Nov. 13, 2007
Complete Illinois-UAB Game Notes (PDF) 
Game 3: UAB (0-1) at Illinois (2-0)
Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007 // 7 p.m. // Assembly Hall (16,618) // Champaign, Ill.
On The Air
Radio: Illini Sports Network - WDWS AM 1400 (Brian Moline and Mike Koon)
Internet: Fightingillini.com LIVE streaming VIDEO and Gametracker
The Series:
First Meeting
The Coaches
Illinois: Jolette Law, 2-0 overall and at Illinois (first season)
UAB: Audra Smith, 40-49 overall and at UAB (fourth season)
Quick Hits
• The Game: Illinois looks to improve to 3-0 on the season when the UAB Blazers (0-1) come to Assembly Hall on Wednesday night, Nov. 14. It will be the second of a three game homestand for the Orange and Blue before they embark for the FIU Thanksgiving Classic in Miami next week.
• SAAC It Up: Wednesday night's game will be the annual University of Illinois Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) winter clothing drive. SAAC will be collecting winter clothing at the entrances of Assembly Hall. Fans will receive FREE admission with a donation.
• Illini Win Big in Openers: Illinois posted two blowout victories to start the season. On Nov. 9 the Orange and Blue pulled away from Eastern Illinois in the second half to win by 30 on the road, 86-56. Then on Sunday, Nov. 11, Illinois cruised to a 63-43 home-opening victory over Horizon League favorite UW-Milwaukee to begin 2-0 for the second straight year. The Illini's +25.0 margin of victory ranks first in the Big Ten in the early going.
Smith Has Career Weekend
Forward Jenna Smith got her sophomore campaign off to a fast start, setting or tying career-high in points, rebounds and assists in the first two games. For the weekend Smith averaged 19.0 points, 16.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.5 blocks and 1.5 steals while shooting 67 percent from the field (14-of-21) and a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. For her efforts, Smith picked up her first career Big Ten Player of the Week honor. She is the first Illini to earn the weekly conference accolade since Danyel Crutcher on Dec. 19, 2005.
Against Eastern Illinois, Smith had a career-high 19 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards, and added 16 points and three blocks. Her 19 boards tied for the seventh most in school history and were the most for an Illini in 18 years. Then in Sunday's victory Smith put up a career-high tying 22 points to go along with 13 rebounds and a career-high six assists. Maybe more impressive than her offensive numbers, however, was Smith's defense on reigning Horizon League Player of the Year Traci Edwards. Edwards was held to just 11 points on 5-of-15 shooting with Smith serving as the primary defender.
Law Era Off To Good Start
New Illini head coach Jolette Law got off to a fast start with a pair of 20+ victories over the weekend. The first time head coach picked up her first-career victory on Nov. 9 with the win over EIU and her first win at Assembly Hall two days later when the Illini downed UW-Milwaukee. Law was named Illinois' head coach on May 11 after spending 12 seasons as an assistant at Rutgers, including the last four as associate head coach. In her short time in Champaign, Law has already established herself as one of the hardest workers in the game. She hired a young, energetic staff to help instill a new work ethic, winning attitude and up-tempo style that is based on pressure defense.
About The Blazers
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers enter Wednesday's game with an 0-1 record after falling to #23/17 Vanderbilt in their opener, 92-51. UAB returns four starters from last year's WNIT team that finished 19-13 overall, but the one departure will be tough to replace in Carmen Guzman, the Conference USA Player of the Year and an honorable mention All-American last year.
This year, the Blazers are picked to finish fourth in the Conference USA preseason poll and are led by senior guard Diamond Rogers, a preseason All-Conference pick who scored 23 points and hit five three pointers in the Vandy game. The UAB line-up is also bolstered by the return of senior guard Crystal McFadden, who has scored over 1,000 career points, but missed all of last season due to injury.
The Blazers have one of the most interesting schedules in the nation, as they start the season with eight straight games away from home and then follow that up with nine straight home games, including an exhibition game against Team Alabama on Dec. 30. The Blazers are coached by Audra Smith, who is in her fourth season at UAB.
Pressure `D' already Catching On
Jolette Law's pressure defense looks to be catching on fast with the Fighting Illini. Through the first two games Illinois is averaging 11.0 steals per game, which is tied for the Big Ten lead. Chelsea Gordon, Rebecca Harris and Lacey Simpson lead the way with four steals apiece. Last year Illinois ranked last in the Big Ten in steals at 5.55 per game.
Crashing the Boards
After leading the Big Ten in rebounding and rebounding margin a year ago, the Illini are back to their board-crashing ways this season. Led by Jenna Smith, Illinois has a +20.5 rebounding margin, which is good for second in the league.
Making the Freebies
Illinois ranked 24th in the nation last year in free throw percentage and it appears the Illini have picked up right where they left off at the charity stripe. So far, Illinois has knocked down 36-of-44 free throws (.818), which is good for second best in the league. Lori Bjork (12-for-12) and Jenna Smith (10-of-10) lead the way from the line.
