Illinois vs Drexel: 2021 NCAA Tournament game preview, TV schedule
When: 1:15 pm ET, Friday, March 19th on TBS.
Where: Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Illinois had a great regular season, and an even better Big Ten tournament. The Illini were able to cut down the nets to win the tournament on Sunday in Indianapolis over a gritty Ohio State Buckeyes team in overtime.
The Illini come into the NCAA Tournament as the one seed in the Midwest region. Illinois is hoping they have a few more cutting down nets ceremonies in the next few weeks as well.
There may not be a hotter team clicking on all cylinders more than Illinois at the moment entering the NCAA Tournament. Illinois has won their last 7 games overall. The Illini managed to keep their winning streak alive without their star, and newly named AP first-team All-American guard Ayo Dosunmu missing three games. Dosunmu missed games against Nebraska, and two impressive wins on the road at Wisconsin, and up in Ann Arbor at Michigan too. Shows you the talent that this Illini team has on their roster.
Drexel comes into the tournament as a 16 seed with a record of 12-7. They received the automatic bid by winning the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association) Tournament as the sixth seed. The Dragons are coached by Zach Spiker. Spiker is in his fifth season at Drexel. This is the first year that Drexel will finish with a winning record with Spiker at the helm.
Sunday was a very exciting day for Drexel hearing their name announced during the selection show. It was a long time ago since they last saw their name be announced as this is the first time the Dragons have punched their ticket to be in the big dance since 1996.
Drexel like many other teams was hit very hard by COVID-19. This did not stop them from fighting and clawing to win their conference tournament to get back to the NCAA Tournament. The Dragons’ run to win the CAA Tournament was impressive when you find out the path they had on their end. From January 24th to February 26th, Drexel had six games canceled overall. Four of those canceled games led up to their regular-season finale against James Madison on the 26th of February.
Like Illinois, Drexel enters this matchup on a winning streak of their own being winners of four straight. Drexel has four players averaging double figures in scoring, but their leader is Camren Wynter. The junior guard is averaging 16.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, and 5.3 apg as well. Forward James Butler comes in averaging 12.9 ppg, and 9.2 rpg.
The senior forward in Butler most likely draws the assignment to try and slow down Illinois big man Kofi Cockburn for most of the afternoon. Drexel will need to give Butler some help down low as there is about a forty-pound difference in weight between Butler and Cockburn.
If you have watched Drexel, or just take a look at their stats you can tell that the Dragons can really fill it up on the offensive end of the court. According to Sports Reference, Drexel is 56th out of 347 for ORtg (Offensive Rating) but ranks 206th out of 347 in DRtg (Defensive Rating). Illinois ranks 19th in ORtg, and 66th in DRtg as well.
Next. Midwest Region preview. dark
Can Drexel win this game? Absolutely, as we all saw a few years ago a sixteen seed has beaten a one seed. It will happen again, but just not in this matchup. Illinois is way too locked in on both ends of the floor to let them be upset. Illinois rolls big over Drexel to meet the winner of Georgia Tech, or Loyola-Chicago on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Prediction: Illinois 91, Drexel 64