57. Illinois did not look back from there. Dawn
Vana had 18 points and six rebounds and made 6 of 8 free throws. Iveta
Marcauskaite also scored 18 for the victors.
The Tigers shot 37 percent from the field.
Last year's game was played on Dec. 20, the night before the Illini men
downed Missouri to win their Braggin' Rights game.
THE SERIES VS. MISSOURI
Illinois leads the all-time series, 4-3, having won the last four games. The
two teams played home and home series between 1990-93 and 1995-96. The
Illini are 3-0 under Head Coach Theresa Grentz. Every game in the series has
been decided by double digits. The average Illinois margin of victory has
been 16 points.
STEALING A RECORD
Illinois junior Shavonna Hunter has 174 steals for her career in three
seasons, which ranks ninth on the all-time Illinois list. Hunter is just 27
steals shy of third place held by Tauja Catchings. Assuming Illinois playing
30 games this season, Hunter would need to average 3.7 steals per game to
become new Illini steals leader by the end of the season.
MISSOURI GAME A TURNAROUND GAME
Last season Illinois entered the game with Missouri with a 3-6 record. The
win over Missouri started a string where Illinois won 6 of 8 games,
including the first four Big Ten games. That put Illinois with a 9-8 record
and the Illini again talking about the post-season. The Illini finished last
year with a 17-16 record and made the WNIT.
PLAYING THROUGH THE DEFENSE
This year Illinois enters the game with a 6-3 record. While the offensive
production has been about the same, the Illini have turned things around
with defense.
Last year Illinois averaged 71.7 points per game. This year the Illini are
averaging 73.4. But last year the Illini gave up 72.9 points per contest
compared to this year's 64.3.
Illinois ranks fourth in the Big Ten in field-goal percentage defense
(.371)
Illinois has held seven of nine opponents under 45 percent shooting this
season and two under 35 percent.
Illinois' defense held James Madison to just .246 shooting, including .125
(4 of 32) in the first half. St. Mary's shot just .268 for the game and .231
(9 of 39) in the second half. Overall the Illini allowed just 98 points in
the two games of the St. Mary's Tournament while forcing 49 turnovers.
The Illini had nine blocks vs. Duquesne.
A total of 27 percent of opponents field-goal attempts have come from
three-point range as Illinois' defense has forced the shot clock to run down
on numerous occasions.
Illinois has forced 193 turnovers in seven games or an average of 21.4
turnovers per game. The Illini also average 12 steals per game (second in
the Big Ten) and four blocks per game (fourth in the conference.
LAST TIME OUT
Illinois is coming off a 91-49 victory over Eastern Illinois on Wednesday.
The Illini out-scored the Panthers, 68-23 in the final 27 minutes of the
game. Nine different Illinois players saw at least 16 minutes of action.
Five Illini players reached double figures for the first time this season.
Shavonna Hunter had an all-conference type game with 15 points, eight
assists and five steals.
VANA STEAK ENDS AT 20 FROM THE LINE
Dawn Vana's streak of 20 straight free throws came to an end Wednesday. Vana
is now 21 of 23 from the line (.913).
By Comparison
Illinois is looking to close out the non-conference season with a 7-3
record. That would be the second best mark in those seven seasons with only
the 1997 Big Ten champion team having a better record. A look at the
Illini's regular season non-conference record under Theresa Grentz:
1995-96 -- 6-4
1996-97 -- 8-2
1997-98 -- 6-4
1998-99 -- 7-4
1999-2000 -- 10-4
2000-2001 -- 5-6
NOT BAD LOSSES
Illinois has just three losses this season. When you look at those teams,
consider Oklahoma is 10-0 and ranked third in the country, Clemson is 6-3
and holds a win at No. 24 Penn State and DePaul has close losses to No. 5
Iowa State (79-75), No. 7 Purdue (65-63) and No. 1 Tennessee (80-66).
INTERIOR PASSING A KEY
One of the reasons for Illinois' early season success has been interior
passing. Dawn Vana ranks second on the team in that department with 31
assists after posting 105 assists a year ago. Iveta Marcauskaite has gotten
into the act with 22 assists. Vana had nine assists vs. Clemson, then seven
assists in the first half against Illinois State.
MARCAUSKAITE ON PACE
Iveta Marcauskaite set Illinois' all-time single-season field-goal shooting
record by making 59.1 percent of her field goal attempts (152 of 257) in
2000-2001. This season she is on pace to break the mark. Through eight
games, Marcauskaite is 55 of 90 from the field (.611). The makes her career
percentage at .593 (201 of 339). Nicole Vasey holds the Illinois career
record at .573 playing in 117 games.
Marcauskaite has also made a dramatic improvement from the free-throw line
from the start of the year. She started the year 7 of 18 from the line
(.388). In the last five games, Marcauskaite has made 18 of 20 (.900) to
improve her season average to .658 (25 of 38).