New Faces
In addition to Law, several other faces will be made their Illini debuts over the weekend. Assistant coaches Karen Middleton, Tamika Louis and Patrick Klein took to the Illinois bench for the first time. Middleton came to Illinois after 10 seasons as an assistant at Stanford. Lewis was a former head coach at Mott Community College and also worked as a corporate executive for GM, while Klein served as a graduate assistant for Ohio State, where he helped lead the Buckeyes to back-to-back Big Ten titles.
In addition to the coaches, freshman Chelsea Buher saw her first action as an Illini and scored her first points on Sunday vs. UWM when she hit a three-pointer with 1:05 to play in the game.
Illini in the Rankings
After last season's fourth place Big Ten finish, expectations are high for Illinois in 2007-08, and some voters have taken notice. The Orange and Blue are ranked 21st in the CBS Sportsline.com/Basketball News Preseason Top-25 and received 7 votes in this week's Associated Press poll, ranking 37th overall.
Opening Week Recap
The Jolette Law era of Illinois women's basketball began on a high note, as the Illini started the season 2-0 with easy victories over the weekend. The Illini were dominant in both games, with a 86-56 victory over Eastern Illinois on the road on Friday, Nov. 9, and beating UW-Milwaukee 63-43 at the Assembly Hall last Sunday.
Sophomore forward Jenna Smith had a career night against EIU, with 16 points and a career-best 19 rebounds. Junior guard Lori Bjork was her usual self, scoring 22 points, while junior Chelsea Gordon also had a good night with 17 points, all in the second half. The Illini never trailed in the game after jumping out to an 11-2 lead thanks to some early steals from Law's newly instilled full court pressure defense.
On Sunday, the Illini used a 22-2 run in the first half to jump out to a 24-9 lead against UW-Milwaukee, the preseason pick to win the Horizon League, and never looked back. Smith had another monster game, with 22 points and 13 rebounds to go along with a career-high six assists. She was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday for averaging 19 points points, 16 rebounds and 2.5 blocks over the weekend.
Illini Return Six Starters...that's right six
Illinois might be the only team in the country that can legitimately boast the return six starters. Last year's regular starting five of Lori Bjork (31 starts), Chelsea Gordon (31), Lacey Simpson (30), Danyel Crutcher (30) and Jenna Smith (22) all return, and the Illini welcome back Audrey Tabon, who made 26 starts in 2005-06 before missing all of last season with a knee injury.
In all, Illinois returns 85.7 percent of its minutes, 87.4 percent of its scoring, 86.5 percent of its rebounds, 95.7 percent of its three point field goals and 89.1 percent of its assists from last season.
Coaches Pick Illinois Third in Preseason Poll
Illinois was picked to finish third in the Big Ten Conference preseason coaches poll, which was released at the annual Big Ten media day in Chicago Oct. 28. A panel of media members picked the Illini sixth. Below is a look at both complete polls:
Bjork Earns Preseason Accolade
Junior guard Lori Bjork was selected to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team by the coaches and the media after setting a school record with 84 three-pointers and earning second team All-Conference accolades in 2006-07. She is the first Illini named to the preseason All-Conference team since Allison Curtin in 2000-01.
Joining Bjork on the coaches All-Big Ten team were Michigan State's Allyssa DeHaan, Minnesota's Emily Fox, Ohio State's Marcilla Packer and Wisconsin's Jolene Anderson. Ohio State's Star Allen replaced Fox and joined the other four on the media's All-Conference team.
Illinois On the Tube
At least seven Illini games will be televised nationally on the Big Ten Network this season. In all, the Big Ten Network will televise 55 regular-season contests. Additionally, all 10 games of the 2008 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament will be televised nationally as the BTN will broadcast the first nine contests, and the title match will air live on ESPN2. In all, more conference action will be televised than ever before, as 43 of the 99 Big Ten match-ups will be broadcast by the BTN, CBS or ESPN2.
2007-08 Illinois Big Ten Network Television Schedule
Dec. 5 Oklahoma 8 p.m. CT
Dec. 27 at Northwestern 7 p.m. CT
Jan. 21 Iowa 7 p.m. CT
Feb. 4 at Michigan 6 p.m. CT
Feb. 10 Indiana 1 p.m. CT
Feb. 21 Penn State 7 p.m. CT
Feb. 24 Michigan 5 p.m. CT
*March 2 Purdue 1/3 p.m. CT
* Wildcard game - will be selected by Feb. 19, 2008
The Big Ten Network has existing agreements with DirecTV, Dish Network and AT&T in addition to over 150 cable outlets nationwide. Fans who want to receive the Big Ten Network can call 1-866-WANT-B10 or visit www.BigTenNetwork.com and enter their zip code. For more information, visit www.BigTenNetwork.com.
Watch Illinois on fightingillini.com
For the fourth straight year, fans unable to make it to Assembly Hall can catch live streaming video of UI women's basketball home games on the web. Any game not televised by the Big Ten Network will be streamed live on fightingillini.com, which means at least eight home games can be viewed this season.
To have access to the games, fans will need to purchase an Illini All-Access subscription ($6.95 per month, $49.95 per year). A subscription includes access to all other Illinois video content, including football and men's basketball press conferences, live events for volleyball, wrestling and gymnastics, as well as live audio and highlight videos for all sports.