FG SHOOTING ON TARGET
Illinois has been a consistent field-goal shooting team this season,
shooting over 50 percent three times and over 45 percent three other times
in five outings. The Illini have shot below 40 percent just once
(Pepperdine, .368). As a result the Illini's season average is .463. The
1996-97 team shot .456, the best by an Illini team under Theresa Grentz. The
Illinois record is .490 in 1986-87.
THE TALENTED ILLINI
Illinois players don't just have talent on the basketball floor. Cindy
Dallas and Holly Wilson share the love of singing as members of The
University of Illinois Black Choir. Aminata Yanni demonstrates her dancing
skills with Special Effects, a university sponsored urban dance team.
FIGHTING TO THE END
Illinois hasn't folded its tents late in the ball game, coming from behind
in the final seconds twice. After trailing by double digits, Duquesne took a
one-point lead, 71-70 with 54 seconds to play. A lay-up by Iveta
Marcauskaite and two Vana free-throws put the Dukes away, 74-71. Then
trailing, 62-59 against Pepperdine, Jer? Issenmann hit a three-pointer to
tie and send the game into overtime. Even against St. Mary's, the host Gaels
made several runs, before Illinois put the game away.
WINNING STAFF
Blue Star Report ranks Illinois' recruiting class for the Class of 2006 as
the No. 5 ranked class in the nation. One of the reasons has been a strong
stable staff. Associate Head Coach LaVonda Wagner is in her eighth year with
Illinois and seventh with Theresa Grentz. Assistant Coach Renee Reed is
working her eighth season with Coach Grentz, two at Rutgers and six at
Illinois.
STRONG SUPPORT
Three new faces who joined the Illinois team this year bring even more
winning. Brett Leonard, who is transferring from Arizona State, and athletic
trainer Lisa Himmelspach, who was the trainer, at ASU, were members of the
Pac-10 champions a year ago. Assistant coach Jennifer Jacoby was the
starting point guard on the Purdue Final Four team in 1994.
REMEMBERING THE FINALS
Allison Guth and Angelina Williams have a special place in the annals of the
state tournament. Now teammates, Guth and Williams squared off in the state
finals in 2000. Guth and Buffalo Grove defeated Williams and the heavily
favored Chicago Washington team, 60-51 in overtime. Guth scored seven of the
nine Bison points in overtime. Williams starred as well with 17 points and
16 rebounds in the contest.
ILLINOIS WINS ST. MARY'S TOURNAMENT
Illinois defeated James Madison, 85-45, and host St. Mary's, 66-53, to
capture the St. Mary's College Tournament on Nov. 23-24. Shavonna Hunter was
named MVP after scoring 21 points on 9 of 16 shooting and converting two
assists and two steals in the championship game. Iveta Marcauskaite was also
named to the All-Tournament Team. Marcauskaite had two double doubles with
19 points and 14 rebounds vs. JMU and 14 point and 11 boards vs. St. Mary's.
Illinois won its first tournament since 1998-99 when the Illini defeated
Duke to claim the title in Puerto Rico.
THE SCHEDULE
The Illinois schedule includes nine teams who played in the NCAA Tournament
last season. Purdue advanced to the championship game before falling to
Notre Dame.
Other NCAA Tournament teams on the slate this year include Clemson.
Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Penn State, St. Mary's and Wisconsin.
BENCH PLAY SPARKS ILLINI
Illinois has received some great minutes off the bench this season and that
is reflected in not only scoring, but other intangibles.
Angelina Williams, Tiffanie Guthrie, and Karen Hagberg have combined for
139 points (15.4), 92 rebounds (10.2), 21 steals (2.3) and have combined to
make 52 of 113 (.460) shots from the field in 362 combined minutes of
action.
DAZZLING DEBUTS
Illinois' freshmen class is one of the more mature groups to come along in
recent years. Jer? Issenmann started at the No. 2 guard spot and scored
three points and contributed two assists in the season opener. She added six
points on two three-pointers at St. Mary's. She hit the three-pointer that
tied the score vs. Pepperdine.
Angelina Williams made the most of her minutes off the bench with seven
points, six rebounds and four steals vs. Clemson. Williams scored a
career-high 13 points vs. St. Mary's. She had made 3 of 4 three-pointers and
shot 8 of 11 (.727) for the tournament. Williams is a complete player,
averaging 7.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, just over one steal per game, making the
most of 15.2 minutes per contest average.
Tiffanie Guthrie has also given the Illini some quality minutes, coming
close to a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds at Duquesne. She
added seven points and five rebounds vs. Pepperdine, then had 9 points and
boards vs. Eastern Illinois.
DISHING OUT
Shavonna Hunter's 10 assists vs. Kansas as a freshmen are an Illinois
single-game record. The record nearly was tied in Monday's game with
Clemson, but by a post player. Dawn Vana came within an eyelash of the
record with nine assists. Vana ranked second on the team with 105 assists
last season.
